Learn how your comment data is processed. "There were big strikes across British Leyland, but union leaders instructed them to go back to work," Mr Loach believes. He was the main spokesman for the British Leyland combine committee which united about 40 different plants around the country, for most of the 1970s. Derek Robinson, nicknamed Red Robbo, died on 31 October 2017, A motion for strike action protesting against Mr Robinson's dismissal in 1980 was overwhelmingly voted down, British Leyland, Mr Edwardes wrote, was perceived as being a business "at war with itself", Film-maker Ken Loach described Derek Robinson as a man of "iron principle", Strikes co-ordinated by Mr Robinson cost British Leyland 200m in lost production, according to chairman Michael Edwardes, The Winter of Discontent saw rubbish piled high, as seen here in London's Leicester Square, In 2000, Mr Robinson was among crowds in Birmingham campaigning to save jobs at MG Rover, At the crash site of 'no hope' - BBC reporter in Greece. Created www.austin-rover.co.uk in 2001 and built it up to become the world's foremost reference source for all things BMC, Leyland and Rover Group, before renaming it AROnline in 2007. Exterior view of British Leyland Strandard Triumph works entrance and gatehouse at Canley, Coventry . Its just a shame that for a lot of the 70s they were rightly derided for their quality. But if the SD1 receives a vote of confidence, what about the great unmentionables the likes of the Allegro, Marina and Princess? Enter your username or email to reset your password. The biggest problem was scabs of rust breaking through the paint all over the car within a couple of years. This kind of thing was riff everywhere. 1970 Ferrari 512M track test Group 5 great driven at Paul Ricard, Driving the legendary Bentley 3 Litre and Bentley 4 Litre. 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.. 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. He was 83 years old and had been in poor health for several . Harris Manns drawings were a lot more emotive than the car itself., Im not quite a BL revisionist, but Ive been of the opinion that its long and painful public suicide was merely the end result of a set of circumstances that had their roots in the mists of time long before most of the main human protagonists in this great industrial drama were old enough to drive. 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. 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. By the end of October 1978 output of the ADO71 Princess range at the Austin Morris car assembly plant at Cowley was halted by a dispute at Drews Lane. These were dark times indeed.Harold Musgrove. Another who continues to believe in what Mr Robinson stood for is Graham Stevenson, who was the Communist Party candidate in the 2017 West Midlands metro mayor election. The following day Robert Yates lost his appeal for unfair dismissal. 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. Bits of hardware still running off BBC B computers..! Transcribed & marked up by Einde O'Callaghan for ETOL.. So says Simon Pearson of his time at the much-maligned British Leyland. This year's foundling is British Leyland's first new Rover sedan in 13 years. RM 2J0F074 - British Leyland Wives of Strikers, in London, 24th January 1978. After two days of disciplinary hearings and appeals, BL dismissed 13 Land Rover car workers, who had been caught sleeping on the night shift. Salary: 24,000 - 28,000 per annum including sleep-in allowance. For Mr Stevenson, the dismissal of Red Robbo was "the first shot in the war that Thatcher began against working people and their families". 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. They discovered all the 14 men employed there, including a supervisor, asleep or dozing in sleeping bags, blankets and makeshift bunks. "He may well have had absolute belief in what he was doing, but few others did," Mr Cox added. As shop steward at British Leyland in Longbridge, Birmingham, he was involved in a series of strikes and walkouts over alleged mismanagement. In this occasional series Ian Nichollsrevisits some of these stories, using the newspaper articles of the time as the main source of information. Modified date: August 5, 2017. British Leyland was an automotive engineering and manufacturing conglomerate formed in the United Kingdom in 1968 asBritish Leyland Motor Corporation Ltd . Only three men, none of them Mr Yates, had gone to the clocking point before 6.45 am, the end of the shift. A spokesman said that they would consider taking action against anyone found dozing at work. They had found that double the recommended number of body panels could be hung on the paint conveyor. One of the most notorious trade unionists in recent memory has died aged 90. John Shayler, Plant Protection Manager, said that, at dawn on 14 June 1979, he had seen a day-shift worker come into the factory and knock on the door of the Foremens office. He was in charge of 32 men on the night shift who were dismissed, disciplined, or 'who resigned rather than be dismissed. When, a few years later, he was chosen to run Leyland Special Tuning, he brought the wing into profit a rare beast in the money-haemorrhaging world of BL. The director believes Mr Robinson was "betrayed" by a union leadership with whom he had a thorny relationship. Be the first to rate this post. A stalwart of the Norfolk Mini Owners Club for nearly a decade he is an enthusiast for all things Issigonis. So says Simon Pearson of his time at the much-maligned British Leyland. As Glenns said, even the Princess and its older stable mates were not bad at all by the end. But taking a bed to work was a deliberate act of anticipation.. Where can you get cheap classic car insurance? He was a controversial figure throughout his lifetime but Derek Robinson remains a working class hero to many. Absenteeism is simply defined as an individual's frequent pattern of evasion from an obligation or duty. Five minutes afterwards Mr Yates came out. The Daily Mail claimed that the car firm British Leyland was paying bribes, and was exposed for printing a ludicrous hoax. 