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Kevin Morley remembers his dad: August 23rd 1927 – May 5th 2020

Nick Morley, TGWU, with the late Jack Jones who 
fought against the forces of fascism in Spain

My Dad met my Mam, Olive, while they were both working on the buses. He was a driver and she a clippie (Conductress as it was then), a crew or bus crew as they were termed. In 1959 they were married, and in 1960 I came along. Olive stopped work as was the accepted thing in those days. Nick remained on the buses as a driver until his retirement in 1990. He finished as a long-distance coach driver having transferred to coaches from town and country. 

It was while driving long distance that my dad exercised an element of skill and judgement seldom called upon from a coach driver. Like most jobs an element of skill is involved, seldom reflected in the pay packet, and coach/bus driving was/is no exception. It was back in the late seventies or early eighties, I think, Nick was driving his coach when a little girl ran out in front of his moving vehicle. Nick knew slamming the breaks on would have been a death sentence for the child. Instead he allowed the front wheels to run over her then, knowing the distance between the front and forward rear axles he hit the break. This resulted in the girl coming to rest under the bus between the front and rear axles, almost unscathed and very much alive. This took quick judgement and, according to all reports, including the police, undoubtedly saved the little girl’s life.

During the sixties the union, branch 9/24, organised trips to Bridlington for the children of bus employees, Drivers and “Clippies” all of whom were TGWU members – a closed shop. Nick and other drivers would be responsible for the organisation of the outing and driving the busses. These were great trips and everybody, parents and children alike, looked forward to this day. Outings like these were few and far between during the nineteen-sixties, due to a shortage of money. 

Nick supplemented his Bus Drivers pay by shovelling coal from the lorry – straight from the pit – into sacks at Arrowsmiths Coal Yard in Acomb, just outside York. These sacks would then be collected from the yard by the coal merchant. Coal was delivered to customers in those days to be used to heat homes. It was a long working day for people like my dad and, on days off when not on union business he would be shovelling coal. 

Once per year we would have a week self-catering holiday at either Filey or Hornsea. This was before the days of holidays abroad and as we could not afford places like Great Yarmouth, where better off kids went, Filey was the usual destination. Late in the seventies we could do a week in Yarmouth or Torquay – pay had increased after a series of successful strikes for higher wages – but during the sixties this was a pipe dream. Spain and foreign holidays never would be in our price range but we enjoyed our times at Filey or Hornsea as much, if not more than the spoilt brats of what I now know as the bourgeoisie did in Spain or other foreign climes. 

Nick – full name John Nicholas – was a lifelong member and, when younger, activist of the British Labour Movement. He was a Labour Party member until his death, though was no lover of Tony Blair. He believed in party loyalty as did many older stalwarts of the same era like the late Tony Benn. Nick was a Shop Steward for many years getting re-elected several times. His trade union was the Transport and General Workers Union (TGWU) and he met with the late jack Jones, then General Secretary of the TGWU, a man who fought in Spain as part of the International Brigades against Franco’s Fascists. Nick was too young being only nine when the Spanish Civil War broke out. My dad was active in the union for as long as I can remember during the days of the post war political consensus in Britain, including Keynesian economic policies, practiced by both Labour and Conservative governments – until the election of Thatcher in 1979 – he continued trade union involvement until his retirement. 

Part of the consensus politics included a style of industrial relations known as pluralism. This was a system in which management and trade unions would hold regular meetings, particularly in the nationalised industries – Coal, Steel, Rail, Transport etc. Dad worked for National Bus which the West Yorkshire Road Car Company became part of. The pluralist system of Industrial Relations accepted class conflict as inevitable but not insurmountable, and realised that strikes would happen if negotiations broke down. This was not an acceptance of the right to strike by management and on the eve of any strike the usual warnings about it being in breach of contract and, therefore, dismissible were always issued, and ignored. I was going through some of dad’s old papers and found one such letter to him, as Shop Steward, from management threatening sackings if this strike went ahead. This was in the early 1980s – when Thatcherism was starting to bite – and, needless to say, the letter was ignored and pickets placed on the bus depot. Pluralism included regular meetings between the shop stewards and management to discuss issues like hours of work, health and safety, with the unions recommendations usually implemented. A far cry from today where trade unions exist largely in name only – this does not have to remain the case. This decline in trade unionism saddened my dad a lot, that much I do know. He would often say, ‘all the gains we fought for have been thrown away, the old stewards would turn in their graves especially Cess Singleton – who was the Branch Secretary during the sixties and early seventies – at what was going on!’

