Reid, James (Jimmy) (1932- )

Scottish communist trade-union activist. In 1971, when the four shipyards of the publicly owned Upper Clyde Shipbuilders (UCS) consortium were threatened with closure, he led a ‘work-in’ that ultimately forced the Conservative government of Ted Heath to find a package to keep the yards open.

This success was attributed to the efforts of the shop stewards' committee, led by Reid's tough militancy and media abilities (he described the Heath government as being ‘an 007 government with a licence to kill industry’).

Born in Clydebank, Reid was initially employed at the Scottish Stock Exchange before becoming an engineering apprentice at the age of 15. Reid had been successful as national secretary of the Young Communist League in the early 1960s, but less so as secretary of the Scottish Communist Party and had returned to work in the shipyards in 1969.

Reid was elected rector of Glasgow University by its students and stood (unsuccessfully) as a Communist candidate for Clydebank in 1974. He publicly left the Communist Party in 1976.