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 Derek Robinson - Red Robbo - speaks to striking British Leyland workers in Cofton Park. He hopes his friend will be remembered as "one of those stalwarts in the post-war era that maintained a better life for ordinary people", not as an "agitator" or "destroyer" which he said was "a complete invention". Im a former Austin Maestro owner, admirer and salesman, so it []. Doubling up as it was known-working extra fast so you could bunk off-wasnt confined to BL either. 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. The struggle for equality at work. 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. British Leyland, Britain's largest automaker, faced bankruptcy in 1975. 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. The quota system mentioned seems to have been a relic of the deal to end piecework in the early 1970s. My god it was awful, it was bought . Five minutes afterwards Mr Yates came out. Once part of the sprawling British Leyland automotive empire that epitomised Britain's industrial decline . These were dark times indeed.Harold Musgrove. document.getElementById("ak_js_1").setAttribute("value",(new Date()).getTime()); This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Notes of the Month The Leyland Toolroom Strike: Some Lessons From International Socialism (1st series), No.97, April 1977, pp.4-5. 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. She said: My husband rang to tell me that they have all lost their jobs.. 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 paint turned dull and flat quite quickly. after annual holidays (see 5 July). Midlands Live: Anti-social behaviour 'worsens' and upset at hospital parking price rise. People were not being properly paid and rewarded so they got together and formed their own alliance. 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. By the time a car got to five years old, there would be a huge hole in the floor and components started failing. A little later, through a window, he saw two men, naked from the waist up. 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. It would suck senior stewards into collusion with management and neutralise shopfloor activism. Exterior view of British Leyland Strandard Triumph works entrance and gatehouse at Canley, Coventry . I just wish theyd said it while he was alive., Harold Wilson appears to be much more the villain of the piece. See thats the part that confuses me. I am worried sick." Archive : 1979 from the National Archives, Archive : Sleeping foreman loses dismissal case against BL. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Stories from those at the coalface. 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. Mr Robinson . The incident would be reported to the management and judged on the circumstances. 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. 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. "He may well have had absolute belief in what he was doing, but few others did," Mr Cox added. Kearsley has an encyclopaedic knowledge of the cars, down to the colour names and options, combined with a strong urge to save these underdogs. Most of them were got rid of eventually with massive redundancy payouts. Am I being targeted by an overpayment scam? Your email address will not be published. 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. A little later, through a window, he saw two men, naked from the waist up. He was dressed. 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. The SOLICITOR-GENERAL for SCOTLAND (Lord McCluskey) THE TOOLROOM workers at British Leyland did not win their demand for separate bargaining rights. 2023 BBC. Read about our approach to external linking. 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. History will show that Derek was unfairly maligned by the media as he aimed to find solutions to British Leylands industrial disputes and turn around the car company., Derek Robinson, trade union leader, born 1927, died 31 October 2017, Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies. 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. 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. Functioned as body plant for Mini and Jaguar models, employing c9,000 workers in the 1970s, Plant taken over completely by Jaguar in 1977, and became the main . "We all worked like hell to make it work" Inside British Leyland. 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. Absenteeism is simply defined as an individual's frequent pattern of evasion from an obligation or duty. leader of the unofficial BL shop stewards' committee. "But they are going to appeal against the decision. Classic car tax exemption: what you need to know. 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. 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. 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. On 10 January 1980 night-shift workers were given a wake-up warning by British Leyland management. Leyland Dozers Sacked. Similar incidents had occurred before and appropriate action had been taken. This support saved brands such as Jaguar, Land Rover and Mini from . They made BL look like rank amateurs. Some of our partners may process your data as a part of their legitimate business interest without asking for consent. Product details page for Corgi Original Omnibus Leyland PD3 'Queen Mary' Southdown NBC is loaded. Ray Horrocks (right), the head of BL Cars, told Chairman Michael Edwardes: We talk of regaining management control and applying proper discipline. Management regarded him as an "insidious influence" and his days at the car firm had been numbered. Formerly a convenor and shop steward within car manufacturer British Leyland for much of the 1970s, he was commonly known as " Red Robbo " in the British press. British Leyland trade union leader. Pay and Contract. document.getElementById("ak_js_1").setAttribute("value",(new Date()).getTime()); This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Shop stewards representing various tool room shops meet to discuss how they can support the British Leyland shop and propose a series of one day token strikes. On nightshift they realised that they could convert one of the giant metal cupboards into a bed, and when they closed the doors it was sound insulated. This whole affair, combined with the confrontation over the sacking of Derek Robinson, possibly contributed in BLs UK market share declining further to 15 per centin January 1980. 