Forgotten industrial dispute which saw 12 Fife health staff put on trial

But one of the most shocking and controversial involved laboratory staff at Victoria Hospital.

A long-running dispute with health bosses led to a work-in which saw police stage a dawn raid and arrest 12 people under a 108-year old law.

That in turn led to a criminal prosecution which ended up at the highest court in the land - even the Secretary of State for Scotland got involved.

The story centred around medical laboratory specialist officers (MLSOs) being told they could not sign reports without a consultant seeing them first.

This long-running, internal dispute exploded in 1982.

By October of that year, threats of an all-out UK-wide strike by lab staff who were members of the Association of Scientific, Technical and Managerial Staff (ASTMS) had just been averted, but that was just the beginning.

A cease fire agreed with Fife Health Board was shattered when a staff member was suspended for refusing to follow the directive on medical notes.

A “sudden and dramatic” escalation of events then followed.

Friday saw a dozen lab workers stage a work-in in protest, locking themselves in the labs.

It lasted barely 12 hours, but the manner in which it was broken up sparked an astonishing sequence of events.

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The protest was ended with a full-scale dawn raid as police called in by senior executive members of the health board broke through the barricaded doors, and arrested 12 members of staff; five men and seven women.

The sheer scale of the operation - it involved some 30 officers and was led by senior figures such as Chief Superintendent Dick Borrar -- sparked such outrage that George Younger, Secretary of State for Scotland demanded a report on his desk from Robert Murison, Fife’s Chief Constable.

The morning of the raid saw the health board granted an interim interdict at the Court of Session which prevented the 12 arrested workers from entering the labs or interfering with its work.

The Chief Constable refused to answer 21 of 22 questions put to him in a private meeting with councillors, prompting union leaders to threaten to put him in the witness box if the case went to trial – and it did.

December 1982 saw the 11 of the “Victoria 12” - the other was ill - in the dock at Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court, charged under Section 7 of the Conspiracy and Protection of Property Act of 1875 which stated that they “watched and beset” the Fife area laboratory.

The use of a century old law fuelled a real sense of anger around the whole case. A silent protest was staged outside.

As five-day trial got underway in February 1983, almost 300 union members from across Scotland staged a mass demo in the Town Square.

By day three, charges against three female workers were dropped and they walked free.

That left eight in the dock - charges against a 12th man were dropped on health grounds.

In March, Sheriff William Christie issued his verdict. Not guilty.

He ruled the remaining eight acted within the Trade Union and Labour Relations Act of 1974

Three of Scotland’s top judges said he was wrong to halt the trial, but the acquittals stood.

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