Several hundred sub-contractors at the Belfast shipyard, Harland & Wolff, went on a one-day strike yesterday after being sent home without pay on Thursday afternoon while a ship-naming ceremony took place.
Many of the workers come from Scotland and the north of England. They were disgusted at not seeing the naming of the ship which they had built and at not being paid for the afternoon. They were expected to return to work today.
The huge ship is the first of two £200 million drill ships ordered by the US company Global Marine.