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. It employed 200,000 people and was the fifth largest . 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. A mass meeting of the men desided by a massive vote to ignore an official Union call for a strike. 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. In this article DAVE LYDDON analyses the forces at work in British Leyland. AROnline Keith Adams 2001-2022 - please refer to the 'Terms of use' pages. 1983 Cowley Moles. Be the first to rate this post. This kind of thing was riff everywhere. VideoRecord numbers of guide dog volunteers after BBC story. They had found that double the recommended number of body panels could be hung on the paint conveyor. 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. There are inept managers everywhere.Tesco were once omnipotent. Martin Buckley gets the warts-and-all story of gifted designers, flawed gems and closed shops from a quartet of former colleagues. We had a LDV van at work for about 7 years. It was incredibly the first new model to come out of Longbridge for seven years, but also notable for the utilisation of modern robot technology to produce it. Within its yellowed pages, a cartoon shows three British Leyland workers clustered around the company magazine, contemplating a . A stickler for historical accuracy he has recently performed the marathon task of mining the online newspaper articles for all BMC>MG related stories. 9 January 1980. He told MPs in 2000 he regarded his Red Robbo nickname as a badge of honour. I pointed out that we paid them until 4.30pm. 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. The former British Leyland worker and trade unionist Derek Robinson has died, aged 90. We ask Birmingham: How can bus services improve in the city? The story first hit the headlines on 12 November 1979 when it was revealed that 14 night shift workers had been caught sleeping at a British Leyland plant. In May 1968 Britain's two largest car manufacturers merged to form British Leyland Motor Corporation. Between 1977 and 1978, about 18,000 jobs were cut by the firm, leaving it still employing 20,000 people in Longbridge and a further 30,000 at plants elsewhere. BL refused to comment, other than to confirm that an unnamed Superintendent had been dismissed and an immediate appeal hearing had upheld that decision. Robinson was not reinstated. 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. 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. "He's seen as a troublemaker, someone who resisted attempts to modernise," he said. 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. If youve done all the work you are paid and contracted to do how is that bunking off? British Leyland would once again become a privately-owned company and the size of the state sector would be reduced. Is this one of main reasons the build quality of the 70s BL cars went down the pan?? In the morning when they woke up they had large banging on the door it was the police. Heal opens up on shock mid-season move. 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. DeSantis won't say he's running. Fearing that its collapse would leave a million workers unemployed, the Labour government nationalized it. 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. Giving the Tribunals decision, Mr Smith said it should be made clear that Mr Yates dismissal predated others, which came after publicity given to workers found sleeping on a night shift. Thatcher provided British Leyland with 2.9 billion pounds ($4.4 billion) of taxpayer money from 1979 to 1988, Rhys said. 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. Read about our approach to external linking. VideoRecord numbers of guide dog volunteers after BBC story. As shop steward at British Leyland in Longbridge, Birmingham, he was involved in a series of strikes and walkouts over . 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. Only three men, none of them Mr Yates, had gone to the clocking point before 6.45 am, the end of the shift. 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. 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. Mr Robinson worked as an engineering apprentice during the Second World War, progressing on to become shop steward at a plant in Longbridge. 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. The British Leyland Motor Corporation (BLMC), was a vehicle manufacturing company formed in the United Kingdom in 1968. Not really, its just moved from BL to the NHS. 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. 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. We and our partners use cookies to Store and/or access information on a device. Family Cottage near Leyland, Lancashire. Judge for yourself. for only $11.00 $9.35/page. Email Print. 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. Currently he owns a Jaguar and two classic Minis. 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. Position: Children's Residential Support Worker. A combination of poor steel and corrosion, so Lancia werent entirely to blame. As shop steward at British Leyland in Longbridge, Birmingham, he was involved in a series of strikes and walkouts over alleged mismanagement. RME11T1N - Feb. 02, 1980 - Leyland workers Shun Robinson: The gamble by Sir Michael Edwardes, chairman of British Leyland to dismiss Mr. Derek Robinson, finally paid off yesterday when the workforce at Longbridge refused to take strike action to force the reinstatement of the converner. BLMC was created in 1968 by the merger of British Motor Holdings (BMH) and Leyland Motor Corporation (LMC), encouraged by the Wilson . 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. 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. 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. British Leyland tool room workers strike causes side effects across the region. 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. International Socialism, April 1977. But at Drews Lane we still have an extraordinary situation. The British Leyland era at Longbridge became a byword for wildcat walkouts, union militancy and industrial chaos - and helped clear the path to political power for Margaret Thatcher. On unveiling day, the company boasted, 100,000 Britons packed into showrooms to see the car and placed orders worth . Had similar on a 2002 406, at the door bottoms, possibly because of a bad seal. 