My dad was a firm believer in the “closed shop”, meaning all employees had to be a member of the union. His rationale for this was that the union fought for such things as pay increases, often meaning members had to take strike action in support of a pay claim. If, for example the union put in a twenty percent pay demand, and management came back with say eight percent with productivity strings attached, then this offer would be rejected. Strike action would ensue and after a period, denying the public a bus service – the blame lay at management's feet – a settlement of say fourteen percent with no strings would be reached. Those who refused to join the union would also benefit from this pay increase despite not having lifted a finger to achieve it – many employers would not, at this juncture, employ non-union labour because the strength of feeling was so high against these creatures. 

When Margaret Thatcher introduced legislation outlawing the “closed shop” The shop stewards nationally fought against the Tory legislation which Thatcher claimed; “was to give people freedom of choice whether they wanted to be involved with a trade union or not.” This was, of course utter rubbish and lies. Her intention was to weaken the ability of the unions to launch any affective campaigns to improve their members living standards, using this over used word “freedom” as her rationale. She knew it was a lie, the unions knew it was a lie and those would be “scabs” knew it was a lie. Her legislation was far more sinister in its objective. Unfortunately, the legislation was passed and remains to this day in Britain. Thatcher’s henchman, Norman Tebbit, is on record as saying; “my legislation has stood the test of time as no Labour administration has revoked my anti-union legislation”. 

For once this right-wing demagogue was telling the truth – for all the wrong reasons – and when Tony (tory) Blair and “New Labour” came to power in 1997 none of the legislation introduced by Tebbit, under Thatcher, was revoked. My dad had no time for Blair but, as I pointed out earlier, he was a party member and was very loyal to the labour movement. In the 2017 British General Election he supported Jeremy Corbyn, as he had in the battle for the Labour party leadership.

When in 1984 the miners came out on strike – which would last for one year – Nick was part of the shop stewards committee which organised coaches to take striking miner’s children away on days out. The idea was initially that of Branch Secretary of 9/24 branch, Derek Smallwood at the West Yorkshire Road Car Company (National Bus). My dad and other shop stewards gave their free time, days off and holidays, to take the kids away. This was in line with TGWU policy to aid the NUM wherever possible within the law. This last part was perhaps where me and my dad differed: different generation I suppose. He believed, back in the eighties, that the return of a Labour government would put everything back on track. Back to the negotiating days of “beer and sandwiches” at Number Ten when Harold Wilson would invite the TUC to Downing Street for talks. Alas Nick and many of his generation were to be bitterly disappointed when “New Labour” swept to power in 1997. Tony Blair abolished clause iv of the party’s constitution which committed the Labour Party to public ownership of the means of production. When this was removed from the constitution Miner’s leader, Arthur Scargill, said of Blair; ‘that man in there has declared war on the working-class.’ 

I stood on picket lines with my dad on numerous occasions and admired the working-class solidarity which existed in those days. Dad would often tell me of strikes in the late fifties and early sixties when pickets would be set up at the city boundaries stopping any bus entering York. One tactic they had - if the driver was proving awkward - was to put sugar in the diesel tank: the bus was then going nowhere! This also gave the driver the excuse to tell his employer his bus broke down!! 

As I mentioned earlier, when I was going through some of his old papers I came across a letter from management during the eighties advising employees and shop stewards, that taking part in the up and coming industrial action – strike – would make those taking part in “breach of contract” and they would be liable to dismissal. This was despite abiding by Thatcher’s laws on balloting with an overwhelming mandate to strike. Obeying the law offered no protection against the sack, though management did not yet feel strong enough to try and sack anybody: the union was still strong. 

