Williams Lyons. The former British Leyland worker and trade unionist Derek Robinson has died, aged 90. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. 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. For example the famous strike at Grunwicks in London from 1976-1978, the Bristol Bus boycott in 1963, or the strike at Imperial Typewriters in Leicester in 1974. The spokesman at the Land Rover plant in Solihull: We do not condone sleeping or dozing in working hours.. He was a controversial figure throughout his lifetime but Derek Robinson remains a working class hero to many. Read about our approach to external linking. At the crash site of 'no hope' - BBC reporter in Greece. It was a merger promoted by the Industrial Reorganisation Corporation set up by the 1964-70 Labour government of Harold Wilson. Whatexactly happened and whenare not easy to decipher. The incident would be reported to the management and judged on the circumstances. 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. It employed 200,000 people and was the fifth largest . 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. This kind of thing was riff everywhere. Even today, there are certain professions where . Appointed in 1977, the combative South African businessman Sir Michael Edwardes cut the number of workers almost in half at British Leyland, from 172,000 to 90,000. So says Simon Pearson of his time at the much-maligned British Leyland. The British rail class 153 super sprinters are single car units converted in the 1990s from British Leyland built two-car class 155s. They had begun a policy of non-cooperation following the managements moves to stop workers leaving before the shift was completed. Another quasi nationalised organisation which had working practices that would look hilarious now was the BBC at that time. 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. 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. after annual holidays (see 5 July). To view the purposes they believe they have legitimate interest for, or to object to this data processing use the vendor list link below. Five minutes afterwards Mr Yates came out. 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. Your email address will not be published. 1990s Vauxhalls seemed to have red paint that faded quickly, so most surviving ones look more pink than red these days. A combination of poor steel and corrosion, so Lancia werent entirely to blame. So that was the sleeping on the night-shift affair. International Socialism, April 1977. "I can sleep sound at night because I never betrayed the workers I was elected to represent," he said. 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. The director believes Mr Robinson was "betrayed" by a union leadership with whom he had a thorny relationship. One night him and his mate who were on the maintenance nightshift went to sleep in the cupboards. 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. 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. 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 . He was sitting opposite Mr Robinson when the union convenor was finally dismissed. 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? Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? One of the most notorious trade unionists in recent memory has died aged 90. Yesterday they faced a disciplinary hearing. But the political mood of the country was changing. Calling for him to step in to end the 12 week . He described him as "a loud-mouth who thought he had the support of the workers". Tesco is the same, they thought they could dominate the market forever as they pioneered the pile em high, sell em cheap style of supermarket, but were caught out by smaller continental rivals who beat them on price and quality. 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. Where can you get quick classic car insurance quotes? 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. Stories from those at the coalface. Pay and Contract. 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. The paint turned dull and flat quite quickly. Do I have to update my blue V5 to a red V5C? Vilified by the media as "Red Robbo" he was also betrayed, in the eyes of his supporters, by trade union bosses. 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. 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 dressed. The hours I spent with Simon, Richard, Alan and Tim confirm that belief. 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. The former British Leyland worker and trade unionist Derek Robinson has died, aged 90. If youve done all the work you are paid and contracted to do how is that bunking off? for only $11.00 $9.35/page. The worker participation scheme at British Leyland was known as the Ryder Plan. 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. British Leyland was an automotive engineering and manufacturing conglomerate formed in the United Kingdom in 1968 asBritish Leyland Motor Corporation Ltd . Security officers kept watch from behind an extractor fan in a paint shop from where they could see a clocking point. This support saved brands such as Jaguar, Land Rover and Mini from . 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. The general secretary of Unite, Len McCluskey, said: Derek Robinson was a dedicated lifelong trade unionist who fought, as convenor, for the rights and future of the then British Leyland workforce at the Longbridge plant in Birmingham during the 1970s. 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, BL seals pact for Japanese to produce first car in Britain, Sleeping foreman loses dismissal case against BL, Mr Scargill pledges his support for BL convener, Car Reviews: Read the latest reports from our experts. Once part of the sprawling British Leyland automotive empire that epitomised Britain's industrial decline . Bits of hardware still running off BBC B computers..! The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Had similar on a 2002 406, at the door bottoms, possibly because of a bad seal. The Unite union said the "dedicated life-long trade unionist" fought for "the rights and future" of workers. 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. 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. In this occasional series Ian Nichollsrevisits some of these stories, using the newspaper articles of the time as the main source of information. 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. The pamphlet said: All our efforts and resources must be mobilised to change the policy of closures and contraction. 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. A mass meeting of the men desided by a massive vote to ignore an official Union call for a strike. The behavior of absenteeism is normally evidenced in work places where some workers may decide to make absenteeism their habit. 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. document.getElementById("ak_js_1").setAttribute("value",(new Date()).getTime()); This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. VideoRecord numbers of guide dog volunteers after BBC story. He was in charge of 32 men on the night shift who were dismissed, disciplined, or 'who resigned rather than be dismissed. 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. BLMC was created in 1968 by the merger of British Motor Holdings (BMH) and Leyland Motor Corporation (LMC), encouraged by the Wilson . "There were big strikes across British Leyland, but union leaders instructed them to go back to work," Mr Loach believes. 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. It needs to be left alone. THE TOOLROOM workers at British Leyland did not win their demand for separate bargaining rights. Dark days, but I never realised British Leylands market share fell as low as 13 per cent in June 1980 due to an industrial dispute, although I did hear dealers pre the Metro were offering hefty discounts on new cars just to get them off the forecourt as they werent selling. "He was a very competent man in private life he was very kind and very caring.". British Leyland, Britain's largest automaker, faced bankruptcy in 1975. First edition. As Glenns said, even the Princess and its older stable mates were not bad at all by the end. Inside British Leyland Stories from those at the coalface. The organisation specialises in providing best-in-class care and . 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