On 10 January 1980 night-shift workers were given a wake-up warning by British Leyland management. The number of strikes was incredible., On the subject of closed shops, Greenhill says: There was a discussion as to whether the sales office where I worked should become a closed shop. (10 seconds outside of a garage in hot sun and the paint would fade and turn into something resembling 1000 grit sandpaper..?). All this was occurring at the same time as the crisis confronting BL over its decision to fire Longbridge Convener Derek Robinson. Linda Fisher's interview. Yesterday they faced a disciplinary hearing. 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. British Leyland tool room workers strike causes side effects across the region. Video, At the crash site of 'no hope' - BBC reporter in Greece, Record numbers of guide dog volunteers after BBC story. A motion for a strike in favour of his reinstatement was overwhelmingly defeated - 14,000 votes against to just 600 in favour. Mr Alan Walters, a supervisor, said he had seen another man come from the office carrying a Land-Rover seat capable of being used as a bed. 20 illustrated plate. Red Robbo speaks to striking workers at Longbridge in the 1970s. Rugeley man apprehended with crack and heroin in Staffordshire town, Human error to blame for deadly train crash, says Greek PM, At the crash site of 'no hope' - BBC reporter in Greece. A further confrontation with the Transport and General Workers Union over BLs imposition of new working practices in April saw market share slump further to 13 per centin June 1980. Five minutes afterwards Mr Yates came out. Where can you get quick classic car insurance quotes? Born in Bedfordshire but now residing in Norfolk, Ian Nicholls is an ardent BL enthusiast. Over 50,000 workers across British Leyland immediately came out on strike, including the 20,000 workers at Longbridge in . From Our Correspondent Birmingham. Whatexactly happened and whenare not easy to decipher. 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. "He may well have had absolute belief in what he was doing, but few others did," Mr Cox added. The men said that, under BLs Measured Day Work system of payment, they were entitled to leave as soon as they had completed their output target for the day. How did you not hear that he said to which my friend blatantly lied I had ear muffs on we were grinding most of the night! Bits of hardware still running off BBC B computers..! Keith Adams Youll find that spending time reading Ian Nicholls excellent set of stories about, Clive Goldthorp THE real significance of Honda Motor Company Limited (Honda) President and CEO Takeo, THE GUARDIAN Production should be back to normal today at two Midlands car plants where, British Motor Holdings the joining of BMC and Jaguar. Mr Robinson led the fight back, organising hundreds of disputes. The former British Leyland worker and trade unionist Derek Robinson has died, aged 90. Good condition, owner's inscription on flyleaf. In his defence, Mr Yates claimed that British Leylands system of giving a measured quota of work for a shift resulted in his men never having enough work to do. Doubling up as it was known-working extra fast so you could bunk off-wasnt confined to BL either. To view the purposes they believe they have legitimate interest for, or to object to this data processing use the vendor list link below. A communist, he had led 523 walkouts at the Birmingham car plant during a 30-month period, gaining the nickname Red Robbo from journalists and becoming an increasingly divisive national figure. The tribunal at Birmingham heard that the events took place in June 1979, not November as previously assumed, after a six-month investigation into alleged clock-card malpractices at the Solihull plant. And apart from the stupid steering wheel, the Allegro was pretty good, and a lot less labourintensive to produce than the 1100/1300., Was the UK press quicker to stick the boot in when things went wrong than they were in, say, France? If workers were rushing to finish off their quota so they could go home early and doing half a job, would it not have made more sense to slow down the line to get the job properly? By Business Ideas UK October 31, 2017. Where can you get cheap classic car insurance? Currently he owns a Jaguar and two classic Minis. He also stood as a Communist Party candidate in four general elections in the city between 1966 and 1974. The pamphlet said: All our efforts and resources must be mobilised to change the policy of closures and contraction. The British rail class 153 super sprinters are single car units converted in the 1990s from British Leyland built two-car class 155s. Vilified by the media as "Red Robbo" he was also betrayed, in the eyes of his supporters, by trade union bosses. Am I being targeted by an overpayment scam? By the winter of 1979, as 1.5 million public sector workers were on strike across the UK, the Labour government was in its final throes. Read about our approach to external linking. As Glenns said, even the Princess and its older stable mates were not bad at all by the