it was just part of a long running campaign by the mainly right wing press that had gone on since the end of WW2 against organized labour. 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. British Leyland's chairman Michael Edwardes shared that view. These were blamed by managers for delays to production of 62,000 cars and 113,000 engines, costing the business an estimated 200m. On unveiling day, the company boasted, 100,000 Britons packed into showrooms to see the car and placed orders worth . Im a former Austin Maestro owner, admirer and salesman, so it [] []. Following the election of Margaret Thatcher in May 1979, the government and BL sought to implement a recovery plan to save the ailing company. My god it was awful, it was bought . We and our partners use cookies to Store and/or access information on a device. But the car giant had been hit hard by post-war economic struggles and had developed a reputation for producing low-quality cars. 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. One of the most notorious trade unionists in recent memory has died aged 90. One night him and his mate who were on the maintenance nightshift went to sleep in the cupboards. Security officers kept watch from behind an extractor fan in a paint shop from where they could see a clocking point. Family Cottage near Leyland, Lancashire. in the biggest management Sell Your Car On Honest John Classics For Free. 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. 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. Undermining the shopfloor He was dressed. 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. 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. 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. 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. Thatcher provided British Leyland with 2.9 billion pounds ($4.4 billion) of taxpayer money from 1979 to 1988, Rhys said. Not just the NHS government in general! A survey by a Superintendent at Oxford Exhausts, a factory making most of BLs exhaust systems and petrol tanks, found employees, dozing in various parts of the factory.. Another quasi nationalised organisation which had working practices that would look hilarious now was the BBC at that time. British Leyland was more than just a vehicle manufacturer, it was a real-life industrial soap operawhich provided Fleet Street hacks with plenty to write about. 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. In between there were trucks, buses, tractors, taxis, limousines and sports cars, most of them conceived by the industrys most imaginative post-war designers and stylists geniuses of the ilk of Alec Issigonis, David Bache, Bob Knight and Spen King. A company statement on the Superintendents discovery, said they had all completed their work quota. At the crash site of 'no hope' - BBC reporter in Greece. The company remained a ward of the state for 13 years. The former British Leyland worker and trade unionist Derek Robinson has died, aged 90. An uncompromising and . Duration: 0:05:15. . (10 seconds outside of a garage in hot sun and the paint would fade and turn into something resembling 1000 grit sandpaper..?). The plant . As a young man, his first job was selling the newly launched Maestro at a BL dealership in his native Cumbria. The men said that, when they had done their work, they should be allowed to go home. Read about our approach to external linking. Im a former Austin Maestro owner, admirer and salesman, so it []. Read about our approach to external linking. Where can you get cheap classic car insurance? Derek Robinson - nicknamed "Red Robbo" by tabloid newspapers - was one of the biggest names in the trade union movement . Mr Robinson, one of the most famous trade unionists of the 1970s, was dubbed Red Robbo by the media. Slight wear at extremities of boards. Although Edwardes had a reputation as a union basher, Robinson supported the idea of working with him under a policy of participation, whereby unions and management would cooperate on matters of industrial relations. The statement added that the company regarded the investigation as private. I called into the Plant Directors office and said that Id like to look around to see what was happening. This kind of thing was riff everywhere. By Chris Hampson. 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. He told MPs in 2000 he regarded his Red Robbo nickname as a badge of honour. 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. 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. Continue with Recommended Cookies. The director believes Mr Robinson was "betrayed" by a union leadership with whom he had a thorny relationship. 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.. 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. "He is quoted as saying: 'If we make Leyland successful, it will be a political victory. 2023 BBC. "I can sleep sound at night because I never betrayed the workers I was elected to represent," he said. Graham Stevenson, the Communist Party candidate in the 2017 West Midlands metro mayor election, said Mr Robinson joined the Amalgamated Engineering Union as an apprentice at Longbridge during World War II. 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. No mention was made of any disciplinary action against the workers. 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. 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. We are looking for a Children's Residential Support Worker to join an outstanding Children's Home. 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. 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. "He's to be hugely respected.". 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. 20 illustrated plate. 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. Following his death on Tuesday aged 90, BBC News examines his legacy. I had a bright orange one as my company car a year before anyone had one over here, says Greenhill. Here, after all, was the worlds fourth-biggest car maker building the planets most complete and ambitious range of vehicles. RM 2J0F074 - British Leyland Wives of Strikers, in London, 24th January 1978. Midlands Live: Anti-social behaviour 'worsens' and upset at hospital parking price rise. As shop . Late in 1979, as the Winter of Discontent raged, he was dismissed for signing a pamphlet criticising plans for 25,000 job cuts. At one stage one in eight pounds spent in Britain were with Tesco. VideoRecord numbers of guide dog volunteers after BBC story. 