In this article DAVE LYDDON analyses the forces at work in British Leyland. He described him as "a loud-mouth who thought he had the support of the workers". Over 50,000 workers across British Leyland immediately came out on strike, including the 20,000 workers at Longbridge in . British Leyland's Truck and Tractor Plant, Bathgate, 1980. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. He was in charge of 32 men on the night shift who were dismissed, disciplined, or 'who resigned rather than be dismissed. People were not being properly paid and rewarded so they got together and formed their own alliance. Pay and Contract. 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. 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 director believes Mr Robinson was "betrayed" by a union leadership with whom he had a thorny relationship. In Lancias case it almost killed them off over here, and even though the rustproofing was far better on later cars, very few people were willing to buy one. When we walked the shop floor, I think 90 per cent of the employees had actually gone home. By Chris Hampson. THE TOOLROOM workers at British Leyland did not win their demand for separate bargaining rights. Indeed it almost looks like Corsas, Combos and Vectras had a salmon pink colour option! British Leyland, Britain's largest automaker, faced bankruptcy in 1975. In the 1980s and 90s, Mr Robinson worked as a tutor in trade union studies, teaching shop stewards. He was a lovely guy, recalls Greenhill, when you werent in a meeting with him. Was he a communist infiltrator? Mr Robinson . DeSantis won't say he's running. Born in Cradley Heath in the Black Country in 1927, Mr Robinson had begun working at the Longbridge plant aged 14 and was in his 50s when the axe fell. 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 BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. I am worried sick." 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. Stories from those at the coalface. Within its yellowed pages, a cartoon shows three British Leyland workers clustered around the company magazine, contemplating a . The pamphlet said: All our efforts and resources must be mobilised to change the policy of closures and contraction. "He's seen as a troublemaker, someone who resisted attempts to modernise," he said. Your email address will not be published. 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. Born in Bedfordshire but now residing in Norfolk, Ian Nicholls is an ardent BL enthusiast. British Motor Holdings merged with the Leyland Motor Company to form the British Leyland Motor Corporation on January 17, 1968. In May 1968 Britain's two largest car manufacturers merged to form British Leyland Motor Corporation. It seemed that if they werent being caught sleeping on the night shift they were standing on a picket line, the enduring images of TV news bulletins if your memory goes back that far. If you want to see the true horrors of 1970s workplaces, have a look at the ship building industry. As shop steward at British Leyland in Longbridge, Birmingham, he was involved in a series of strikes and walkouts over alleged mismanagement. Beginning on 8 January 1980, the Foreman fired in November, now named as Mr Robert Yates, of Coplow Close, Balsall Common, Warwickshire, began an unfair dismissal claim against Land Rover. Officers discovered Lai was sleeping in a squalid property . The following day Robert Yates lost his appeal for unfair dismissal. Known for. When questioned the men said they had completed their work quota. It will prove that ordinary working people have got the intelligence and determination to run industry'. It wasnt just at BL. The worker participation scheme at British Leyland was known as the Ryder Plan. Linda Fisher's interview. 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. As a young man, his first job was selling the newly launched Maestro at a BL dealership in his native Cumbria. "I can sleep sound at night because I never betrayed the workers I was elected to represent," he said. 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. for only $11.00 $9.35/page. We ask Birmingham: How can bus services improve in the city? Over the years, my father's garage has become an elephant's graveyard of corroded metal, faded wiring diagrams, desiccated gaskets and other relics of a lifetime of Land Rover ownership. Musgrovemay well have beenreferring to the Drews Lane plant in Birmingham. Inside British Leyland Stories from those at the coalface. Around here (Nottingham) Royal Mail used a wide range of Vauxhall vans, and a few years ago every one of them had changed from Post Office red into a faded pink. Kearsley has an encyclopaedic knowledge of the cars, down to the colour names and options, combined with a strong urge to save these underdogs. British Leyland trade union leader. 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. 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. Read about our approach to external linking. AROnline Keith Adams 2001-2022 - please refer to the 'Terms of use' pages. Here, after all, was the worlds fourth-biggest car maker building the planets most complete and ambitious range of vehicles. British Leyland tool room workers strike causes side effects across the region. The Musicians Union, which was the union for musicians employed directly by the BBC, dictated that Top of the Pops had to employ a staff orchestra and singers, even if their services werent needed, which in most cases they were not. 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. 13 November 1979. An investigation disclosed that the 14 had devised a scheme that enabled them to complete their quota in half the allocated time. "We all worked like hell to make it work" Inside British Leyland. "But they are going to appeal against the decision. 