As Thatcher’s privatisation plans - after the fall of the NUM as Arthur Scargill had warned - managements across the country in nationalised industries began taking a harder line, encouraged to do so by the government. What these half-brained managers did not realise was that when privatisation came, with their connivance, their jobs were also on the line as they too were employees. The days of pluralist industrial relations and the post-war consensus were coming to an end. Thatcher hated this consensus and replaced it with a new right-wing variant, which included Tony Blair: and “New Labour.” Thatcher is on record as describing “New Labour as her greatest achievement.”

My dad retired in 1990 – the union gave him, and other retiring former shop stewards, a good retirement present and social night – but he continued to carry on any outstanding union business. He was an organiser of the TGWU (now UNITE THE UNION), along with others, retired members. The late Jack Jones, former General Secretary of the TGWU was the first National Secretary of the Retired Members. Although Nick had retired, as I pointed out, he continued with union business. I remember vividly Christmas Eve 2013 he complained of feeling unwell. He was going out on union business, monies outstanding and other issues which needed sorting and quick. Monies were owed to former members of the TGWU by their former employer. I suggested he stay in as dad did not look at all well - let somebody else have a go was my suggestion. Nick was adamant, this needed sorting and quick, and needed doing right. On his return he looked very ill indeed, having secured the said monies. That evening, Christmas Eve, he collapsed. I was over from Ireland, as luck would have it as my mam could not have coped. She was suffering from Alzheimer’s – and just looked vacant as the ambulance crew took dad to hospital ICU. 

On Christmas day I took Olive, my Mam, to visit Nick in ICU. I tied her wrist to mine with my Man United scarf – FC United – so as she could not wander off. On seeing her husband in this state, it triggered something in her mind and for a short time she had some grip on reality. Nick was 86 and suffering from renal failure and the odds were against him. Renal failure kills people half his age yet, within three weeks he was sat up in bed on an ordinary ward reading Alex Fergusons autobiography, he had a hell of a constitution.

Like myself Nick Morley was a member of Football Club United of Manchester (Manchester United Football Club almost spelt backwards), a rebel breakaway club formed by rebellious Manchester United supporters over the aggressive takeover of Man Utd by Malcom Glazer in 2005. The Glazer takeover was the icing on a very deep cake and grievances ranged from price hikes, all seater stadia, money taking preference over football and the total degeneration of the game, as a game, at what passes for the highest level. FC United put a short obituary to my dad on their twitter site.

I did not get to York to see dad before he died. I had arranged a visit for the Saturday May 9th but received a phone call from the ward on the afternoon of May 5th telling me he was unlikely to make it. They set a zoom up for me to see him in his hospital bed on my mobile phone and he did look bad. I had the flight booked which was for the visit. If he looked bad in 2013 and pulled through it was not going to happen this time. He was six years older and cancer had attacked on many fronts. He had put Prostrate cancer into remission while in his early eighties but this time it was having him, he had a fall at home and this may have triggered it off again. It spread through his lower regions into his bowels: he stood no chance. It attacked rapidly because only days before he was to go to a care home allowing limited independence – going to the bookies and other places – but it was not to be. Once this cancer attacked it was remorseless. Once I saw that image on the zoom I knew there would be no repeat of 2013, he was now 92, not 86.

My dad died at the time of the Coronavirus pandemic. I must make it clear that he did not die of Covid-19, it was cancer which killed him. Covid-19 became a catchall illness for deaths if the authorities in various countries could/can get away with it. It did not kill my dad. As bad as Covid-19 was/is – and it was/is serious – it was nothing to do with Nicks death. After “Perforated Bowel, Sigmoid Cancer and Metastatic Prostrate Cancer,” they put Covid-19 as a contributing factor. This, I was unofficially told was because it was almost becoming protocol to put this coronavirus down on deaths.

Olive, April 25th 2015 and Nick, May 5th 2020, clippie and driver (on the busses) together again.

RIP: Mam, Olive Morley, January 8th 1925-April 25th 2015 and Dad, John Nicholas (Nick) Morley August 23rd 1927-May 5th 2020.

Love Kevin. 

Kevin Morley, writer, activist,  author of A Descriptive History of the  Irish Citizen Army & Striking Similarities & The Misogynous President.



