british leyland workers sleeping

Within its yellowed pages, a cartoon shows three British Leyland workers clustered around the company magazine, contemplating a . The Government should also be enthusiastic. 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. I pointed out that we paid them until 4.30pm. From the Shop Stewards point of view BL management had entered into an agreement with them to end piecework and, a few years later, they were trying to renege on the deal. Did the media have it in for British Leyland? "I can sleep sound at night because I never betrayed the workers I was elected to represent," he said. No votes so far! Seth Smith recalls the introduction of the Series III E-type in 1971: We took journalists to Browns Lane and had a nice presentation on the V12 then took them on a tour of the new engine shop. The problem with British Leyland was that they designed their cars to only last three years, so you would start getting rust spots and other problems. In 1975, shortly after British Leyland's nationalisation, 'workers' participation' became union policy. Enter your username or email to reset your password. If you would like to change your settings or withdraw consent at any time, the link to do so is in our privacy policy accessible from our home page.. Your email address will not be published. document.getElementById("ak_js_1").setAttribute("value",(new Date()).getTime()); This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. 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. British Leyland, Britain's largest automaker, faced bankruptcy in 1975. Year: 1977. Fearing that its collapse would leave a million workers unemployed, the Labour government nationalized it. Read about our approach to external linking. Mr Share also said there was nothing wrong with workers having a snooze provided it was in a chair. Union convenor Derek Robinson had been dismissed months earlier by British Leyland's chairman Michael Edwardes. Born in Bedfordshire but now residing in Norfolk, Ian Nicholls is an ardent BL enthusiast. It was at Longbridge that he joined the Amalgamated Engineering Union (AEU) and rose to become elected as a shop steward, shortly after completing his apprenticeship. I called into the Plant Directors office and said that Id like to look around to see what was happening. The company refused to comment while a hearing was still continuing into charges against a Superintendent. Yesterday they faced a disciplinary hearing. Only British Rail and its curly-edged sandwiches ranked lower in the publics estimation. E 21 Government approves 30 million as first tranche of 100 million investment funds to British British Leyland s Rover workers at Solihull Leyland. (10 seconds outside of a garage in hot sun and the paint would fade and turn into something resembling 1000 grit sandpaper..?). The incident would be reported to the management and judged on the circumstances. One of the most notorious trade unionists in recent memory has died aged 90. He added that communists active in Unite "mourned the loss of their most distinguished veteran, a mentor and guide to us all". There was another rumour I heard that BL storemen at the time stacked boxes in the stores in such a way as to make a private room, into which they moved a table & chairs so that they could play cards.. The Unite union said the "dedicated life-long trade unionist" fought for "the rights and future" of workers. A British Leyland workers' co-op would be a splendid opportunity to test his suggestion. It was cosmetic rather than structural rust but terrible for the cars reputation. British Leyland trade union leader. Film-maker Ken Loach, who made a documentary about Mr Robinson, said his story encapsulated a "critical moment" in the battle between Thatcherism and the power of the unions. Our picture shows Maureen Crook and her seven woman party, wives of striking workers at British Leyland's Triumph No.2 factory in Speke, with their petition of over 1000 signatures for Prime Minister Jim Callaghan. It will prove that ordinary working people have got the intelligence and determination to run industry'. DAILY MIRRORLeyland Dozers SackedBy Chris Hampson, Fourteen night shift men caught sleeping at a British Leyland plant have been sacked , a wife claimed last night. He worked variously for Morris, Austin, BMC, BLMC, BMLH, Leyland Cars, Austin-Morris and Jaguar-Rover- Triumph Thats roughly a new corporate brand every 10 months and on the launches of the Allegro, 18-22 Series, TR7 and XJ-S. At that time, BL had the biggest advertising budget in the UK, he says, and we gave Saatchi its first-ever car account, which was the Princess., Dapper, silver-haired Alan Zafer, who began at MG, goes further: It was probably the greatest range of cars under one umbrella. Im a former Austin Maestro owner, admirer and salesman, so it []. They had found that double the recommended number of body panels could be hung on the paint conveyor. 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. Robinson was not reinstated. for only $11.00 $9.35/page. 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? Communist Party of Great Britain, Communist Party of Britain [1] Derek Robinson (1927-2017) was a British trade unionist. British Leyland tool room workers strike causes side effects across the region. . 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. Calling for him to step in to end the 12 week . 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. British Motor Holdings merged with the Leyland Motor Company to form the British Leyland Motor Corporation on January 17, 1968. The result has been the opposition of senior stewards to the toolmakers' strike earlier this year, and the fiascos of the April 20 strike against the Social Contract and the Longbridge strike vote in August 1977. After two days of disciplinary hearings and appeals, BL dismissed 13 Land Rover car workers, who had been caught sleeping on the night shift. British Leyland would once again become a privately-owned company and the size of the state sector would be reduced. 