Tributes have been paid to Jack Spriggs, a firebrand 1970s union official who led a famous Merseyside factory occupation and workers co-operative.
Spriggs, a straight-talking man who rose to fame as leader of the Kirkby Manufacturing and Engineering Ltd (KME) enterprise, has died of pneumonia at the age of 75 in Liverpool.
A former shipyard apprentice he was a T+GWU Convenor at the Fisher-Bendix washing machine factory in Kirkby in 1972 when it was threatened with closure.
Inspirational Spriggs led 600 workers in a nine-week sit-in under the glare of the UK and international media spotlight, with a posse of journalists and TV cameras camped-out at the factory.
The occupation ended in victory for Spriggs and his team who persuaded Tony Benn, as Industry Secretary in Harold Wilson's Labour Government, to back the workers with an investment of £3.9m in public money.
More than three hundreds of jobs were salvaged and the factory was re-launched as KME, making a list of products including central heating radiators, car parts and orange juice.
But the co-operative struggled to stave-off losses for five years and by 1997 needed an injection of a further £800,000 in taxpayer's money.
By the end of the decade KME was facing bankruptcy and the plant was eventually sold-off to a private sector operator, with more subsidies, before it finally closed.
Afterwards Spriggs remained philosophical about KME and said that he felt all the effort had been worthwhile with jobs being preseved in a period when employemnt was very hard to find.
He became a full-time union official and was elected as a Labour member of Liverpool City Council 1991 and served as the city's Lord Mayor in 2002.
Liverpool City Council Labour group leader Joe Anderson said: "Jack Spriggs was an inspiration to everyone and has been a leading figure for years.
"He lived to serve his community and will be remembered for his huge generosity of spirit."
Jack Spriggs, who rose to fame as leader of the Kirkby Manufacturing and Engineering Ltd (KME) on Merseyside, died of pneumonia at the age of 75
Spriggs was a T+GWU Convenor at the Fisher-Bendix washing machine factory in Merseyside in 1972 when it was threatened with closure.
He led 600 workers in a nine-week sit-in in the glare of the UK and international media spotlight in which a posse of journalists and TV cameras camped-out at the factory in Kirkby.
The occupation ended in a famous victory for Spriggs who persuaded Tony Benn, as Industry Secretary in Harold Wilson's Labour Government, to back the workers with an investment of £3.9m in public money.
More than three hundreds of jobs were salvaged and the factory was re-launched as KME, making a list of products including central heating radiators, car parts and orange juice.
But the co-operative struggled to stave-off losses for five years and by 1997 needed an injection of a further £800,000 in taxpayers' money.
By the end of the decade KME was facing bankruptcy and the plant was eventually sold-off to a private sector operator, with more subsidies, before it finally closed.
Afterwards Spriggs remained philosophical about KME and said that he felt all the effort had been worthwhile with jobs being preseved in a period when employemnt was very hard to find.
He became a full-time union official and was elected as a Labour member of Liverpool City Council 1991 and served as the city's Lord Mayor in 2002.
Liverpool City Council Labour group leader Joe Anderson said: "Jack Spriggs was an inspiration to everyone and has been a leading figure for years.
"He lived to serve his community and will be remembered for his huge generosity of spirit."
Billy Mummery, Liverpool around 2 years, 5 months ago