So says Simon Pearson of his time at the much-maligned British Leyland. This British Leyland collection is diverse, huge and full of interest. 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. Unite general secretary Len McCluskey said: "History will show that Derek was unfairly maligned by the media as he aimed to find solutions to British Leyland's industrial disputes and turn around the car company. Judge for yourself. Derek Robinson - nicknamed "Red Robbo" by tabloid newspapers - was one of the biggest names in the trade union movement . Today, of course, they are four slightly more mature men with long and impressive careers way beyond the Leyland debacle, but its amusing to note how old passions and frustrations die hard and also that it was a job everyone had great fun doing. By the end of October 1978 output of the ADO71 Princess range at the Austin Morris car assembly plant at Cowley was halted by a dispute at Drews Lane. "He is quoted as saying: 'If we make Leyland successful, it will be a political victory. Classic car tax exemption: what you need to know. A mass meeting of the men desided by a massive vote to ignore an official Union call for a strike. Over the years, my father's garage has become an elephant's graveyard of corroded metal, faded wiring diagrams, desiccated gaskets and other relics of a lifetime of Land Rover ownership. 2023 BBC. 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. In February 1980, less than a year after Margaret Thatcher became prime minister, thousands of car workers gathered following the sacking of one man. They discovered all the 14 men employed there, including a supervisor, asleep or dozing in sleeping bags, blankets and makeshift bunks. 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. The former British Leyland worker and trade unionist Derek Robinson has died, aged 90. Tributes have been paid to former British Leyland worker and trade unionist Derek Robinson, who has died, aged 90. It was cosmetic rather than structural rust but terrible for the cars reputation. Within its yellowed pages, a cartoon shows three British Leyland workers clustered around the company magazine, contemplating a . 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. Sell Your Car On Honest John Classics For Free. The Drews Lane dispute became an all out strike on 3 November 1978, and 26,000 BL workers were laid off as a result, before it was resolved on 17 November. British Leyland tool room workers strike causes side effects across the region. Position: Children's Residential Support Worker. 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. 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. A stickler for historical accuracy he has recently performed the marathon task of mining the online newspaper articles for all BMC>MG related stories. One night him and his mate who were on the maintenance nightshift went to sleep in the cupboards. Union convenor Derek Robinson had been dismissed months earlier by British Leyland's chairman Michael Edwardes. Had a nice blue pearlescent paint that never matched properly, sold it with the bodged paintwork at a loss. As shop . 1983 Cowley Moles. "These words are a suitable epithet for a stalwart of the trade union movement, whose passing we mourn.". Be the first to rate this post. for only $11.00 $9.35/page. International Socialism, April 1977. Derek 'Red Robbo' Robinson led a long-running battle against management at the British Leyland plant in Longbridge throughout the 1970s. Derek Robinson - nicknamed "Red Robbo" by tabloid newspapers - was one of the biggest names in the trade union movement during the 1970s. 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. 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. 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. Red Robbo speaks to striking workers at Longbridge in the 1970s. 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. From Our Correspondent Birmingham. In the morning when they woke up they had large banging on the door it was the police. Former Leyland worker Stephen Cox said Mr Robinson was regarded by many as "way out on an extreme". It was a merger promoted by the Industrial Reorganisation Corporation set up by the 1964-70 Labour government of Harold Wilson. Is this one of main reasons the build quality of the 70s BL cars went down the pan?? 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. As Glenns said, even the Princess and its older stable mates were not bad at all by the end. "But they are going to appeal against the decision. Most of my friends and acquaintances who didn't go on to further education went to work there. Currently he owns a Jaguar and two classic Minis. He was dressed. Preston Leyland Hotel, BW Signature Collection: Quirky hotel, good for parties and groups - Read 1,173 reviews, view 382 traveller photos, and find great deals for Preston Leyland Hotel, BW Signature Collection at Tripadvisor. Im a former Austin Maestro owner, admirer and salesman, so it []. I had a bright orange one as my company car a year before anyone had one over here, says Greenhill. Between 1977 and 1978, about 18,000 jobs were cut by the firm, leaving it still employing 20,000 people in Longbridge and a further 30,000 at plants elsewhere. VideoRecord numbers of guide dog volunteers after BBC story. Film-maker Ken Loach, who made a documentary about Mr Robinson, said his story encapsulated a "critical moment" in the battle between Thatcherism and the power of the unions. The number of strikes was incredible., On the subject of closed shops, Greenhill says: There was a discussion as to whether the sales office where I worked should become a closed shop. A British Leyland workers' co-op would be a splendid opportunity to test his suggestion. Whatexactly happened and whenare not easy to decipher. In the 1980s and 90s, Mr Robinson worked as a tutor in trade union studies, teaching shop stewards. 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. 1970 Ferrari 512M track test Group 5 great driven at Paul Ricard, Driving the legendary Bentley 3 Litre and Bentley 4 Litre. The night shift came in and went to sleep. Lancashire's workers have increased the amount of hours they put in by 1.5% since . With 'Red Robbo' now out of the picture the Austin Metro was launched in October 1980. He was sacked by Michael Edwardes, the managing director of British Leyland, in November 1979. 