Nick Morley

Kevin Morley remembers his dad: August 23rd 1927 – May 5th 2020

Nick Morley, TGWU, with the late Jack Jones who 
fought against the forces of fascism in Spain

My Dad met my Mam, Olive, while they were both working on the buses. He was a driver and she a clippie (Conductress as it was then), a crew or bus crew as they were termed. In 1959 they were married, and in 1960 I came along. Olive stopped work as was the accepted thing in those days. Nick remained on the buses as a driver until his retirement in 1990. He finished as a long-distance coach driver having transferred to coaches from town and country. 

It was while driving long distance that my dad exercised an element of skill and judgement seldom called upon from a coach driver. Like most jobs an element of skill is involved, seldom reflected in the pay packet, and coach/bus driving was/is no exception. It was back in the late seventies or early eighties, I think, Nick was driving his coach when a little girl ran out in front of his moving vehicle. Nick knew slamming the breaks on would have been a death sentence for the child. Instead he allowed the front wheels to run over her then, knowing the distance between the front and forward rear axles he hit the break. This resulted in the girl coming to rest under the bus between the front and rear axles, almost unscathed and very much alive. This took quick judgement and, according to all reports, including the police, undoubtedly saved the little girl’s life.

During the sixties the union, branch 9/24, organised trips to Bridlington for the children of bus employees, Drivers and “Clippies” all of whom were TGWU members – a closed shop. Nick and other drivers would be responsible for the organisation of the outing and driving the busses. These were great trips and everybody, parents and children alike, looked forward to this day. Outings like these were few and far between during the nineteen-sixties, due to a shortage of money. 

Nick supplemented his Bus Drivers pay by shovelling coal from the lorry – straight from the pit – into sacks at Arrowsmiths Coal Yard in Acomb, just outside York. These sacks would then be collected from the yard by the coal merchant. Coal was delivered to customers in those days to be used to heat homes. It was a long working day for people like my dad and, on days off when not on union business he would be shovelling coal. 

Once per year we would have a week self-catering holiday at either Filey or Hornsea. This was before the days of holidays abroad and as we could not afford places like Great Yarmouth, where better off kids went, Filey was the usual destination. Late in the seventies we could do a week in Yarmouth or Torquay – pay had increased after a series of successful strikes for higher wages – but during the sixties this was a pipe dream. Spain and foreign holidays never would be in our price range but we enjoyed our times at Filey or Hornsea as much, if not more than the spoilt brats of what I now know as the bourgeoisie did in Spain or other foreign climes. 

Nick – full name John Nicholas – was a lifelong member and, when younger, activist of the British Labour Movement. He was a Labour Party member until his death, though was no lover of Tony Blair. He believed in party loyalty as did many older stalwarts of the same era like the late Tony Benn. Nick was a Shop Steward for many years getting re-elected several times. His trade union was the Transport and General Workers Union (TGWU) and he met with the late jack Jones, then General Secretary of the TGWU, a man who fought in Spain as part of the International Brigades against Franco’s Fascists. Nick was too young being only nine when the Spanish Civil War broke out. My dad was active in the union for as long as I can remember during the days of the post war political consensus in Britain, including Keynesian economic policies, practiced by both Labour and Conservative governments – until the election of Thatcher in 1979 – he continued trade union involvement until his retirement. 

Part of the consensus politics included a style of industrial relations known as pluralism. This was a system in which management and trade unions would hold regular meetings, particularly in the nationalised industries – Coal, Steel, Rail, Transport etc. Dad worked for National Bus which the West Yorkshire Road Car Company became part of. The pluralist system of Industrial Relations accepted class conflict as inevitable but not insurmountable, and realised that strikes would happen if negotiations broke down. This was not an acceptance of the right to strike by management and on the eve of any strike the usual warnings about it being in breach of contract and, therefore, dismissible were always issued, and ignored. I was going through some of dad’s old papers and found one such letter to him, as Shop Steward, from management threatening sackings if this strike went ahead. This was in the early 1980s – when Thatcherism was starting to bite – and, needless to say, the letter was ignored and pickets placed on the bus depot. Pluralism included regular meetings between the shop stewards and management to discuss issues like hours of work, health and safety, with the unions recommendations usually implemented. A far cry from today where trade unions exist largely in name only – this does not have to remain the case. This decline in trade unionism saddened my dad a lot, that much I do know. He would often say, ‘all the gains we fought for have been thrown away, the old stewards would turn in their graves especially Cess Singleton – who was the Branch Secretary during the sixties and early seventies – at what was going on!’