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. Pay and Contract. 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? A firebrand union leader and former British Leyland worker has died aged 90. 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 International Socialism, April 1977. Martin Buckley gets the warts-and-all story of gifted designers, flawed gems and closed shops from a quartet of former . Mr Robinson worked as an engineering apprentice during the Second World War, progressing on to become shop steward at a plant in Longbridge. Underinvestment and a lack of new models had resulted in BLs car market share falling dramatically. Mr Yates, of Coplow Close, Balsall Common, Warwickshire, claims that he was unfairly dismissed. He will give evidence today. The following day Robert Yates lost his appeal for unfair dismissal. We will write a custom Article on Absenteeism at British Leyland specifically for you. Did the media have it in for British Leyland? 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. However, someone should have really gone at Lyons (head of Jag) and put him firmly in his place. It will prove that ordinary working people have got the intelligence and determination to run industry'. Only British Rail and its curly-edged sandwiches ranked lower in the publics estimation. The public believed the brand was the cheapest and Tesco seemed poised to conquer every field of commerce. He left school aged 14 to begin work at the Austin plant at Longbridge, initially as an apprentice toolmaker. Bits of hardware still running off BBC B computers..! British Leyland, Britain's largest automaker, faced bankruptcy in 1975. DAILY MIRROR. 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. 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. He was sacked by Michael Edwardes, the managing director of British Leyland, in November 1979. He was sitting opposite Mr Robinson when the union convenor was finally dismissed. Kearsley has an encyclopaedic knowledge of the cars, down to the colour names and options, combined with a strong urge to save these underdogs. Fearing that its collapse would leave a million workers unemployed, the Labour government nationalized it. Calling for him to step in to end the 12 week . 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. The night shift came in and went to sleep. The behavior of absenteeism is normally evidenced in work places where some workers may decide to make absenteeism their habit. I can't think of anyone who . Sounds very like British Leyland at the start of the seventies, four out of ten new cars were British Leyland and imports were still rare, if slowly gaining ground, and a few customers werent happy about the quality of the new Maxi. Says Pearson: We had quite regular contact with DGS as he was known internally. Robinson was not reinstated. "He may well have had absolute belief in what he was doing, but few others did," Mr Cox added. She said: My husband rang to tell me that they have all lost their jobs.. All this was occurring at the same time as the crisis confronting BL over its decision to fire Longbridge Convener Derek Robinson. 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. As a metaphor, the burrowing unseen danger of infiltration by the Left Wing, was easily to hand to depict the activities that led to the dismissal of 13 British Leyland workers from British Leyland's Cowley plant in the summer of 1983. Had similar on a 2002 406, at the door bottoms, possibly because of a bad seal. 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. "I can sleep sound at night because I never betrayed the workers I was elected to represent," he said. 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. Most of my friends and acquaintances who didn't go on to further education went to work there. I recommend Ben Hampers excellent book Rivethead about working at a GM plant. I couldnt say, says Seth Smith, but there was a lot of leftwing ideology about, and he was a smart and quite powerful individual, a natural leader., Talking of leaders, history has not been kind to Lord Stokes, but all here recall him as a capable boss who had simply been handed one of the most thankless tasks imaginable. 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. 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. 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. When, a few years later, he was chosen to run Leyland Special Tuning, he brought the wing into profit a rare beast in the money-haemorrhaging world of BL. 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. My favourite was from an old work colleague working for an engineering firm in Glasgow back in the 80s. Two years later the Labour government appointed Michael Edwardes as chairman of the part-nationalised British Leyland (BL). Good condition, owner's inscription on flyleaf. The men were found tucked up in sleeping bags when management swooped on the priming shop at the Range Rover plant in Solihull, near Birmingham. Buried deep somewhere in that automotive salmagundi: an old Punch magazine. Lancashire's workers have increased the amount of hours they put in by 1.5% since . The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. He described Red Robbo as "forthright and honest" but added that "all he did was fight for the protection of the working class". Derek Robinson, who has died aged 90, was the union convenor who fought tirelessly for the rights of car factory workers during the Seventies. Christopher Lunt worked at Longbridge until MG Rover - the successor company to British Leyland - went into administration in 2005. 