Jimmy Reid

James "Jimmy" Reid (9 July 1932 – 10 August 2010) was a Scottish trade union activist, orator, politician, and journalist born in Govan, Glasgow. His role as spokesman and one of the leaders in the Upper Clyde Shipbuilders work-in between June 1971 and October 1972 attracted international recognition. He later served as Rector of the University of Glasgow and subsequently became a journalist and broadcaster. Formerly a member of the Communist Party of Great Britain, Reid was later a Labour Party member. He joined the Scottish National Party in 2005 and fully supported Scottish independence. He died in 2010 after a long illness.

Early life

Reid was born in Govan, Glasgow, then a major British shipbuilding centre. In his youth, Reid joined the Young Communist League and was later a member of the Communist Party of Great Britain. He was involved in organising a major apprentices' strike at the Clyde shipyards in 1951. to

Union career

Reid came to prominence in the early 1970s when he led the Upper Clyde Shipbuilders work-in to try to stop Edward Heath's Conservative government from closing down the shipyards on the River Clyde. The government had decided that the shipyards should operate without state subsidy, which would have resulted in at least six thousand job losses. An engineer by trade and shop steward of the Amalgamated Union of Engineering Workers, Reid, along with his colleagues Jimmy Airlie, Sammy Gilmore and Sammy Barr, decided that the best way to show the viability of keeping the yards open was by staging a 'work-in' rather than by going on strike. This meant that the workers would continue to complete what orders the shipyard had until the government changed policy.

James Reid (footballer, born 1879)

James Reid (born 18 November 1879 – 1976) was a Scottish footballer. An inside-forward, he played for Petershill, Hibernian, Port Vale, West Ham United, Gainsborough Trinity, Worksop Town, Notts County, Watford, Tottenham Hotspur, Reading, and New Brompton. He played in the Scottish Football League First Division, the Football League (both the First Division and Second Division), the Southern League, the Midland League, and the Western League.

Playing career

Reid played his early football with Petershill, before moving on to First Division club Hibernian. He made his scoring debut for "Hibs" on 3 September 1898, in a 4–1 win at Partick Thistle. He went on to score three goals in eight league and cup appearances in 1898–99.

Reid left Easter Road and moved south of the border to sign with Second Division side Port Vale in July 1899. He scored his first goal in the Football League in a 1–0 win over Walsall at Fellows Park on 21 October. He scored five goals in 25 appearances in the 1899–1900 season, before coming down with an injury in December 1899.