My dad was a firm believer in the “closed shop”, meaning all employees had to be a member of the union. His rationale for this was that the union fought for such things as pay increases, often meaning members had to take strike action in support of a pay claim. If, for example the union put in a twenty percent pay demand, and management came back with say eight percent with productivity strings attached, then this offer would be rejected. Strike action would ensue and after a period, denying the public a bus service – the blame lay at management's feet – a settlement of say fourteen percent with no strings would be reached. Those who refused to join the union would also benefit from this pay increase despite not having lifted a finger to achieve it – many employers would not, at this juncture, employ non-union labour because the strength of feeling was so high against these creatures. 

When Margaret Thatcher introduced legislation outlawing the “closed shop” The shop stewards nationally fought against the Tory legislation which Thatcher claimed; “was to give people freedom of choice whether they wanted to be involved with a trade union or not.” This was, of course utter rubbish and lies. Her intention was to weaken the ability of the unions to launch any affective campaigns to improve their members living standards, using this over used word “freedom” as her rationale. She knew it was a lie, the unions knew it was a lie and those would be “scabs” knew it was a lie. Her legislation was far more sinister in its objective. Unfortunately, the legislation was passed and remains to this day in Britain. Thatcher’s henchman, Norman Tebbit, is on record as saying; “my legislation has stood the test of time as no Labour administration has revoked my anti-union legislation”. 

For once this right-wing demagogue was telling the truth – for all the wrong reasons – and when Tony (tory) Blair and “New Labour” came to power in 1997 none of the legislation introduced by Tebbit, under Thatcher, was revoked. My dad had no time for Blair but, as I pointed out earlier, he was a party member and was very loyal to the labour movement. In the 2017 British General Election he supported Jeremy Corbyn, as he had in the battle for the Labour party leadership.

When in 1984 the miners came out on strike – which would last for one year – Nick was part of the shop stewards committee which organised coaches to take striking miner’s children away on days out. The idea was initially that of Branch Secretary of 9/24 branch, Derek Smallwood at the West Yorkshire Road Car Company (National Bus). My dad and other shop stewards gave their free time, days off and holidays, to take the kids away. This was in line with TGWU policy to aid the NUM wherever possible within the law. This last part was perhaps where me and my dad differed: different generation I suppose. He believed, back in the eighties, that the return of a Labour government would put everything back on track. Back to the negotiating days of “beer and sandwiches” at Number Ten when Harold Wilson would invite the TUC to Downing Street for talks. Alas Nick and many of his generation were to be bitterly disappointed when “New Labour” swept to power in 1997. Tony Blair abolished clause iv of the party’s constitution which committed the Labour Party to public ownership of the means of production. When this was removed from the constitution Miner’s leader, Arthur Scargill, said of Blair; ‘that man in there has declared war on the working-class.’ 

I stood on picket lines with my dad on numerous occasions and admired the working-class solidarity which existed in those days. Dad would often tell me of strikes in the late fifties and early sixties when pickets would be set up at the city boundaries stopping any bus entering York. One tactic they had - if the driver was proving awkward - was to put sugar in the diesel tank: the bus was then going nowhere! This also gave the driver the excuse to tell his employer his bus broke down!! 

As I mentioned earlier, when I was going through some of his old papers I came across a letter from management during the eighties advising employees and shop stewards, that taking part in the up and coming industrial action – strike – would make those taking part in “breach of contract” and they would be liable to dismissal. This was despite abiding by Thatcher’s laws on balloting with an overwhelming mandate to strike. Obeying the law offered no protection against the sack, though management did not yet feel strong enough to try and sack anybody: the union was still strong. 