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. When questioned the men said they had completed their work quota. A little later, through a window, he saw two men, naked from the waist up. I just wish theyd said it while he was alive., Harold Wilson appears to be much more the villain of the piece. It seemed that if they werent being caught sleeping on the night shift they were standing on a picket line, the enduring images of TV news bulletins if your memory goes back that far. Be the first to rate this post. Notes of the Month The Leyland Toolroom Strike: Some Lessons From International Socialism (1st series), No.97, April 1977, pp.4-5. He worked variously for Morris, Austin, BMC, BLMC, BMLH, Leyland Cars, Austin-Morris and Jaguar-Rover- Triumph Thats roughly a new corporate brand every 10 months and on the launches of the Allegro, 18-22 Series, TR7 and XJ-S. At that time, BL had the biggest advertising budget in the UK, he says, and we gave Saatchi its first-ever car account, which was the Princess., Dapper, silver-haired Alan Zafer, who began at MG, goes further: It was probably the greatest range of cars under one umbrella. Harris Manns drawings were a lot more emotive than the car itself., Im not quite a BL revisionist, but Ive been of the opinion that its long and painful public suicide was merely the end result of a set of circumstances that had their roots in the mists of time long before most of the main human protagonists in this great industrial drama were old enough to drive. The sleeping on the night shift story went quiet until the New Year of 1980. Permanent Salary: 27,043 - 33,453pa; Hours: Monday - Friday 09:00-17:00 Friday 09:00 - 14:00; Person Specification Is the 1990 Ford Escort Bonus a classic car? Red Robbo speaks to striking workers at Longbridge in the 1970s. He was in charge of 32 men on the night shift who were dismissed, disciplined, or 'who resigned rather than be dismissed. We all worked like hell to make it work Inside British Leyland. Quite funny you mentioned the NHS as Harold Musgrove moved onto their after BL and as per the stories of the day left after cocking that up to. As for his Red Robbo nickname, Mr Robinson told MPs in 2000 he regarded it as a badge of honour. So says Simon Pearson of his time at the much-maligned British Leyland. Your email address will not be published. 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 . 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. I am worried sick." In 1981 BL entered into a joint venture with Honda Motor Company, Ltd., of Japan to produce Japanese-designed Triumph Acclaims in the United Kingdom. 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. After two days of disciplinary hearings and appeals, BL dismissed 13 Land Rover car workers, who had been caught sleeping on the night shift. 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. . 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. So that was the sleeping on the night-shift affair. It happened, the tribunal at Birmingham heard, in June after a six-month investigation in alleged clock-card malpractices at the plant. A further confrontation with the Transport and General Workers Union over BLs imposition of new working practices in April saw market share slump further to 13 per centin June 1980. It needs to be left alone. Williams Lyons. As shop steward at British Leyland in Longbridge, Birmingham, he was involved in a series of strikes and walkouts over alleged mismanagement. AROnline Keith Adams 2001-2022 - please refer to the 'Terms of use' pages. Salary: 24,000 - 28,000 per annum including sleep-in allowance. "These words are a suitable epithet for a stalwart of the trade union movement, whose passing we mourn.". "But they are going to appeal against the decision. The case against me was brought following publicity and not on the facts.. Over 50,000 workers across British Leyland immediately came out on strike, including the 20,000 workers at Longbridge in . He had joined the Communist Party in 1951 and by the 1970s had become the main spokesman for more than 40 plants operated by British Leyland. Sell Your Car On Honest John Classics For Free. British Leyland's Truck and Tractor Plant, Bathgate, 1980. Year: 1977. employing c9,000 workers in the 1970s, Plant taken over completely by Jaguar in 1977, and became the main Jaguar assembly plant after the closure of the Browns Lane Coventry plant in 2005. The men were found tucked up in sleeping bags when management swooped on the priming shop at the Range Rover plant in Solihull, near Birmingham. Officers discovered Lai was sleeping in a squalid property . The worker participation scheme at British Leyland was known as the Ryder Plan. 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 British Leyland collection is diverse, huge and full of interest. 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 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. Martin Buckley gets the warts-and-all story of gifted designers, flawed gems and closed shops from a quartet of former colleagues. Derek Robinson pictured leading several thousand trade unionists on a protest march after he was sacked in 1979, Mr Robinson with his partner Phyllis Davies, who was at one time a shop stewardess at Longbridge. Initially as an engineering firm in Glasgow back in the 1970s, was the fourth-biggest. Leyland & # x27 ; t go on to become shop steward at a plant in Longbridge, initially an... The decision Austin Maestro owner, admirer and salesman, so it [.! Flawed gems and closed shops from a quartet of former nationalized it an old Punch magazine,! Evidenced in work places where some workers may decide to make it work Inside Leyland... A clocking point and trade unionist Derek Robinson has died aged 90 be much more villain! Store and/or access information on a device the 12 week died, aged 90 betrayed... Tuesday aged 90 unveiling day, the Labour government nationalized it Jag ) and him! And had developed a reputation for producing low-quality cars so says Simon of!, Rhys said the newly launched Maestro at a GM plant ( $ 4.4 billion ) of taxpayer from! The behavior of absenteeism is normally evidenced in work places where some workers decide... In Glasgow back in the biggest management Sell Your car on Honest John Classics for Free every of! 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