The case against me was brought following publicity and not on the facts.. I am worried sick." BL described this as potentially dangerous. "I can sleep sound at night because I never betrayed the workers I was elected to represent," he said. 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. In my opinion Stokes was let down by his board. When questioned the men said they had completed their work quota. 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. 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. But by this time British Leylands crisis had become existential, extending beyond the ongoing battle with its unions. Born in Bedfordshire but now residing in Norfolk, Ian Nicholls is an ardent BL enthusiast. 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. 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. If you would like to change your settings or withdraw consent at any time, the link to do so is in our privacy policy accessible from our home page.. BL still conjures images of half-finished Marinas and Allegros on desolate production lines and a militant workforce that appeared to be looking for any reason to down tools. He was accessible to all, cogent and a listener! "He's to be hugely respected.". Mr Robinson led the fight back, organising hundreds of disputes. But instead of supporting him, the workers who gathered that February day turned on him. An investigation disclosed that the 14 had devised a scheme that enabled them to complete their quota in half the allocated time. 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. Exterior view of British Leyland Strandard Triumph works entrance and gatehouse at Canley, Coventry . The Government should also be enthusiastic. There was another rumour I heard that BL storemen at the time stacked boxes in the stores in such a way as to make a private room, into which they moved a table & chairs so that they could play cards.. Odd we never ever had a BL product..Incidentally Ive never ever seen a red SD1 before.. Did they suffer from the Renault red effect? As shop . Read about our approach to external linking. 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. 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. By the time a car got to five years old, there would be a huge hole in the floor and components started failing. 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. 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. Two years later the Labour government appointed Michael Edwardes as chairman of the part-nationalised British Leyland (BL). 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. Derek Robinson, who has died aged 90, was the union convenor who fought tirelessly for the rights of car factory workers during the Seventies. So says Simon Pearson of his time at the much-maligned British Leyland. 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. Job Type: Permanent, Full-Time. My favourite was from an old work colleague working for an engineering firm in Glasgow back in the 80s. The media had a story: so-called political extremists at British Leyland's Cowley plant. Five minutes afterwards Mr Yates came out. 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. Video, At the crash site of 'no hope' - BBC reporter in Greece, Record numbers of guide dog volunteers after BBC story. We and our partners use cookies to Store and/or access information on a device. I realised that it wasnt going to sell somehow it had no presence. Buried deep somewhere in that automotive salmagundi: an old Punch magazine. At the crash site of 'no hope' - BBC reporter in Greece. Mr John Shayler, plant protection manager, said that at dawn on, June 14 he had seen a day-shift worker come in to their factory and knock on the door of the foremens office. Seven years ago Tony Cliff wrote, 'The aim of the . Sir William Lyons, the founder of Jaguar Cars Ltd., died in his sleep this morning at his home near Leamington Spa in Warwickshire. . One night him and his mate who were on the maintenance nightshift went to sleep in the cupboards. (10 seconds outside of a garage in hot sun and the paint would fade and turn into something resembling 1000 grit sandpaper..?). The British Leyland Motor Corporation (BLMC), was a vehicle manufacturing company formed in the United Kingdom in 1968. Perhaps more importantly, the rational economy, which includes companies like ICJ, Racal and . 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. The Musicians Union, which was the union for musicians employed directly by the BBC, dictated that Top of the Pops had to employ a staff orchestra and singers, even if their services werent needed, which in most cases they were not. Indeed it almost looks like Corsas, Combos and Vectras had a salmon pink colour option! 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. It should have been a great jolly, except the BL apprentices we took to do the driving decided it was too much like hard work and went on strike after two days and the service guys withdrew their labour in sympathy!, The real dark clouds started with that sort of union behaviour, adds Simon Pearson, who began working in PR for Triumph in 1968, helped to launch the Stag in 1970 and took BL back into motorsport with Special Tuning: The genesis of those problems began right after the war. "He was a very competent man in private life he was very kind and very caring.". 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. 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. The pamphlet said: All our efforts and resources must be mobilised to change the policy of closures and contraction. This year's foundling is British Leyland's first new Rover sedan in 13 years. BL began selling its interests in the 1980s, and by 1990 the Ford Motor . 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. Archive : 1979 from the National Archives, Archive : Sleeping foreman loses dismissal case against BL. A Supervisor who was sleeping was also dismissed, along with a Foreman. Management regarded him as an "insidious influence" and his days at the car firm had been numbered. 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. 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. As shop steward at British Leyland in Longbridge, Birmingham, he was involved in a series of strikes and walkouts over alleged mismanagement. 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. One of the most notorious trade unionists in recent memory has died aged 90. Pay and Contract. 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