The original Hummer isn't the first vehicle I'd think of to do a "green" trip to the South Pole. There is a long-standing tradition known as stint and finish. It happened, the tribunal at Birmingham heard, in June after a six-month investigation in alleged clock-card malpractices at the plant. 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. By the time a car got to five years old, there would be a huge hole in the floor and components started failing. As shop steward at British Leyland in Longbridge, Birmingham, he was involved in a series of strikes and walkouts over alleged mismanagement. For many, Mr Robinson is remembered "very badly", according to Chris Cowin, an expert on British Leyland's history. However, someone should have really gone at Lyons (head of Jag) and put him firmly in his place. But by this time British Leylands crisis had become existential, extending beyond the ongoing battle with its unions. Could he please have three large boxes of Cuban cigars instead?, Speke was, of course, the home of the TR7, launched in 1975 on the US market but not available in the UK until 1976. ( Somehow an orchestra trying to perform a punk record would be comical). British Leyland's Truck and Tractor Plant, Bathgate, 1980. As Glenns said, even the Princess and its older stable mates were not bad at all by the end. A motion for a strike in favour of his reinstatement was overwhelmingly defeated - 14,000 votes against to just 600 in favour. Bits of hardware still running off BBC B computers..! Sir William Lyons, the founder of Jaguar Cars Ltd., died in his sleep this morning at his home near Leamington Spa in Warwickshire. Perhaps more importantly, the rational economy, which includes companies like ICJ, Racal and . 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. He was in charge of 32 men on the night shift who were dismissed, disciplined, or 'who resigned rather than be dismissed. Product details page for Corgi Original Omnibus Leyland PD3 'Queen Mary' Southdown NBC is loaded. But instead of supporting him, the workers who gathered that February day turned on him. 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. Only three men, none of them Mr Yates, had gone to the clocking point before 6.45 am, the end of the shift. BL described this as potentially dangerous. Back in 2011, I visited a fair-sized barn in North Yorkshire full of Maestros, Montegos and the odd Metro. Robinson was not reinstated. It was the only new car on the books when [British] Leyland was formed on 2 January 1968, says Seth Smith, and it was abysmal particularly the gearchange., There is, however, consensus that the Princess was a better car than it was given credit for, but Greenhills account of the Princess 2 launch in the late 1970s is a microcosm of the ingrained and intractable cultural problems they were up against: We took a set of cars to Nardo in Italy to do two years driving in two weeks to prove the new O-series engine. 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? When Leylands successor, Rover, was subsequently sold off to BMW, Robinson told a group of MPs at a meeting in Birmingham during March 2000 I can sleep sound at night because I never betrayed the workers I was elected to represent. For the latter part of his career, during the 1980s and 1990s, Robinson had been a tutor, teaching trade union studies at a community college. 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. Following his death on Tuesday aged 90, BBC News examines his legacy. 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. Is this one of main reasons the build quality of the 70s BL cars went down the pan?? Seven years ago Tony Cliff wrote, 'The aim of the . Not really, its just moved from BL to the NHS. 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. for only $11.00 $9.35/page. Initially, the workers came out in support of Mr Robinson, he said. "There were big strikes across British Leyland, but union leaders instructed them to go back to work," Mr Loach believes. It happened, the tribunal at Birmingham heard, in June after a six-month investigation in alleged clock-card malpractices at the plant. In February 1980, less than a year after Margaret Thatcher became prime minister, thousands of car workers gathered following the sacking of one man. Pay and Contract. The company assumed its current name in 1982. 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. Exterior view of British Leyland Strandard Triumph works entrance and gatehouse at Canley, Coventry . 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. 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. 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. 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! I pointed out that we paid them until 4.30pm. Read about our approach to external linking. Throwback Thursday - BL's unseen concepts, 28 April 1993 (AutoCar) "The worst crime the managers of British Leyland committed during the nightmarish 1960s and 1970s was refusing pig-headedly to build decent cars - or so the critics . At one stage one in eight pounds spent in Britain were with Tesco. 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. Enter your username or email to reset your password. 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. Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? They made BL look like rank amateurs. People were not being properly paid and rewarded so they got together and formed their own alliance. Derek Robinson - Red Robbo - speaks to striking British Leyland workers in Cofton Park. RM 2J0F074 - British Leyland Wives of Strikers, in London, 24th January 1978. He left school aged 14 to begin work at the Austin plant at Longbridge, initially as an apprentice toolmaker. Security officers kept watch from behind an extractor fan in a paint shop from where they could see a clocking point. First edition. 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 . Continue with Recommended Cookies. 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. 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. Stories from those at the coalface. Read about our approach to external linking. One factor perhaps not widely understood is that chronic under-investment meant that many major components were being built on pre-war tooling, whereas the Germans, for example, had all the latest kit. 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. Mr Robinson was among those trade unionists soon to lose their grip on power. 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. One night him and his mate who were on the maintenance nightshift went to sleep in the cupboards. A Supervisor who was sleeping was also dismissed, along with a Foreman. 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. 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. 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. 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. 8vo, green cloth with bright gilt lettering and decoration on cover and spine. 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 needs the shock treatment of standing on its own two feet like any other business. The ADO15 MINI IS LAUNCHED TODAY Some extracts from the Times description of the new, NEW YORK TIMES COMPANY NEWS; Jaguar Is Planning To Cut Production AP Published: Thursday, February, Production of British Leylands new Morris Marina was at a standstill last night following a, British Motor Holdings the joining of BMC and Jaguar, Opinion : Celebrating 40 years of the Austin Maestro, The cars : Austin Maestro (LC10) development story, The cars : Land Rover Freelander (CB40) development story, Opinion : Austin Maestro a tale of unfulfilled promise, 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 : Jaguar Is Planning To Cut Production, Archive : Strike by 80 halts Marina output. 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. Video, At the crash site of 'no hope' - BBC reporter in Greece, Record numbers of guide dog volunteers after BBC story. It needs to be left alone. A little later, through a window, he saw two men, naked from the waist up. They had found that double the recommended number of body panels could be hung on the paint conveyor. 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. 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. Belated attempts to set up acceptable new output targets had been resisted by the Shop Stewards. 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. He was in charge of 32 men on the night shift who were dismissed, disciplined, or 'who resigned rather than be dismissed. 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. The long-standing custom and practice of allowing men to go home early once they had completed their quota of work was a thorny industrial relations issue. Austin plant at Longbridge, Birmingham, he saw two men, from. 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