Jim Slater

Who was Jim Slater?

Jim Slater was a British trade union leader.

Born in South Shields, Slater went to sea in 1941, and joined the National Union of Seamen. During World War II, he served in the Merchant Navy. On one occasion his ship was torpedoed and sank, and in line with practice at the time, his pay was immediately stopped.

In 1960, he became a leading figure in new the National Seamen's Reform Movement, which was active in that year's strike. He was expelled from the industry at the end of the strikes, but continued as a union activist. In order to regain employment in the industry, he had to agree in future to abide by all decision of the union. He stood for the post of General Secretary of the NUS in 1962, but was easily beaten by Bill Hogarth. In 1964, he became District Secretary for the North East, and joined the union's executive. He was active in the seamen's strike of 1966, during which Harold Wilson implied he was one of several union activists under communist influence, a charge which Slater rejected.

Slater became Assistant Secretary of the NUS in 1970, and in 1974 he beat Sam McCluskie to become General Secretary.