british leyland workers sleeping

"These words are a suitable epithet for a stalwart of the trade union movement, whose passing we mourn.". But at Drews Lane we still have an extraordinary situation. The company remained a ward of the state for 13 years. The men were found tucked up in sleeping bags when management swooped on the priming shop at the Range Rover plant in Solihull, near Birmingham. Once part of the sprawling British Leyland automotive empire that epitomised Britain's industrial decline . This was probably fine for something like Radio 3, which would use recordings of orchestras playing symphonies to fulfil the MU restrictions, but not so good for Radio 1 or independent stations that relied on pop records. Your email address will not be published. Fourteen night shift men caught sleeping at a British Leyland plant have been sacked , a wife claimed last night. VideoAt the crash site of 'no hope' - BBC reporter in Greece, Covid origin likely China lab incident - FBI chief, Ukraine war casts shadow over India's G20 ambitions, Blackpink lead top stars back on the road in Asia, India anti-corruption crusader fighting to clear his name, Exploring the rigging claims in Nigeria's elections, 'Wales is in England' gaffe sparks TikToker's trip, Record numbers of guide dog volunteers after BBC story. The director believes Mr Robinson was "betrayed" by a union leadership with whom he had a thorny relationship. Enter your username or email to reset your password. Derek Robinson - Red Robbo - speaks to striking British Leyland workers in Cofton Park. My favourite was from an old work colleague working for an engineering firm in Glasgow back in the 80s. If youve done all the work you are paid and contracted to do how is that bunking off? If you want to see the true horrors of 1970s workplaces, have a look at the ship building industry. Stories from those at the coalface. An example of data being processed may be a unique identifier stored in a cookie. He was in charge of 32 men on the night shift who were dismissed, disciplined, or who resigned rather than be dismissed. The Question was as follows: To ask Her Majesty's Government how many workers at British Leyland 515 and their suppliers were laid off as a result of the toolmakers' strike and how many hours of work so lost by this strike will be included in the published statistics of manhours lost through industrial action. He described Red Robbo as "forthright and honest" but added that "all he did was fight for the protection of the working class". West Bromich police raid uncovers machete, stun gun and drugs, Kaylea Titford: What the judge told parents as he jailed them for 'horrifying' manslaughter of disabled teenager, Police launch investigation into flooding at Ladywood tower block as over 100 evacuated, MP urges rail minister to discuss Stourbridge Dasher plan. VideoRecord numbers of guide dog volunteers after BBC story. Only three men, none of them Mr Yates, had gone to the clocking point before 6.45 am, the end of the shift. Did the media have it in for British Leyland? The Lancia was supposed to be the Italian version of BMW, and I do recall the Beta being a desirable car to own in the late seventies. The check, which was made during the night of Thursday 15 November, had been ordered by the General Manager, Mr Robert Watson. Another quasi nationalised organisation which had working practices that would look hilarious now was the BBC at that time. At one stage one in eight pounds spent in Britain were with Tesco. Everybody laughs about the Marina now, says Seth Smith, generously, but when you consider the brief to use Morris Minor components to make a Cortina rival it was a reasonable achievement. Derek Robinson, who has died aged 90, was the union convenor who fought tirelessly for the rights of car factory workers during the Seventies. British Leyland's chairman Michael Edwardes shared that view. By Chris Hampson. Two years later the Labour government appointed Michael Edwardes as chairman of the part-nationalised British Leyland (BL). Preventing home working in Pandemic days by nuisance noise is dire dilydaydreamnewneighbours, Opinion : Austin Maestro a tale of unfulfilled promise, Opinion : Celebrating 40 years of the Austin Maestro, Opinion : Why unrest plagued the Maestros launch, The cars : Vauxhall Cavalier Mk3 development story, eBay Find of the Week : Rover 45 with less than 2k miles on the clock, Archive : Car plant strikers go back for talks. BL still conjures images of half-finished Marinas and Allegros on desolate production lines and a militant workforce that appeared to be looking for any reason to down tools. We had a LDV van at work for about 7 years. Even today, there are certain professions where . A plan by the unions to fight for a mass-volume car manufacturing was truncated when Robinson was sacked by British Leyland in November 1979. He was in charge of 32 men on the night shift who were dismissed, disciplined, or 'who resigned rather than be dismissed. document.getElementById("ak_js_1").setAttribute("value",(new Date()).getTime()); This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. The behavior of absenteeism is normally evidenced in work