Jimmy Airlie

Jimmy Airlie (10 November 1936, Renfrew – 10 March 1997, Erskine) was a leading Scottish trade unionist. While a shop steward, along with Sammy Gilmore, Sammy Barr and Jimmy Reid he was particularly remembered for his role as chairman of the Upper Clyde Shipbuilders work-in committee of 1971.

Trade unionism Airlie was a shop steward for the Amalgamated Engineering Union (AEU) whilst he worked at Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Company. In this capacity he was involved in the Fairfield Experiment (1965-66). He is one of the Shop Stewards interviewed by Sean Connery in his film The Bowler and the Bunnet. When Fairfields was merged into Upper Clyde Shipbuilders in 1968 continued in his role as shop steward. He was chairperson of the Upper Clyde Shipbuilders work-in committee when it was formed in 1971.

In 1983 he was elected to the national executive of the (AEU) . This was the first time a communist had been elected to the AEU's national executive since the early 1970s. Paying tribute Tam Dalyell said "For any MP who saw Jimmy Airlie in action with employers who proposed to close a factory in his constituency, he was a marvellous sight in full flow".

Airlie was a great public speaker and effective negotiator. His speech style was described as 'joined-up shouting' - he said that a point made 'wittily and succinctly' was more likely to be understood - he said, 'we all have to die sometime, but in the meantime we don't have to be bored to death'.

Although uncompromising in his approach to negotiation and debate, and in his use of robust 'shipyard' language, it was clear that Airlie was highly intelligent and sophisticated in his approach to union matters. Airlie was greatly influential to modern trade unionism in valuing both principle and pragmatism in full measure. Caterpillar and Timex. Charlie Whelan is quoted as saying that Airlie was seen as "the most formidable negotiator in the trade union movement, a giant..[who] was also prepared to say to the workforce, 'You're wrong, you've got to go back to work'". He then undertook National Service with the Royal Air Force, serving in Libya as a military policeman. He was a Lance Corporal and met Leif Mills who at the time was an officer senior to him.