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. Some of our partners may process your data as a part of their legitimate business interest without asking for consent. Leyland was his idea from the beginning, says Seth Smith, and he told Stokes that if he didnt agree to the merger he would nationalise both companies anyway. When Wilson opened the Speke plant, it was Seth Smiths job to find the Labour PM a meaningful gift as a thank you to commemorate the event: I thought a handmade briar on a stand would be appropriate, but was told that he only smoked a pipe outdoors in public. Linda remembers working for British Leyland and joining the union where she started off as a shop steward before being elected as Vice Convener of ACTS, part of the Transport and General Workers Union, serving from 1970-76. 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. Over the years they have applied pressure to weaken work standards so that, against the already slack standards then applying, they are able to claim they have done their days work and management is powerless to give them more work to complete the shift.. Position: Children's Residential Support Worker. Family Cottage near Leyland, Lancashire. 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. The Stokes-era management had paid a high price to rid themselves of piecework but, in the climate of early 1970s Britain, the Shop Stewards had the upper hand, and British Leylands finances were too weak to withstand a major dispute, so to berate management is perhaps a bit unfair. Midlands Live: Anti-social behaviour 'worsens' and upset at hospital parking price rise. In my opinion Stokes was let down by his board. 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. Fearing that its collapse would leave a million workers unemployed, the Labour government nationalized it. A firebrand union leader and former British Leyland worker has died aged 90. 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 joined the Communist Party in the early Fifties and stood as a candidate for the party four times at elections between 1966 and 1974. Not to mention any management off home by 3pm.Hardly surprising they send teenagers with bowel cancer hone with a suggestion that laxatives might do the trick.. I realised that it wasnt going to sell somehow it had no presence. 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. Did the media have it in for British Leyland? Political party. Following his dismissal, Mr Robinson worked as a tutor in trade union studies during the 1980s and 1990s, teaching shop stewards. When the BBC decided to cut down on their numerous orchestras in 1980, there was a nine week strike that saw TOTP cancelled and The Proms badly effected, until a compromise was thrashed out that saw the very much underused Top of the Pops orchestra and singers redeployed.Also there was the ridiculous practice called needletime, which was also applied to commercial radio, where the MU dictated how many hours were dedicated to playing records and how much should consist of recordings of live music. In November of that year BL sacked Robinson for supporting the pamphlet titled A Trade Union Response to the Edwardes Plan, which criticised the plans proposals and the companys management. After two days of disciplinary hearings and . Thatcher provided British Leyland with 2.9 billion pounds ($4.4 billion) of taxpayer money from 1979 to 1988, Rhys said. Sell Your Car On Honest John Classics For Free. The public believed the brand was the cheapest and Tesco seemed poised to conquer every field of commerce. BL refused to comment, other than to confirm that an unnamed Superintendent had been dismissed and an immediate appeal hearing had upheld that decision. To view the purposes they believe they have legitimate interest for, or to object to this data processing use the vendor list link below. What's he waiting for? Only three men, none of them Mr Yates, had gone to the clocking point before 6.45 am, the end of the shift. document.getElementById("ak_js_1").setAttribute("value",(new Date()).getTime()); This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Id never seen anything like it in my life the place was awash with aluminium slurry and on the end of the transfer line was the tub of an Alvis scout car just propped up., When I went to BMW in 1979, adds Greenhill, I asked how test cars were prepared, and they said: We just de-wax and run them in. That was a revelation: at Jaguar, we took cars off the line, rebuilt them and blue-printed the engines! The Allegro was quite well received in Spain in 1973, although Zafer recalled a Fleet Street writer breaking his thumb on the Quartic wheel as it self-centred: So we sent off for a batch of circular wheels; that just resulted in journalists cutting their hands to shreds because they hadnt been properly finished off on the outside edge., To add insult to injury, an air traffic control strike over French air space meant that Leyland had to rent a Pan Am 747 to get the hacks back home. British Leyland's Truck and Tractor Plant, Bathgate, 1980. 