AROnline Keith Adams 2001-2022 - please refer to the 'Terms of use' pages. Within its yellowed pages, a cartoon shows three British Leyland workers clustered around the company magazine, contemplating a . It needs the shock treatment of standing on its own two feet like any other business. Mr Yates, of Coplow Close, Balsall Common, Warwickshire, claims that he was unfairly dismissed. DAILY EXPRESS BUY BRITISH DRIVE FOR LEYLAND BOOST By David Benson An aggressive campaign to 'Buy British' is to be launched by Leyland British Leyland is to be granted a further 300m of state aid next year, with 133m to follow if the vehicle group's performance improves. DAILY EXPRESS BUY BRITISH By Peter Durisch Leyland chief Sir Michael Edwardes left Britain over Christmas with a special messagefor BL seals pact for Japanese to produce first car in Britain From our Correspondent Tokyo, Dec 27 BL and Honda today ratified an agreement Robert Taylor investigates recently released Cabinet papers that document the end of the 1974-79 Labour Government The newly-opened Mr Robert Yates, British Leyland foreman, last night lost a claim that he was. He was a controversial figure throughout his lifetime but Derek Robinson remains a working class hero to many. So that was the sleeping on the night-shift affair. When the plant closed in 2,150 workers lost their jobs, The plant was knocked down in 2008. . They made BL look like rank amateurs. But instead of supporting him, the workers who gathered that February day turned on him. No votes so far! Ideal business/holiday rental Perfect for families, friends and work colleagues (a pet friendly home) The cottage is an attractive Grade ll listed property recently totally refurbished to a high standard maintaining its character and charm, an unusual build with Venetian type windows and a . Mr Robinson, one of the most famous trade unionists of the 1970s, was dubbed Red Robbo by the media. 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. 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. 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 can't think of anyone who . Mr Robinson was involved in an estimated 500 disputes at Longbridge. The hours I spent with Simon, Richard, Alan and Tim confirm that belief. 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. Mr Robinson, one of the most famous trade unionists of the 1970s, was dubbed Red Robbo by the media. The quota system mentioned seems to have been a relic of the deal to end piecework in the early 1970s. Seth Smith joined Leyland Motor Corporation as Triumph press officer in 1967, and in 1968 helped with the famous announcement of the Leyland and BMH merger. British Leyland, Britain's largest automaker, faced bankruptcy in 1975. British Leyland was an automotive engineering and manufacturing conglomerate formed in the United Kingdom in 1968 as British Leyland Motor . The consent submitted will only be used for data processing originating from this website. The British rail class 153 super sprinters are single car units converted in the 1990s from British Leyland built two-car class 155s. She said: "My husband rang to tell me that they have all lost their jobs.". Then, on 16 November 1979, another BL plant was in the news for similar reasons. It was a merger promoted by the Industrial Reorganisation Corporation set up by the 1964-70 Labour government of Harold Wilson. 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". 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. By Chris Hampson. 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. By Business Ideas UK October 31, 2017. Security officers kept watch from behind an extractor fan in a paint shop, from where they could see a clocking point. Sell Your Car On Honest John Classics For Free. The incident would be reported to the management and judged on the circumstances. Only three men, none of them Mr Yates, had gone to the clocking point before 6.45 am, the end of the shift. Where can you get cheap classic car insurance? 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. 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. Im a former Austin Maestro owner, admirer and salesman, so it [] []. It was cosmetic rather than structural rust but terrible for the cars reputation. Linda Fisher's interview. Where can you get cheap classic car insurance? Family Cottage near Leyland, Lancashire. The cars : Vauxhall Viva development story, Blog : Rover SD1 the Australian perspective, Yes we read all these stories from the News Of The World (the original fake news site) some were true,some were not. That was not the responsibility of the employees, that was not the responsibility of the workforce. Fearing that its collapse would leave a million workers unemployed, the Labour government nationalized it. 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. 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. Stories from those at the coalface. Mr Robinson was among those trade unionists soon to lose their grip on power. The former British Leyland worker and trade unionist Derek Robinson has died, aged 90. Ultimately it would become nationalised as British Leyland, often referred to as just BL.In 1986 it was renamed to Rover Group.. History. Hello there we are looking for witnesses to the fire next door can you help. 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. Communist Party of Great Britain, Communist Party of Britain [1] Derek Robinson (1927-2017) was a British trade unionist. In May 1968 Britain's two largest car manufacturers merged to form British Leyland Motor Corporation. Williams Lyons. By 1975, it had been bailed out by the government, which now owned 95% of it. 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. In 1975 Robinson succeeded Dick Ethridge, a fellow Communist Party member, as the AEU convenor at Longbridge. They had begun a policy of non-cooperation following the managements moves to stop workers leaving before the shift was completed. Read about our approach to external linking. We all worked like hell to make it work Inside British Leyland. Enter your username or email to reset your password. Workers were to occupy and work in to prevent closures. Read about our approach to external linking. Classic car tax exemption: what you need to know. These were dark times indeed.Harold Musgrove. Its just a shame that for a lot of the 70s they were rightly derided for their quality. Back in 2011, I visited a fair-sized barn in North Yorkshire full of Maestros, Montegos and the odd Metro. ( Somehow an orchestra trying to perform a punk record would be comical). 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. We had a LDV van at work for about 7 years. It will prove that ordinary working people have got the intelligence and determination to run industry'. 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. 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. 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. Security officers kept watch from behind an extractor fan in a paint shop from where they could see a clocking point. How did you not hear that he said to which my friend blatantly lied I had ear muffs on we were grinding most of the night! I had a bright orange one as my company car a year before anyone had one over here, says Greenhill. A spokesman said that they would consider taking action against anyone found dozing at work. 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 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. VideoRecord numbers of guide dog volunteers after BBC story. Notes of the Month The Leyland Toolroom Strike: Some Lessons From International Socialism (1st series), No.97, April 1977, pp.4-5. Even today, there are certain professions where . 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