‘We’re nonetheless combating the Conservatives for our proper to strike 40 years on’

Exactly 40 years in the past yesterday, Conservative Foreign Secretary Sir Geoffrey Howe made an announcement.

Margaret Thatcher’s minister informed the House of Commons that commerce unions had been to be banned on the Government Communications ­Headquarters in Cheltenham, “in the interests of national security”. “GCHQ staff are being informed of these measures this afternoon,” Sir Geoffrey mentioned.

Listening to the radio inside GCHQ on January 25 1984, was Brian Johnson, a telecoms technician who had joined the intelligence company straight from serving within the air drive.

“I was the only one in the office who actually heard Geoffrey Howe make the statement,” Brian, now 90, tells me. “So, when we were told we couldn’t leave work without receiving a letter no one knew the contents of, I had an idea what was happening.”

Inside was the supply of £1,000 and the prospect to maintain his job, or to stay a union member and depart the job and repair he beloved. Members had been ordered to go away their commerce unions by March 1. “It all felt very unreal,” says Brian, who was one among 14 to be sacked – and over 100 who left their jobs – for refusing to surrender his union rights. “I was lucky I had strong support at home. It led to the break-up of some people’s marriages.”

For 13 years, the GCHQ dispute was a trigger celebre for the Labour ­motion, led by the Civil and Public Services Association – which later turned PCS – and supported by the TUC. Until 1997 – when incoming Foreign Secretary Robin Cook reversed the choice as one of many very first acts of the Blair authorities. Eligible employees had been reinstated, whereas others had been re-awarded the complete pensions they’d misplaced within the intervening years.

“We always had faith that we would win,” Brian says. “That’s why we kept on fighting. Tony Blair, John Smith and Neil Kinnock all stuck to their word in supporting us, and ultimately in reversing the legislation.”

But 40 years on, there are painful parallels, as more and more spiteful Tory anti-trade union laws culminates in a brand new “Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Act” – that would imply employees dropping their jobs for taking industrial motion in sure sectors. “In some ways the minimum service levels proposals of now are even more murderous than what we went through,” Brian says.

Labour’s Angela Rayner has pledged her get together will deliver ahead laws to enhance employees’ rights inside 100 days ought to it win the subsequent election. PCS normal secretary Mark Serwotka says the GCHQ ban was a part of Margaret Thatcher’s wider assault on the motion.

“The principled decision not to give up their trade union membership saw them pay a massive price,” he says. “Now, 40 years on, as we celebrate their courage and determination, a different Conservative government is attacking trade union rights – this time they’re introducing minimum service levels in a naked attack on our right to strike. Our message today is the same as it was in 1984 – we shall fight this injustice for however long it takes.”

TUC General Secretary Paul Nowak says that “a generation later, the heroic fighting spirit of the GCHQ workers” is required once more. “This time the Tories have gone even further,” he says. “Their draconian Strikes Act could take away the right to strike of one in five workers. The message from the union ­movement is loud and clear – we won’t let this happen.

“We will name and shame any employer that uses this legislation. And the full force of the entire ­movement will be behind any worker disciplined or sacked for exercising their democratic right to strike.” Also at work inside GCHQ that day in 1984 was Gareth Morris, who had joined straight from college in 1978 and been promoted by means of the ranks.

“At the time of the 1984 ban, I was working in a sensitive area,” Gareth, now 64, says. “I can’t tell you what I was doing. When we all got the envelope with the news our rights were being taken away, it was really hard to take in. People were very shocked and upset. They implied we were unpatriotic – saying that being a trade union member was incompatible with national security. It was a slur on our integrity. We knew we had to stand up for what we believed in. Because if the Government could get away with this then other public sector workers could face similar restrictions.”

GCHQ workers got simply 5 weeks to make up their minds.

“A lot of people with families and mortgages signed under duress,” he says. “And 150 chose not to sign. There were months of appeals and court cases during which those fighting on were denied promotion and other benefits. Many retired, left or were sacked. I was sacked in 1989, when I’d just got a mortgage and was due to get married, so it was good my family and my wife supported me so much. I ended up getting a job at the Bank of England – so much for being a threat to national security.”

When Labour righted the unsuitable in 1997, solely three former GCHQ members had been eligible to return – Gareth amongst them. “I was 29 when I was sacked and 38 when I returned,” he says. “I was welcomed back with open arms.”

Brian had already reached retirement age when Labour overturned the ban. “But I went back into GCHQ for an hour with many others who were sacked or who left during that time,” he says. “It was very emotional.”

Every January for 13 years, commerce unionists marched in Cheltenham in help of the sacked GCHQ employees. And tomorrow, they’ll march as soon as once more, to commemorate the fortieth ­anniversary of the ban and help these whose union rights are as soon as once more below assault from a ­Conservative authorities. Nowak says marchers will keep in mind the second working individuals referred to as out Margaret Thatcher’s assault on employees’ rights – and received. “Together,” he says, “we will win again.”