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? Enter your username or email to reset your password. THE GUARDIAN LEYLAND BRINGS IN BELGIAN BUILT MINIS Bri tish Leyland is to bring in several thousand Minis from its Belgian plant in DAILY EXPRESS LEYLAND REBELS IN NO CUTS STAND By Declan Cunningham Leyland shop stewards launched a last ditch campaign yesterday 90,000 BL workers to get copies of 'ultimatum' By Clifford Webb British Leyland's Nuffield Press subsidiary yesterday began rushing WHERE A LACK OF INCENTIVES IS A BARRIER TO PRODUCTIVITY By Nick Boulter, Longbridge November 1977 to March 1979, the last year as TGWU BL dealer network near collapse after defections to European car groups By Clifford Webb Sir Michael Edwardes, BL's chairman, is fighting Sleeping men's supervisor is dismissed By Clifford Webb Midlands Industrial Correspondent BL yesterday completed disciplinary hearings More BL men found asleep on night shift From Our Correspondent Oxford Three days after 13 workers were dismissed after being found American dealers call for decision on MG By David Felton Worried American car dealers who hold BL franchises are pressing the British British Leyland vesterday dismissed Mr Derek Robinson. 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. British Leyland was an automotive engineering and manufacturing conglomerate formed in the United Kingdom in 1968 asBritish Leyland Motor Corporation Ltd . We and our partners use data for Personalised ads and content, ad and content measurement, audience insights and product development. "I can sleep sound at night because I never betrayed the workers I was elected to represent," he said. 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. I was involved in hire and lease sales, he explains, and if someone wanted an XJ6 or a Stag, I just told them that they had to take half a dozen Marinas as well., Greenhill worked at BMC/BL for 13 years, starting as a Technical sales apprentice in 1966 and finishing up as Jaguars marketing manager when the SIII XJ was launched. Mr Yates, of Coplow Close, Balsall Common, Warwickshire, claims that he was unfairly dismissed. 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. The response was:Theyve been doing it for years., Wed been establishing targets, establishing line rates and achieving 60 per cent of the target, which meant that the track stopped for 40 per cent of the day. Robinson was born in Cradley Heath, near Birmingham, in 1927, to a family of chainmakers. A company statement on the Superintendents discovery, said they had all completed their work quota. BL described this as potentially dangerous. We are looking for a Children's Residential Support Worker to join an outstanding Children's Home. 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 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. ( Somehow an orchestra trying to perform a punk record would be comical). Salary: 24,000 - 28,000 per annum including sleep-in allowance. 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. Modified date: August 5, 2017. Often this meant DJs talked too much to keep within the restrictions, which annoyed listeners, until finally in 1987 needletime was axed. Only three men, none of them Mr Yates, had gone to the clocking point before 6.45 am, the end of the shift. Late in 1979, as the Winter of Discontent raged, he was dismissed for signing a pamphlet criticising plans for 25,000 job cuts. 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. In the 1980s and 90s, Mr Robinson worked as a tutor in trade union studies, teaching shop stewards. Bits of hardware still running off BBC B computers..! Video, At the crash site of 'no hope' - BBC reporter in Greece, Record numbers of guide dog volunteers after BBC story. It wasnt cheap steel.it was steel that was galvanised on one side only..the idea being that the galvanised side went towards the wet..if only you could guarantee that the steel blank had been put in the press the right way round.. My father and his work colleague both had red S reg 2600 Rovers from new. Two of them had clocked 24 or 25 cards. British Leyland's Truck and Tractor Plant, Bathgate, 1980. The company assumed its current name in 1982. 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.. Vilified by the media as "Red Robbo" he was also betrayed, in the eyes of his supporters, by trade union bosses. 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. 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. 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. Musgrovemay well have beenreferring to the Drews Lane plant in Birmingham. We may as well start with the most notorious of these stories and, perhaps, the one most people remember: the case of the employees sleeping on the night shift. The plant . Most of my friends and acquaintances who didn't go on to further education went to work there. 20 illustrated plate. Opinion : Derek Robinson: Victim or villain? The measured day rate replaced piece work at around 1970-1974 IIRC. Williams Lyons. What's he waiting for? 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. Security officers kept watch from behind an extractor fan in a paint shop, from where they could see a clocking point. He left school aged 14 to begin work at the Austin plant at Longbridge, initially as an apprentice toolmaker. 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. Video, Record numbers of guide dog volunteers after BBC story, Prince Andrew offered Frogmore Cottage - reports, Ed Sheeran says wife developed tumour in pregnancy, Man survives 31 days in jungle by eating worms, China and Belarus call for peace in Ukraine, Bieber cancels remaining Justice world tour dates, Kobe Bryant widow wins $29m settlement from LA, Trump lashes out at Murdoch over vote fraud case. Did the media have it in for British Leyland? Derek 'Red Robbo' Robinson led a long-running battle against management at the British Leyland plant in Longbridge throughout the 1970s. Security officers kept watch from behind an extractor fan in a paint shop from where they could see a clocking point.
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