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. Ray Horrocks (right), the head of BL Cars, told Chairman Michael Edwardes: We talk of regaining management control and applying proper discipline. In this occasional series Ian Nichollsrevisits some of these stories, using the newspaper articles of the time as the main source of information. No votes so far! 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. Not really, its just moved from BL to the NHS. The paint turned dull and flat quite quickly. What fire was my friends answer to which the policeman pointed to the mess of the building next door and the thirty fire engines surrounding it! BL began selling its interests in the 1980s, and by 1990 the Ford Motor . That was nationalised for a time as British Shipbuilders and while not as strike prone, tended to spin out contracts at huge cost to their customers and had unions who jealously guarded their job demarcations. Job Type: Permanent, Full-Time. 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. 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. On 10 January 1980 night-shift workers were given a wake-up warning by British Leyland management. Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? 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. He wrote in his 1983 book, Back from the Brink, that Mr Robinson had "kept Longbridge in ferment and upheaval" for years and "disruption and upheaval" were his "food and drink". I can't think of anyone who . Classic car tax exemption: what you need to know. The sleeping on the night shift story went quiet until the New Year of 1980. From Our Correspondent Birmingham. 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. Management regarded him as an "insidious influence" and his days at the car firm had been numbered. But if the SD1 receives a vote of confidence, what about the great unmentionables the likes of the Allegro, Marina and Princess? 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. Learn how your comment data is processed. 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. Workers were to occupy and work in to prevent closures. 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. Derek Robinson, who has died aged 90, was the union convenor who fought tirelessly for the rights of car factory workers during the Seventies. 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. Mr Robinson, one of the most famous trade unionists of the 1970s, was dubbed Red Robbo by the media. 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. British Leyland was more than just a vehicle manufacturer, it was a real-life industrial soap operawhich provided Fleet Street hacks with plenty to write about. What's he waiting for? He was in charge of 32 men on the night shift who were dismissed, disciplined, or who resigned rather than be dismissed. Mr John Shayler, plant protection manager, said that at dawn on, June 14 he had seen a day-shift worker come in to their factory and knock on the door of the foremens office. 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.. Sounds very like British Leyland at the start of the seventies, four out of ten new cars were British Leyland and imports were still rare, if slowly gaining ground, and a few customers werent happy about the quality of the new Maxi. Where can you get quick classic car insurance quotes? Elon Musk sacks 200 MORE Twitter staff - including top lieutenant who boasted about sleeping in her office to commit to billionaire's new 'hardcore' work culture - before posting cryptic tweet With 'Red Robbo' now out of the picture the Austin Metro was launched in October 1980. Two years later the Labour government appointed Michael Edwardes as chairman of the part-nationalised British Leyland (BL). A little later, through a window, he saw two men, naked from the waist up. Strikes co-ordinated by Mr Robinson cost British Leyland 200m in lost production, according to chairman Michael Edwardes Former Leyland worker Stephen Cox said Mr Robinson was regarded by many . Williams Lyons. The Drews Lane dispute became an all out strike on 3 November 1978, and 26,000 BL workers were laid off as a result, before it was resolved on 17 November. 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. The consent submitted will only be used for data processing originating from this website. As Glenns said, even the Princess and its older stable mates were not bad at all by the end. Enter your username or email to reset your password. He was sitting opposite Mr Robinson when the union convenor was finally dismissed. He was dressed. Fearing that its collapse would leave a million workers unemployed, the Labour government nationalized it. Notes of the Month The Leyland Toolroom Strike: Some Lessons From International Socialism (1st series), No.97, April 1977, pp.4-5. Slight wear at extremities of boards. One of the most notorious trade unionists in recent memory has died aged 90. No mention was made of any disciplinary action against the workers. At one stage one in eight pounds spent in Britain were with Tesco. He was dressed. Initially, the workers came out in support of Mr Robinson, he said. Security officers kept watch from behind an extractor fan in a paint shop from where they could see a clocking point. As shop steward at British Leyland in Longbridge, Birmingham, he was involved in a series of strikes and walkouts over alleged mismanagement. She said: "My husband rang to tell me that they have all lost their jobs.". British Leyland would once again become a privately-owned company and the size of the state sector would be reduced. But taking a bed to work was a deliberate act of anticipation.. Mr Robinson, one of the most famous trade unionists of the 1970s, was dubbed Red Robbo by the media. 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. Opinion : Derek Robinson: Victim or villain? Communist Party of Great Britain, Communist Party of Britain [1] Derek Robinson (1927-2017) was a British trade unionist. It was about two oclock in the afternoon. 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. Good condition, owner's inscription on flyleaf. 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