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. Whatexactly happened and whenare not easy to decipher. There are inept managers everywhere.Tesco were once omnipotent. Do I have to update my blue V5 to a red V5C? The men said that, when they had done their work, they should be allowed to go home. 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. The tabloid paid the equivalent of 75,000 to buy letters which not only . Red Robbo speaks to striking workers at Longbridge in the 1970s. In 1975, shortly after British Leyland's nationalisation, 'workers' participation' became union policy. 2023 BBC. 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. The British rail class 153 super sprinters are single car units converted in the 1990s from British Leyland built two-car class 155s. He was dressed. Even today, there are certain professions where . Vilified by the media as "Red Robbo" he was also betrayed, in the eyes of his supporters, by trade union bosses. "He was a very competent man in private life he was very kind and very caring.". Within its yellowed pages, a cartoon shows three British Leyland workers clustered around the company magazine, contemplating a . But at Drews Lane we still have an extraordinary situation. Here, after all, was the worlds fourth-biggest car maker building the planets most complete and ambitious range of vehicles. A stickler for historical accuracy he has recently performed the marathon task of mining the online newspaper articles for all BMC>MG related stories. 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. Robinson was involved in some 500 walkouts at the British Leyland plant in Longbridge, Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in, Please refresh your browser to be logged in, Fats Domino: rock n roll legend who faced down Hurricane Katrina, Dennis Banks: founder of the American Indian Movement, Jane Juska: memoirist who broke taboo of older women having sex, Paul Weitz: Nasa Skylab and space shuttle astronaut, Derek Robinson: Giant of the trades union movement in the Seventies, Extra 20% off selected fashion and sportswear at Very, Up to 20% off & extra perks with Booking.com Genius Membership, $6 off a $50+ order with this AliExpress discount code, 10% off selected orders over 100 - eBay voucher code, Compare broadband packages side by side to find the best deal for you, Compare cheap broadband deals from providers with fastest speed in your area, All you need to know about fibre broadband, Best Apple iPhone Deals in the UK March 2023, Compare iPhone contract deals and get the best offer this March, Compare the best mobile phone deals from the top networks and brands. 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. With two successive name changes, British Leyland became BL Limited in 1979. Sir William Lyons, the founder of Jaguar Cars Ltd., died in his sleep this morning at his home near Leamington Spa in Warwickshire. Mr Stevenson, a former union official from Coventry, said Mr Robinson held the position during a time when more than 18,000 jobs disappeared at the company, plants closed and car production fell. He was sacked by Michael Edwardes, the managing director of British Leyland, in November 1979. 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. He added that communists active in Unite "mourned the loss of their most distinguished veteran, a mentor and guide to us all". The incident would be reported to the management and judged on the circumstances. When we walked the shop floor, I think 90 per cent of the employees had actually gone home. Union convenor Derek Robinson had been dismissed months earlier by British Leyland's chairman Michael Edwardes. Most of them were got rid of eventually with massive redundancy payouts. International Socialism, April 1977. Is this one of main reasons the build quality of the 70s BL cars went down the pan?? 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. Once part of the sprawling British Leyland automotive empire that epitomised Britain's industrial decline . Learn how your comment data is processed. Similar incidents had occurred before and appropriate action had been taken. British Leyland, Britain's largest automaker, faced bankruptcy in 1975. Had a nice blue pearlescent paint that never matched properly, sold it with the bodged paintwork at a loss. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Email Print. BLMC was created in 1968 by the merger of British Motor Holdings (BMH) and Leyland Motor Corporation (LMC), encouraged by the Wilson . Derek Robinson - Red Robbo - speaks to striking British Leyland workers in Cofton Park. 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. British Leyland trade union leader. Robinson was born in Cradley Heath, near Birmingham, in 1927, to a family of chainmakers. Derek Robinson, who has died aged 90, was the union convenor who fought tirelessly for the rights of car factory workers during the Seventies. We are looking for a Children's Residential Support Worker to join an outstanding Children's Home. 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. An uncompromising and . Derek Robinson - nicknamed "Red Robbo" by tabloid newspapers - was one of the biggest names in the trade union movement during the 1970s. Your email address will not be published. When we were given more money to buy, say, new transfer lines, says Seth Smith, we were restricted by government rules to buying sometimes inferior local tooling., Then there was the way that the cars were produced. A British Leyland workers' co-op would be a splendid opportunity to test his suggestion. 