As Thatcher’s privatisation plans - after the fall of the NUM as Arthur Scargill had warned - managements across the country in nationalised industries began taking a harder line, encouraged to do so by the government. What these half-brained managers did not realise was that when privatisation came, with their connivance, their jobs were also on the line as they too were employees. The days of pluralist industrial relations and the post-war consensus were coming to an end. Thatcher hated this consensus and replaced it with a new right-wing variant, which included Tony Blair: and “New Labour.” Thatcher is on record as describing “New Labour as her greatest achievement.”

My dad retired in 1990 – the union gave him, and other retiring former shop stewards, a good retirement present and social night – but he continued to carry on any outstanding union business. He was an organiser of the TGWU (now UNITE THE UNION), along with others, retired members. The late Jack Jones, former General Secretary of the TGWU was the first National Secretary of the Retired Members. Although Nick had retired, as I pointed out, he continued with union business. I remember vividly Christmas Eve 2013 he complained of feeling unwell. He was going out on union business, monies outstanding and other issues which needed sorting and quick. Monies were owed to former members of the TGWU by their former employer. I suggested he stay in as dad did not look at all well - let somebody else have a go was my suggestion. Nick was adamant, this needed sorting and quick, and needed doing right. On his return he looked very ill indeed, having secured the said monies. That evening, Christmas Eve, he collapsed. I was over from Ireland, as luck would have it as my mam could not have coped. She was suffering from Alzheimer’s – and just looked vacant as the ambulance crew took dad to hospital ICU. 

On Christmas day I took Olive, my Mam, to visit Nick in ICU. I tied her wrist to mine with my Man United scarf – FC United – so as she could not wander off. On seeing her husband in this state, it triggered something in her mind and for a short time she had some grip on reality. Nick was 86 and suffering from renal failure and the odds were against him. Renal failure kills people half his age yet, within three weeks he was sat up in bed on an ordinary ward reading Alex Fergusons autobiography, he had a hell of a constitution.

Like myself Nick Morley was a member of Football Club United of Manchester (Manchester United Football Club almost spelt backwards), a rebel breakaway club formed by rebellious Manchester United supporters over the aggressive takeover of Man Utd by Malcom Glazer in 2005. The Glazer takeover was the icing on a very deep cake and grievances ranged from price hikes, all seater stadia, money taking preference over football and the total degeneration of the game, as a game, at what passes for the highest level. FC United put a short obituary to my dad on their twitter site.

I did not get to York to see dad before he died. I had arranged a visit for the Saturday May 9th but received a phone call from the ward on the afternoon of May 5th telling me he was unlikely to make it. They set a zoom up for me to see him in his hospital bed on my mobile phone and he did look bad. I had the flight booked which was for the visit. If he looked bad in 2013 and pulled through it was not going to happen this time. He was six years older and cancer had attacked on many fronts. He had put Prostrate cancer into remission while in his early eighties but this time it was having him, he had a fall at home and this may have triggered it off again. It spread through his lower regions into his bowels: he stood no chance. It attacked rapidly because only days before he was to go to a care home allowing limited independence – going to the bookies and other places – but it was not to be. Once this cancer attacked it was remorseless. Once I saw that image on the zoom I knew there would be no repeat of 2013, he was now 92, not 86.

My dad died at the time of the Coronavirus pandemic. I must make it clear that he did not die of Covid-19, it was cancer which killed him. Covid-19 became a catchall illness for deaths if the authorities in various countries could/can get away with it. It did not kill my dad. As bad as Covid-19 was/is – and it was/is serious – it was nothing to do with Nicks death. After “Perforated Bowel, Sigmoid Cancer and Metastatic Prostrate Cancer,” they put Covid-19 as a contributing factor. This, I was unofficially told was because it was almost becoming protocol to put this coronavirus down on deaths.

Olive, April 25th 2015 and Nick, May 5th 2020, clippie and driver (on the busses) together again.

RIP: Mam, Olive Morley, January 8th 1925-April 25th 2015 and Dad, John Nicholas (Nick) Morley August 23rd 1927-May 5th 2020.

Love Kevin. 

Kevin Morley, writer, activist,  author of A Descriptive History of the  Irish Citizen Army & Striking Similarities & The Misogynous President.



Kevin Morley Obituary

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