Crawford Stewart

Stewart Crawford

The Convener of the Yarrow shipbuilding yard in Glasgow, he died on the 4th of July 2000, aged 51.

Crawford served his apprenticeship as an electrician at Yarrow’s and, with the exception of a brief period in the 1960s, worked there for all of his working life. For the bulk of that time he was a shop steward and a leading union figure within the workplace. Distrust and disgust was how he described his rapport with the leadership of his union, the AEEU.

At the age of 26 he was elected the electricians’ convener and later the overall convener for the whole yard, representing 5,000 people. He was influenced in his politics by his uncle, Bobby McKain, also a communist and a steward in the shipyards.

Crawford was prominent in the 1960s in the demonstrations and campaigning against the war in Vietnam. He was the secretary of the Clydebank YCL and a member of the YCL�s Scottish Committee.

Crawford was deeply involved in the solidarity campaign with the opponents of Pinochet’s takeover in Chile. As a result of this, a Chilean exile, an electrical worker and trade unionist, came to live with Crawford and his family.

In the late 1980s he was prominent in establishing the-Scottish section of Trade Union CND, a remarkable thing given his position as a convener of a shipyard commissioned to do work in the construction of Trident. He was chair of the national stewards� combine committee for the shipbuilding industry.

 

 Source: Trade Union Review October 2000