THE man who mediated between workers and management in one of Britain's longest strikes retired yesterday, writes Deputy Business Editor Dan Jenkins.

George Clark, regional director of the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (Acas) dedicated three decades to resolving industrial disputes in the North-East.

The 60-year-old, from Ryton, Gateshead, retired with one regret - that he could not find a resolution to the bitter Magnet dispute in Darlington.

"That was a very sad occasion," he said.

"A lot of people lost their livelihoods and the company lost some profitability. There were no winners at the end of the day."

The 21-month strike began over pay and conditions in 1996 and tore families and communities apart.

The dispute escalated when the kitchen retailer sacked 320 workers for taking industrial action.

After 84 weeks on the picket line, the striking workers voted to accept an £850,000 pay-off - with some workers receiving as little as £250.

Bosses had hired non-union staff within days of the start of the dispute, so none of the sacked workers were given their jobs back.

Magnet lost an estimated £1.6m during the strike, but went on to post record profits the following year.

"That was one of the last major private sector strikes we have had in the North-East," said Mr Clark.

"People learned a lot from the consequences of that dispute.

"Now there is a degree of realism about what a strike is going to achieve.

"The unions are still there, are still hugely influential and still want the best for their members, but have changed their tactics.

"At the same time, employers are no longer bully boys. They have realised that, if they don't work with employees, they won't make any money and the shareholders will lynch them."

This change in attitude away from confrontation and towards a partnership approach is evident at Magnet, which last year won a national award for looking after its workforce.

Mr Clark, 60, joined Acas in 1976, in the middle of a decade blighted by strikes.

"This was the time of the winter of discontent and the three-day week," he said.

"Management and unions were practically at war. There were no common goals at all.

"Government, trade unions and employers had to take some very brave steps, both to legislate and to try and convince people that they had common goals, and that profitability was not necessarily a bad word.

"People had to realise that not all industries had a right to survive. They had to earn their way."

The election of a Tory Government in 1979 saw a radical shift in the balance of power.

For many in the region, Margaret Thatcher will be forever remembered as the Prime Minister who broke the unions and decimated heavy industry.

"Phrases like balance of power are unhelpful to organisations like Acas," said Mr Clark.

"We cannot say whether change was good, only deal with its outcomes.

"The political world changed and industry came under a different kind of pressure.

"There was a severe reduction in nationalised industries and major manufacturing. It was a very painful time for everyone."

Acas is a non-political organisation and was not directly involved in the miners' strike of 1984.

"We had to deal with the fallout," he said. "It impacted on a lot of other organisations.

"The industrial landscape of County Durham and Teesside is unrecognisable now.

"It isn't a perfect world - manufacturing is disappearing down the tubes and we have no clothing industry in the North-East any more.

"That used to sustain thousands of jobs.

"But there are probably more people working now than there were then.

"At the time, this change was hard for everybody.

"But we can probably look back now and see that maybe some good came out of it, especially in terms of industrial relations."

The Acas helpline in Newcastle still handles 50,000 calls a year, but is increasingly called on to pre-empt problems and offer employer training.

"Our role was very much about fire fighting before," he said. "Now it is about fire prevention," he said.

"Most of the calls we used to get were from people who had taken action, whereas now the majority are from people wanting advice before they take action."

Acas' new area director is Phil Pluck, former client service director with educational charity, the Brathay Hall Trust.

He sees the agency's main role in the future as training employers to get the best out of their workforce, while offering advice to help them keep up with legislative changes and advances in technology.

"Businesses now in the North-East are predominantly small to medium-sized enterprises and don't have large human resource departments," he said.

"More and more, Acas is going to be called upon to provide that service.

"The days of employers and unions keeping each other at a distance are disappearing.

"Acas is already working well in that environment. Whether it will completely prevent wholescale disputes, I don't know.

"But it will negate the need for them."