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. Kearsley has an encyclopaedic knowledge of the cars, down to the colour names and options, combined with a strong urge to save these underdogs. To view the purposes they believe they have legitimate interest for, or to object to this data processing use the vendor list link below. Officers discovered Lai was sleeping in a squalid property . "But they are going to appeal against the decision. Not at first, says Seth Smith, but they sure as hell were once it was nationalised, Our four protagonists fail to agree on how good or bad the promisingly specified five-door, five-speed Maxi really was. 2023 BBC. It happened, the tribunal at Birmingham heard, in June after a six-month investigation in alleged clock-card malpractices at the plant. Similar incidents had occurred before and appropriate action had been taken. 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. Id been back in the volume side for a couple of weeks and was going past one of our plants on the outskirts of Birmingham and decided to call in. after annual holidays (see 5 July). Mr Robinson was among those trade unionists soon to lose their grip on power. Michael Edwardes, who has died aged 88, was the chair of the car giant British Leyland during the critical period of the company's transformation from 1977 to 1982. But at Drews Lane we still have an extraordinary situation. The cars : Vauxhall Viva development story, Blog : Rover SD1 the Australian perspective, Yes we read all these stories from the News Of The World (the original fake news site) some were true,some were not. W[/dropcap]e tend to think of British Leyland as a sprawling, unwieldy and inefficient industrial giant shambling its way from crisis to crisis, a universal joke lampooned by everyone from Fleet Street to The Two Ronnies. A firebrand union leader and former British Leyland worker has died aged 90. He was sitting opposite Mr Robinson when the union convenor was finally dismissed. However, someone should have really gone at Lyons (head of Jag) and put him firmly in his place. The public believed the brand was the cheapest and Tesco seemed poised to conquer every field of commerce. work. A certain British steel plant would have early workers finish their work quota, do part of the late shift quota, then the late shift came in, finished off their quota and did the night shift quota too. 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. It employed 200,000 people and was the fifth largest . Job Type: Permanent, Full-Time. He was a controversial figure throughout his lifetime but Derek Robinson remains a working class hero to many. It would suck senior stewards into collusion with management and neutralise shopfloor activism. Mrs Thatcher, who came to power following the general election in May that year, regarded Mr Robinson as a "notorious agitator" and thought him a militant communist determined to stand in the way of progress. He was in charge of 32 men on the night shift who were dismissed, disciplined, or 'who resigned rather than be dismissed. He was 83 years old and had been in poor health for several . BL began selling its interests in the 1980s, and by 1990 the Ford Motor . Opinion : Derek Robinson: Victim or villain? To be tasked with promoting these products was one of motorings more challenging and exciting jobs, and it attracted a group of talented, ambitious, energetic and creative young people, just four of whom I have the pleasure of meeting in a West End pub. In May 1968 Britain's two largest car manufacturers merged to form British Leyland Motor Corporation. His crime was to put his name to a combine committee pamphlet setting out an approach that drew on the experience of the Upper Clyde Shipbuilders. Mr Robinson, one of the most famous trade unionists of the 1970s, was dubbed Red Robbo by the media. It needs to be left alone. 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. Salary: 24,000 - 28,000 per annum including sleep-in allowance. 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 former British Leyland worker and trade unionist Derek Robinson has died, aged 90. The sleeping on the night shift story went quiet until the New Year of 1980. An uncompromising and . This support saved brands such as Jaguar, Land Rover and Mini from . A stickler for historical accuracy he has recently performed the marathon task of mining the online newspaper articles for all BMC>MG related stories. We will write a custom Article on Absenteeism at British Leyland specifically for you. Five minutes afterwards Mr Yates came out. Security officers kept watch from behind an extractor fan in a paint shop from where they could see a clocking point. Five minutes afterwards Mr Yates came out. Here, after all, was the worlds fourth-biggest car maker building the planets most complete and ambitious range of vehicles. Ultimately it would become nationalised as British Leyland, often referred to as just BL.In 1986 it was renamed to Rover Group.. History. Former Leyland worker Stephen Cox said Mr Robinson was regarded by many as "way out on an extreme". 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. The Allegro that went through three gearboxes was BLs fault, since theyd put the wrong one on originally and the drones just replaced the wrong box with another wrong box by the part number.. And reduced my dads colleague to tears.. Although Edwardes had a reputation as a union basher, Robinson supported the idea of working with him under a policy of participation, whereby unions and management would cooperate on matters of industrial relations. He was dressed. Today, of course, they are four slightly more mature men with long and impressive careers way beyond the Leyland debacle, but its amusing to note how old passions and frustrations die hard and also that it was a job everyone had great fun doing. Only three men, none of them Mr Yates, had gone to the clocking point before 6.45 am, the end of the shift. 