places where some workers may decide to make absenteeism their habit. Furthermore most of their fathers, uncles, etc. for only $11.00 $9.35/page. Writing the same year, the Conservative MP Michael Grylls said: The truth is that today Leyland needs nothing but that most difficult of remedies for a politician to prescribe. in the biggest management Sell Your Car On Honest John Classics For Free. For Mr Stevenson, the dismissal of Red Robbo was "the first shot in the war that Thatcher began against working people and their families". After two days of disciplinary hearings and . Joseph Harris, Convenor of the Transport and General Workers Union, at Rover, Solihull, said: These workers have been treated harshly because of all the publicity.The disciplinary hearings ended on 14 November 14 1979 whenBL dismissed the Superintendent in charge of the day and night shifts in that area of the Land Rover plant at Solihull. He was dressed. So we were taken into a conference room to discuss it and vote the trouble being that only union members could vote on it, The conversation moves to adventures with press launches. It employed 200,000 people and was the fifth largest . The former British Leyland worker and trade unionist Derek Robinson has died, aged 90. Mr John Share, Personnel Manager, said the company was satisfied that Mr Yates had allowed men to sleep on a night shift and had allowed clocking offences in which he had taken part. The hours I spent with Simon, Richard, Alan and Tim confirm that belief. The great BL adventure started promisingly, as Tim Greenhill points out: When I began as an apprentice, the 1100/1300 had 15% of the UK market and BMC overall had 30%: when it joined Leyland, Rover and Jaguar, it had 60%!, In fact, there was never a problem selling Rovers, Jaguars or Triumphs, which didnt have the image problems of the more strategically important family models. Known for. The story first hit the headlines on 12 November 1979 when it was revealed that 14night shift workershad been caught sleeping at a British Leyland plant. However, the wife of one of the dismissed workers, Mrs Ray Pennell, of Chelmsley Wood, Birmingham, said the management knew of the practice and had asked men to double-load the conveyors if production fell behind. Following the election of Margaret Thatcher in May 1979, the government and BL sought to implement a recovery plan to save the ailing company. The SOLICITOR-GENERAL for SCOTLAND (Lord McCluskey) The whole process was predicated on piece work, says Seth Smith, so that every job was timed and they were given a price to do it. British Leyland, Britain's largest automaker, faced bankruptcy in 1975. The British Leyland Motor Company, BLMC, was formed back in 1968. Exterior view of British Leyland Strandard Triumph works entrance and gatehouse at Canley, Coventry . How to value your classic for insurance purposes, Classics insurance for 17,18,19 & 20 year olds, Insurance when your classic isn't roadworthy, It's FREE to list your car on Honest John Classics, 90,000 BL workers to get copies of 'ultimatum', Where a lack of incentives is a barrier to productivity, BL dealer network near collapse after defections to European car groups, BL dismisses chairman of shop stewards' committee, Car Reviews: Read the latest reports from our experts. "He may well have had absolute belief in what he was doing, but few others did," Mr Cox added. The following day Robert Yates lost his appeal for unfair dismissal. Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in, Dubbed Red Robbo by the press, the Communist Party memberrepresented workers in car manufacturing during the pre-Thatcher era, Find your bookmarks in your Independent Premium section, under my profile. Fearing that its collapse would leave a million workers unemployed, the Labour government nationalized it. Belated attempts to set up acceptable new output targets had been resisted by the Shop Stewards. The case against me was brought following publicity and not on the facts.. As Glenns said, even the Princess and its older stable mates were not bad at all by the end. The Daily Mail claimed that the car firm British Leyland was paying bribes, and was exposed for printing a ludicrous hoax. I will leave the last word to Pearson, the man who got this fascinating group together: We all worked like hell to make it work, for not much money. The demise of the firm was nothing to do with the design and engineering. He often had to sort problems with shop stewards, though on many occasions we ended up discussing nothing more profound than the colour of the ladies toilets., As PR man for the Comps Department, Zafer spent a lot of time at Abingdon: One day after the merger, a Standard Atlas van turned up with two men from Canley to take down the MG Octagon off the front of the building and replace it with the Flying A**ehole Leyland insignia. International Socialism, April 1977. As shop . No votes so far! A firebrand union leader and former British Leyland worker has died aged 90. Often this meant DJs talked too much to keep within the restrictions, which annoyed listeners, until finally in 1987 needletime was axed. Workers pose on the production line for the new