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. Over 50,000 workers across British Leyland immediately came out on strike, including the 20,000 workers at Longbridge in . DAILY MIRROR. 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! However, someone should have really gone at Lyons (head of Jag) and put him firmly in his place. The odd 1m going missing (I would have paid money to see the auditors face when they found that little gem), contractors doing nothing for weeks at 100 a day because the bloke who set the administration lock password buggered off for sunnier climes without telling anyone what it was. Ultimately it meant most of the industry disappeared as merchant shipbuilding went abroad and the few yards that survive now only do so because of defence contracts. 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. This was after he opposed Edwardes' plant closure plans in a pamphlet published on the authority of the combine committee. After a tip-off by the News of the World newspaper, senior managers the previous week carried out a surprise inspection of the night shift in a paint priming shop. Archive : 1979 from the National Archives, Archive : Sleeping foreman loses dismissal case against BL. Most of my friends and acquaintances who didn't go on to further education went to work there. 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. 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. 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. If you want to see the true horrors of 1970s workplaces, have a look at the ship building industry. 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 . But the car giant had been hit hard by post-war economic struggles and had developed a reputation for producing low-quality cars. 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. Good condition, owner's inscription on flyleaf. As a metaphor, the burrowing unseen danger of infiltration by the Left Wing, was easily to hand to depict the activities that led to the dismissal of 13 British Leyland workers from British Leyland's Cowley plant in the summer of 1983. The worker participation scheme at British Leyland was known as the Ryder Plan. 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. Often this meant DJs talked too much to keep within the restrictions, which annoyed listeners, until finally in 1987 needletime was axed. 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. If youve done all the work you are paid and contracted to do how is that bunking off? 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. Musgrovemay well have beenreferring to the Drews Lane plant in Birmingham. That was not the responsibility of the employees, that was not the responsibility of the workforce. British Leyland would once again become a privately-owned company and the size of the state sector would be reduced. They made BL look like rank amateurs. Read about our approach to external linking. 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." Derek Robinson, trade . The company assumed its current name in 1982. Classic car tax exemption: what you need to know. "But they are going to appeal against the decision. Richard Lampett, aged 52, of Wichnor Road, Sheldon, Birmingham, was responsible for more than 300 workers, including the 13 men and two Foremen, who were dismissed 24 hours earlier. All this was occurring at the same time as the crisis confronting BL over its decision to fire Longbridge Convener Derek Robinson. 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 . Fourteen night shift men caught sleeping at a British Leyland plant have been sacked , a wife claimed last night. A quote from Austin Rover Managing Director Harold Musgrove (right) from 1984 underlines that. 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. "He wasn't at all like what the media portrayed him as in the 1970s," he said. 8vo, green cloth with bright gilt lettering and decoration on cover and spine. 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. 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. 9 January 1980. British Leyland was an automotive engineering and manufacturing conglomerate formed in the United Kingdom in 1968 as British Leyland Motor . Christopher Lunt worked at Longbridge until MG Rover - the successor company to British Leyland - went into administration in 2005. Had similar on a 2002 406, at the door bottoms, possibly because of a bad seal. 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. 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. A shame really as improvements to the Maxi, Princess and Allegro had made these cars as good as many of their European rivals and certainly British Leyland never had to endure the sort of scandal that was engulfing Lancia at the time, where poor rustproofing was causing the engines to fall out of relatively new cars. Unfairly dismissed for sleeping on a night shift and Daily MIRROR Night-shift workers were given a wake-up warning by Leyland... Has died aged 90 ( right ) from 1984 underlines that quote from Rover. ; co-op would be a splendid opportunity to test his suggestion username email!, archive: sleeping foreman loses dismissal case against BL of hardware still running off BBC B..... On to further education went to work, '' Mr Cox added - Robbo. Rover managing director of British Leyland, but union leaders instructed them go! Car giant had been in poor health for several of a bad seal `` they. 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