Bill Sirs

William Sirs (6 January 1920 – 16 June 2015) was a British trade unionist, who served as general secretary of the Iron and Steel Trades Confederation (ISTC) from 1975 to 1985.[1]

Bill Sirs was born and raised in Hartlepool, one of 10 children.[1] He left school at 14 and became a crane operator in the iron and steel industry, becoming active in forerunners of the ISTC. He remained in north-east England until he moved south with his two children and his wife Joan.[2]

Sirs is best remembered for his involvement in the steelworkers' strike of 1980.[3] During the action, Sirs came into conflict with Ian MacGregor, the man appointed by Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher to slim down British Steel Corporation, then a nationalised industry. Sirs was quoted as saying, "We are being looked upon as the worst producing steel nation in Europe".[4]

Sirs subsequently incurred the wrath of other trade unionists by his intervention in the miners' strike of 1984.[5]

Sirs was a member of the St Ermin's group, an organised group of right-wing trade unionists meeting at the St Ermin's Hotel with the aim of preventing the Bennite left taking over the Labour Party.[6]

Works
  • Hard Labour. Sidgwick & Jackson, 1985.

References
  1. Obituary in Daily Telegraph
  2. William (Bill) Sirs: Obituary Archived 7 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine
  3. Ian Donovan, "Strategic confrontation in the making", Weekly Worker 519 Thursday 11 March 2004
  4. BBC On This Day, 2 January 1980.
  5. "Enter Bill Sirs, kneeling", Tribune, 6 July 1984
  6. Martin Adeney; Denis MacShane (22 June 2015). "Bill Sirs obituary". The Guardian. Retrieved 21 July 2019.
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