Paul Watkinson interviewed by David Maidment

Made:
2020-08-11 in Oxfordshire
maker:
David John Maidment

Oral history interview with Paul Watkinson, conducted and recorded by David Maidment in Oxfordshire on 11 August 2020. Duration: 1 hr. 18 min. 33 sec. Early career; industrial relations issues 1984-1986; strike 1989; developing privatisation alongside John Welsby and Tony Roche in reference to personnel issues; re-structuring negotiating machinery from 1956; impact of Clapham accident; Organising for Quality (OfQ); pay dispute 1989; High Court judgement; strikes; settlement; changes in industrial relations processes; businesses take on industrial relations responsibilities from British Rail (BR) Headquarters; industrial relations processes change facilitated privatisation; General Election 1992; control of privatisation process at British Railways Board (BRB); industrial relations during privatisation; protection for staff agreed; video for staff; Associated Society of Locomotive Engineers and Firemen (ASLEF) support; Transport Salaried Staffs' Association (TSSA) support; National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT) against but saw no choice; working with Office of Passenger Rail Franchising (OPRAF) and government; working team responsible for implementing privatisation; ensuring train operating companies (TOCs) have competent teams; ensuring TOCs understand responsibilities; Roger Salmon; John Swift; signalling strike 1994; Railtrack lack of dispute handling experience; driver agreement restructuring; reflections

One of over 150 oral history recordings made as part of the Britain’s Railways All Change (BRAC) archive project. BRAC was set-up to cover gaps in documenting the railway privatisation process in the United Kingdom, between 1994 and 1997, when the government-owned British Rail was dismantled into over 100 privately-owned companies. The interviews capture the recollections of people involved in the planning and implementation of the privatisation process, the management of change and running the railway during privatisation.

Details

Category:
Oral Histories
Collection:
Britain's Railways All Change
Object Number:
2020-447
type:
oral history interview
credit:
Britain's Railways All Change (BRAC) oral history archive, created in partnership with the Friends of the National Railway Museum, the Retired Railway Officers' Society and the National Railway Museum.