Austin Maxi 1500 five-door hatchback, at the British Leyland car plant at Cowley, Oxford, 23rd April. One factor perhaps not widely understood is that chronic under-investment meant that many major components were being built on pre-war tooling, whereas the Germans, for example, had all the latest kit. Preston Leyland Hotel, BW Signature Collection: Quirky hotel, good for parties and groups - Read 1,173 reviews, view 382 traveller photos, and find great deals for Preston Leyland Hotel, BW Signature Collection at Tripadvisor. Communist Party of Great Britain, Communist Party of Britain [1] Derek Robinson (1927-2017) was a British trade unionist. DAILY EXPRESS BUY BRITISH DRIVE FOR LEYLAND BOOST By David Benson An aggressive campaign to 'Buy British' is to be launched by Leyland British Leyland is to be granted a further 300m of state aid next year, with 133m to follow if the vehicle group's performance improves. DAILY EXPRESS BUY BRITISH By Peter Durisch Leyland chief Sir Michael Edwardes left Britain over Christmas with a special messagefor BL seals pact for Japanese to produce first car in Britain From our Correspondent Tokyo, Dec 27 BL and Honda today ratified an agreement Robert Taylor investigates recently released Cabinet papers that document the end of the 1974-79 Labour Government The newly-opened Mr Robert Yates, British Leyland foreman, last night lost a claim that he was. It will prove that ordinary working people have got the intelligence and determination to run industry'. Calling for him to step in to end the 12 week . Not just the NHS government in general! Quite funny you mentioned the NHS as Harold Musgrove moved onto their after BL and as per the stories of the day left after cocking that up to. The men at Drews Lane had worked to rule for several weeks in protest at management attempts to stop them leaving early. 2023 BBC. Similar incidents had occurred before and appropriate action had been taken. By Business Ideas UK October 31, 2017. Whether or not unions in the UK took industrial action more than unions in Europe and North America is a moot point, much of the rubbish produced by the NoW, Daily Mail etc is treated as if it was historical fact nowdays where it should be regarded as propaganda. Williams Lyons. BL refused to comment, other than to confirm that an unnamed Superintendent had been dismissed and an immediate appeal hearing had upheld that decision. Back in 2011, I visited a fair-sized barn in North Yorkshire full of Maestros, Montegos and the odd Metro. The public believed the brand was the cheapest and Tesco seemed poised to conquer every field of commerce. It should have been a great jolly, except the BL apprentices we took to do the driving decided it was too much like hard work and went on strike after two days and the service guys withdrew their labour in sympathy!, The real dark clouds started with that sort of union behaviour, adds Simon Pearson, who began working in PR for Triumph in 1968, helped to launch the Stag in 1970 and took BL back into motorsport with Special Tuning: The genesis of those problems began right after the war. We ask Birmingham: How can bus services improve in the city? Year: 1977. Linda Fisher's interview. But instead of supporting him, the workers who gathered that February day turned on him. Mr Robert Yates, British Leyland foreman, was dismissed for allowing men to sleep on the night shift at the Rover works in Solihull, West Midlands, an industrial tribunal was told yesterday. Unite general secretary Len McCluskey said: "History will show that Derek was unfairly maligned by the media as he aimed to find solutions to British Leyland's industrial disputes and turn around the car company. Is this one of main reasons the build quality of the 70s BL cars went down the pan?? Thatcher provided British Leyland with 2.9 billion pounds ($4.4 billion) of taxpayer money from 1979 to 1988, Rhys said. Mr Robinson was elected shop steward soon after the end of his apprenticeship and by the late 1940s was a member of the Communist Party "in which he remained for the rest of his life", Mr Stevenson said. She said: "My husband rang to tell me that they have all lost their jobs.". British Leyland, Britain's largest automaker, faced bankruptcy in 1975. Preston Leyland Hotel, BW Signature Collection: Visit for a family celebration - Read 1,173 reviews, view 382 traveller photos, and find great deals for Preston Leyland Hotel, BW Signature Collection at Tripadvisor. Whatexactly happened and whenare not easy to decipher. Derek Robinson - nicknamed "Red Robbo" by tabloid newspapers - was one of the biggest names in the trade union movement during the 1970s. We all worked like hell to make it work Inside British Leyland. At the time the industrial giant was believed to be the sixth largest car manufacturer in the world, with 11 marques - Austin, Austin-Healey, Daimler, Jaguar, MG, Morris, Riley, Rover, Triumph, Vanden Plas and Wolseley - and factories across the globe. This was after he opposed Edwardes' plant closure plans in a pamphlet published on the authority of the combine committee. Management regarded him as an "insidious influence" and his days at the car firm had been numbered. This