Media File: 1983
Sinclair in the News

Financial Times
April 29, 1983

Sinclair warning as Timex sit-in continues

BY MARK MEREDITH, SCOTTISH CORRESPONDENT

ABOUT 600 workers decided yesterday to continue their sit-in at one of Dundee's Timex factories, provoking a warning from the company's main sub-contracting customer.

Sinclair Research said its project, a small flat screen television at Timex, as well as its long-term commitment to Dundee, was jeopardised. The flat screen programme has already been halted. Timex also has sub-contract work for Sinclair personal computers, the ZX81 and ZX Spectrum, which has not been affected.

The occupation was called on April 8 because of trade union refusal to accept compulsory redundancies. Timex announced in January that 1,900 jobs would be lost and mechanical watch production ended. More than 1,700 have already gone through voluntary redundancies.

A letter to the sit-in employees from Timex director Mr Barrie Lawson, warned that unless they signed a pledge to resume work and returned it to the company by Tuesday, they would be sacked.

The letter also warned that the dispute was jeopardising watch part manufacture and assembly - virtually all that is left of watch production in Dundee.

The workers have complained that Timex violated the pledge to develop watches at Dundee by shutting down wind-up watch production in Scotland while developing quartz watch production in France.

The January announcement left Timex dependent on sub-contract work.

Sinclair's warning followed talks between the occupation force and two Sinclair executives.

Sinclair, Mr Clive Sinclair's company, said that to protect itself it has reduced the proportion of computers produced in Dundee from 95 per cent to 70 per cent.

Mr Sinclair has warned before that he will leave Dundee if production was endangered by industrial disputes.

Representatives at the sit-in said that in their talks with Sinclair executives they heard for the first time that the flat screens to be produced at Dundee were likely to be sent elsewhere for insertion in the planned micro-televisions.