end. Duration: 0:05:15. . But at Drews Lane we still have an extraordinary situation. Continue with Recommended Cookies. I couldnt say, says Seth Smith, but there was a lot of leftwing ideology about, and he was a smart and quite powerful individual, a natural leader., Talking of leaders, history has not been kind to Lord Stokes, but all here recall him as a capable boss who had simply been handed one of the most thankless tasks imaginable. We must develop a campaign that involves every BL worker, every component worker and the wider Labour movement. However, despite this rallying call and a walkout by thousands of workers in support of their dismissed convenor, an official strike vote failed. We all worked like hell to make it work Inside British Leyland. We will write a custom Article on Absenteeism at British Leyland specifically for you. 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. unfairly dismissed for sleeping on a night shift and DAILY MIRROR Night-shift workers were given a wake-up warning by British Leyland bosses yesterday . Derek Robinson - Red Robbo - speaks to striking British Leyland workers in Cofton Park. Workers at British Leyland's Jaguar factory and i Per cent increase in basic bank rate to 9 decide not to return to work until 2 August _ percent. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. The UCPI is a damage limitation exercise by the British state, established in 2015 after the exposure of widespread use of undercover police agents against political organisations. "But they are going to appeal against the decision. With two successive name changes, British Leyland became BL Limited in 1979. He left school aged 14 to begin work at the Austin plant at Longbridge, initially as an apprentice toolmaker. Mr Lampett, who joined Rover 22 years earlier as a Tool Setter, said: I believe I have been treated very harshly. A quote from Austin Rover Managing Director Harold Musgrove (right) from 1984 underlines that. "I can sleep sound at night because I never betrayed the workers I was elected to represent," he said. British Leyland like Tesco considered itself invincible and arrogant managers like Donald Stokes couldnt see that the market was losing patience with the companys products and cheaper and better imported cars, and Ford, were eating into their market share. It was a fantastic shape but, when I parked it, nobody looked at it. 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. Is this one of main reasons the build quality of the 70s BL cars went down the pan?? Initially, the workers came out in support of Mr Robinson, he said. Position: Children's Residential Support Worker. 13 November 1979. But the car giant had been hit hard by post-war economic struggles and had developed a reputation for producing low-quality cars. 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. Photography James Page/LAT. Only three men, none of them Mr Yates, had gone to the clocking point before 6.45 am, the end of the shift. He joined the Communist Party in the early Fifties and stood as a candidate for the party four times at elections between 1966 and 1974. It employed 200,000 people and was the fifth largest . The plant . Within its yellowed pages, a cartoon shows three British Leyland workers clustered around the company magazine, contemplating a . Yet surely using cheap steel on what was classed as an upmarket product was a big mistake and the Lancia joined the lesser Fiat Strada on the list of cars to avoid due to premature rust. The measured day rate replaced piece work at around 1970-1974 IIRC. Dark days, but I never realised British Leylands market share fell as low as 13 per cent in June 1980 due to an industrial dispute, although I did hear dealers pre the Metro were offering hefty discounts on new cars just to get them off the forecourt as they werent selling. I can't think of anyone who . Following the election of Margaret Thatcher in May 1979, the government and BL sought to implement a recovery plan to save the ailing company. VideoRecord numbers of guide dog volunteers after BBC story. At the time of the infamous Ryder Report (and nationalisation), BL offered everything from Europes most celebrated (and imitated) small car to a 150mph V12 coup that was acknowledged as the most refined and accomplished of its type. Rugeley man apprehended with crack and heroin in Staffordshire town, Human error to blame for deadly train crash, says Greek PM, At the crash site of 'no hope' - BBC reporter in Greece. Then, on 16 November 1979, another BL plant was in the news for similar reasons. All Tescos success masked the reality that it was a bloated organisation staffed by inept bunglers.The brand value of Tesco was all conquering.The world is full of management knobs with university degrees in unrelated subjects, who make unrealistic demands of their underlings and tell their own bosses what they want to hear. The spokesman at the Land Rover plant in Solihull: We do not condone sleeping or dozing in working hours.. But the political mood of the country was changing. 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