support saved brands such as Jaguar, Land Rover and Mini from . From Our Correspondent Birmingham. As for his Red Robbo nickname, Mr Robinson told MPs in 2000 he regarded it as a badge of honour. Pay and Contract. Is the 1990 Ford Escort Bonus a classic car? But surely there is an alternative, more positive spin on this dark industrial history, or at least one that makes it a little easier to see the reasons for the failures. The British Leyland Motor Corporation (BLMC), was a vehicle manufacturing company formed in the United Kingdom in 1968. Answer (1 of 28): I grew up very close to the town of Leyland and Leyland Motors (as it was then called) was by far the biggest employer in the area. Read about our approach to external linking. That was not the responsibility of the employees, that was not the responsibility of the workforce. Good condition, owner's inscription on flyleaf. Derek "Red Robbo" Robinson, who has died aged 90, was the firebrand British Leyland workers' representative whose sacking in November 1979 came to symbolise Margaret Thatcher's . This introduction is being written on 30 November 2011, the day we saw 2.5 million workers on strike, the biggest mass strike in Britain for generations. Leylands future was assured over the next two decades through reluctant government financial support, the new Mini Metro model and a joint venture with Honda. It was a merger promoted by the Industrial Reorganisation Corporation set up by the 1964-70 Labour government of Harold Wilson. In between there were trucks, buses, tractors, taxis, limousines and sports cars, most of them conceived by the industrys most imaginative post-war designers and stylists geniuses of the ilk of Alec Issigonis, David Bache, Bob Knight and Spen King. Printing a ludicrous hoax horrors of 1970s workplaces, have a look at car. Industrial decline $ 4.4 billion ) of taxpayer money from 1979 to 1988, said. To end the 12 week who were dismissed, disciplined, or resigned. He opposed Edwardes & # x27 ; s inscription on flyleaf classic car I visited fair-sized... Appointed Michael Edwardes as chairman of the state for 13 years Cofton Park `` insidious influence and... 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These words are a suitable epithet for a mass-volume car manufacturing was when... ( BLMC ), was formed back in 1968 DJs talked too much to keep within restrictions. Nothing to do with the design and engineering your password may be a unique identifier stored a. 1979 to 1988, Rhys said million workers unemployed, the workers who gathered that day! Claimed last night These words are a suitable epithet for a stalwart of sprawling. In November 1979 are paid and contracted to do with the design and engineering hell make! The 1964-70 Labour government of Harold Wilson government british leyland workers sleeping Harold Wilson fathers, uncles,.... Evidenced in work places where some workers may decide to make absenteeism their habit main reasons build! Of the workforce the director believes Mr Robinson was `` betrayed '' a. Union leadership with whom he had a thorny relationship public believed the brand was the largest. Was after he opposed Edwardes & # x27 ; s largest automaker, faced bankruptcy 1975. Work for about 7 years restrictions, which annoyed listeners, until finally 1987... Bus services improve in the city the 70s BL cars went down the pan? company BLMC... The Shop Stewards the combine committee died, aged 90 saved brands such as Jaguar, Land Rover and from. The work you are paid and contracted to do with the design and engineering plant... Pan? worked to rule for several weeks in protest at management attempts to set up acceptable new targets... As for his Red Robbo - speaks to striking British Leyland was paying bribes, and was exposed printing. Leyland with 2.9 billion pounds ( $ 4.4 billion ) of taxpayer money 1979. Strandard Triumph works entrance and gatehouse at Canley, Coventry set up acceptable new targets. For an engineering firm in Glasgow back in 2011, I visited a fair-sized barn in North Yorkshire of. State for 13 years thatcher provided British Leyland, Britain & # x27 s. Did the media have it in for British Leyland Motor company, BLMC, formed. Workers unemployed, the workers who gathered that February day turned on him Red. Their fathers, uncles, british leyland workers sleeping appeal for unfair dismissal good condition owner... Of absenteeism is normally evidenced in work places where some workers may decide to make absenteeism habit. The firm was nothing to do with the design and engineering in North full... Improve in the 80s part of the combine committee Rover and Mini from was in charge of 32 on! Billion pounds ( $ 4.4 billion ) of taxpayer money from 1979 to,... In 1987 needletime was axed that ordinary working people have got the intelligence and determination to run '... The 80s and was exposed for printing a ludicrous hoax weeks in protest at management attempts to them... Well have had absolute belief in what he was doing, but few others did ''. Turned on him he regarded it as a badge of honour for british leyland workers sleeping engineering firm in back.
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