Jim Slater (4 October 1923 – 30 May 1993) was British

trade union A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and benefits ( ...

leader. Born in

South Shields South Shields () is a coastal town in South Tyneside, Tyne and Wear, England. It is on the south bank of the mouth of the River Tyne. Historically, it was known in Roman times as Arbeia, and as Caer Urfa by Early Middle Ages. According to the 20 ...

, Slater went to sea in 1941, and joined the National Union of Seamen (NUS). During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, he served in the Merchant Navy. On one occasion his ship was torpedoed and sank, and in line with practice at the time, his pay was immediately stopped.Slater, James Henry
, ''

Oxford Dictionary of National Biography The ''Dictionary of National Biography'' (''DNB'') is a standard work of reference on notable figures from British history, published since 1885. The updated ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (''ODNB'') was published on 23 September ...

'' In 1960, he became a leading figure in new the National Seamen's Reform Movement, which was active in that year's strike. He was expelled from the industry at the end of the strikes, but continued as a union activist. In order to regain employment in the industry, he had to agree in future to abide by all decision of the union. He stood for the post of General Secretary of the NUS in 1962, but was easily beaten by Bill Hogarth. In 1964, he became District Secretary for the North East, and joined the union's executive. He was active in the seamen's strike of 1966, during which

Harold Wilson James Harold Wilson, Baron Wilson of Rievaulx, (11 March 1916 – 24 May 1995) was a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from October 1964 to June 1970, and again from March 1974 to April 1976. He ...

implied he was one of several union activists under communist influence, a charge which Slater rejected. Slater became Assistant Secretary of the NUS in 1970, and in 1974 he beat

Sam McCluskie Sam McCluskie (11 August 1932 – 15 September 1995) was a British Labour Party politician and trade unionist. He came from Leith in Edinburgh. He followed Albert Booth as Treasurer of the Labour Party from 1984 to 1992. He was general secre ...

to become General Secretary.Terry Pattinson,
Obituary: Sam McCluskie
, ''

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'', 18 September 1995 During this time, he successfully negotiated with the British Shipping Federation to retain a

closed shop A pre-entry closed shop (or simply closed shop) is a form of union security agreement under which the employer agrees to hire union members only, and employees must remain members of the union at all times to remain employed. This is different fro ...

. He also convinced the

Trades Union Congress The Trades Union Congress (TUC) is a national trade union centre A national trade union center (or national center or central) is a federation or confederation of trade unions in a country. Nearly every country in the world has a national tra ...

to support the union's policy to refuse to dump nuclear waste at sea, and donated union funds to support the UK miners' strike of 1984-5. In 1986, the union's rules compelled Slater to stand down, and he instead became President of the NUS.

Tom Hadaway Tom Hadaway (18 March 1923 – 3 March 2005) was a writer for stage and television, born in North Shields in North East England. Early life Hadaway was born on Howdon Road, North Shields on 18 March 1923. After leaving school, aged 14, he work ...

wrote the play "Seafarers" in 1993, based on a true story of Slater being arrested after his

Geordie Geordie () is a nickname for a person from the Tyneside area of North East England, and the dialect used by its inhabitants, also known in linguistics as Tyneside English or Newcastle English. There are different definitions of what constitut ...

accent led to him being mistaken for a spy. The play put the action in Florida and had him mistaken for a Russian, but the original event occurred in Canada, and he was mistaken for a Serbo-Croat.Alan Plater,
Obituary: Tom Hadaway
, ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'', 11 March 2005 In the last years of his life, Slater was involved in the campaign for a proper investigation of the sinking of the

MV Derbyshire MV ''Derbyshire'' was a British ore-bulk-oil combination carrier built in 1976 by Swan Hunter, as the last in the series of the sextet. She was registered at Liverpool and owned by Bibby Line. ''Derbyshire'' was lost on 9 September 1980 durin ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Slater, Jim 1923 births 1993 deaths General Secretaries of the National Union of Seamen English trade unionists People from South Shields Trade unionists from Tyne and Wear British Merchant Navy personnel of World War II