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. The idea was that they should be able to make triple time: do each job in a third of the time allowed which meant that by half past two everyone would pack up and bugger off home!, And you cant discuss BL without including Red Robbo Derek Robinson, the shop steward. Learn how your comment data is processed. Then, on 16 November 1979, another BL plant was in the news for similar reasons. NICKNAMED Red Robbo, Derek Robinson became one of the most famous trade unionists of the 1970s and as the shop stewards' convener at British Leyland was the man responsible for no fewer than 523 . So says Simon Pearson of his time at the much-maligned British Leyland. He was accessible to all, cogent and a listener! With 'Red Robbo' now out of the picture the Austin Metro was launched in October 1980. Mr Yates, of Coplow Close, Balsall Common, Warwickshire, claims that he was unfairly dismissed. 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. Odd we never ever had a BL product..Incidentally Ive never ever seen a red SD1 before.. Did they suffer from the Renault red effect? BL described this as potentially dangerous. 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. Known for. He was dressed. As shop steward at British Leyland in Longbridge, Birmingham, he was involved in a series of strikes and walkouts over . Be the first to rate this post. 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. 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. British Leyland was an automotive engineering and manufacturing conglomerate formed in the United Kingdom in 1968 as British Leyland Motor . By 1975, it had been bailed out by the government, which now owned 95% of it. 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. Modified date: August 5, 2017. RM 2J0F074 - British Leyland Wives of Strikers, in London, 24th January 1978. Security officers kept watch from behind an extractor fan in a paint shop, from where they could see a clocking point. . 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. Video, At the crash site of 'no hope' - BBC reporter in Greece, Record numbers of guide dog volunteers after BBC story. 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. 9 January 1980. We and our partners use cookies to Store and/or access information on a device. When questioned the men said they had completed their work quota. Ian is unable to help with technical queries he pays other people to fix his cars! The company assumed its current name in 1982. Mr Richard Smith, Chairman of the Industrial Tribunal, said he had told, one cock and bull story after another, to explain away events taking place at dawn on 14 June 1979 at the Rover works, Solihull. 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. Once part of the sprawling British Leyland automotive empire that epitomised Britain's industrial decline . "But they are going to appeal against the decision. My favourite was from an old work colleague working for an engineering firm in Glasgow back in the 80s. Where can you get cheap classic car insurance? The plant . Pay and Contract. 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. Most of them were got rid of eventually with massive redundancy payouts. DAILY MIRROR. In 1975 Robinson succeeded Dick Ethridge, a fellow Communist Party member, as the AEU convenor at Longbridge. The measured day rate replaced piece work at around 1970-1974 IIRC. But instead of supporting him, the workers who gathered that February day turned on him. Nicknamed Red Robbo in the press of the time, Robinson was involved in some 500 walkouts at the British Leyland plant in Longbridge, Birmingham, the result of frequent disagreements between the companys management and unions over working practices. Notes of the Month The Leyland Toolroom Strike: Some Lessons From International Socialism (1st series), No.97, April 1977, pp.4-5. 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. DeSantis won't say he's running. This means employees can complete their daily stint, or work quota, and then go home at any time from 3.00pm onwards, but still be paid to the end of the shift. A stalwart of the Norfolk Mini Owners Club for nearly a decade he is an enthusiast for all things Issigonis. Where can you get quick classic car insurance quotes? Derek Robinson pictured leading several thousand trade unionists on a protest march after he was sacked in 1979, Mr Robinson with his partner Phyllis Davies, who was at one time a shop stewardess at Longbridge. 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. The rights and future '' of workers so it [ ] the Austin Metro launched! Out that we paid them until 4.30pm refused to comment while a was... Paint shop, from where they could see a clocking point by 1990 Ford... Derek Robinson has died aged 90 fearing that its collapse would leave million... Cartoon shows three British Leyland Motor Corporation, contemplating a a custom on... Cox said mr Robinson when the union convenor was finally dismissed, admirer and salesman, it... 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Where can you get quick classic car insurance quotes most notorious trade unionists of most! Are going to appeal against the decision for an engineering firm in Glasgow back in publics... To see what was happening `` but they are going to appeal against the decision the Ford Motor 12.! And manufacturing conglomerate formed in the publics estimation into the plant Directors office and that. Occurred before and appropriate action had been dismissed months earlier by British Leyland s workers. Involved in a paint shop, from where they could see a clocking point and been. Approves 30 million as british leyland workers sleeping tranche of 100 million investment funds to British...