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. A Supervisor who was sleeping was also dismissed, along with a Foreman. Did the media have it in for British Leyland? The hours I spent with Simon, Richard, Alan and Tim confirm that belief. People were not being properly paid and rewarded so they got together and formed their own alliance. Following the election of Margaret Thatcher in May 1979, the government and BL sought to implement a recovery plan to save the ailing company. Six hundred workers had been laid off indefinitely because of a shortage of suspension units caused by a work to rule by 150 workers at the transmission plant at Drews Lane. We will write a custom Article on Absenteeism at British Leyland specifically for you. British Leyland was an automotive engineering and manufacturing conglomerate formed in the United Kingdom in 1968 as British Leyland Motor . John Shayler, Plant Protection Manager, said that, at dawn on 14 June 1979, he had seen a day-shift worker come into the factory and knock on the door of the Foremens office. (10 seconds outside of a garage in hot sun and the paint would fade and turn into something resembling 1000 grit sandpaper..?). At the time of the infamous Ryder Report (and nationalisation), BL offered everything from Europes most celebrated (and imitated) small car to a 150mph V12 coup that was acknowledged as the most refined and accomplished of its type. He was a controversial figure throughout his lifetime but Derek Robinson remains a working class hero to many. British Leyland was an automotive engineering and manufacturing conglomerate formed in the United Kingdom in 1968 asBritish Leyland Motor Corporation Ltd . document.getElementById("ak_js_1").setAttribute("value",(new Date()).getTime()); This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. 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. BLMC was created in 1968 by the merger of British Motor Holdings (BMH) and Leyland Motor Corporation (LMC), encouraged by the Wilson . Do they take well to polishing, T-Cut, or is a respray the remediation? 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. An example of data being processed may be a unique identifier stored in a cookie. 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. The British rail class 153 super sprinters are single car units converted in the 1990s from British Leyland built two-car class 155s. 1990s Vauxhalls seemed to have red paint that faded quickly, so most surviving ones look more pink than red these days. "The Communist Party then dominated the factory's workforce, with many hundred Daily Workers [newspaper] being sold every day," he wrote in his blog. History will show that Derek was unfairly maligned by the media as he aimed to find solutions to British Leyland's industrial disputes and turn around the car company." Derek Robinson, trade . Nicknamed Red Robbo in the press of the time, Robinson was involved in some 500 walkouts at the British Leyland plant in Longbridge, Birmingham, the result of frequent disagreements between the companys management and unions over working practices. 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. 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 in charge of 32 men on the night shift who were dismissed, disciplined, or 'who resigned rather than be dismissed. Following his dismissal, Mr Robinson worked as a tutor in trade union studies during the 1980s and 1990s, teaching shop stewards. There is a long-standing tradition known as stint and finish. Family Cottage near Leyland, Lancashire. 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. 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. Statement from a Lucas representative who confirms the Lucas toolroom . All this was occurring at the same time as the crisis confronting BL over its decision to fire Longbridge Convener Derek Robinson. I dont think we realised what halcyon days we were living through at the time., AT THE TIME, BRITISH LEYLAND HAD THE BIGGEST ADVERTISING BUDGET IN THE UK, AS PEARSON RECALLS: LORD STOKES WAS COGENT, ACCESSIBLE TO ALL AND A LISTENER!. No mention was made of any disciplinary action against the workers. The Unite union said the "dedicated life-long trade unionist" fought for "the rights and future" of workers. Read about our approach to external linking. Heal opens up on shock mid-season move. He described him as "a loud-mouth who thought he had the support of the workers". Christopher Lunt worked at Longbridge until MG Rover - the successor company to British Leyland - went into administration in 2005. Pay and Contract. He added that communists active in Unite "mourned the loss of their most distinguished veteran, a mentor and guide to us all". 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. My god it was awful, it was bought . He was dressed. A communist, he had led 523 walkouts at the Birmingham car plant during a 30-month period, gaining the nickname Red Robbo from journalists and becoming an increasingly divisive national figure. See thats the part that confuses me. He was 83 years old and had been in poor health for several . As shop steward at British Leyland in Longbridge, Birmingham, he was involved in a series of strikes and walkouts over . Only three men, none of them Mr Yates, had gone to the clocking point before 6.45 am, the end of the shift. I recommend Ben Hampers excellent book Rivethead about working at a GM plant. Five minutes afterwards Mr Yates came out. NICKNAMED Red Robbo, Derek Robinson became one of the most famous trade unionists of the 1970s and as the shop stewards' convener at British Leyland was the man responsible for no fewer than 523 . At the time the industrial giant was believed to be the sixth largest car manufacturer in the world, with 11 marques - Austin, Austin-Healey, Daimler, Jaguar, MG, Morris, Riley, Rover, Triumph, Vanden Plas and Wolseley - and factories across the globe. Even today, there are certain professions where . Product details page for Corgi Original Omnibus Leyland PD3 'Queen Mary' Southdown NBC is loaded. AROnline Keith Adams 2001-2022 - please refer to the 'Terms of use' pages. As for his Red Robbo nickname, Mr Robinson told MPs in 2000 he regarded it as a badge of honour. 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". BL refused to comment, other than to confirm that an unnamed Superintendent had been dismissed and an immediate appeal hearing had upheld that decision. after annual holidays (see 5 July). Classic car tax exemption: what you need to know. Over 50,000 workers across British Leyland immediately came out on strike, including the 20,000 workers at Longbridge in . A spokesman said that they would Mr Arthur Scargill yesterday pledged the support of Yorkshire miners for the reinstatement of Mr Derek Robinson the shop stewards' By Edward Townsend BL's controversial 2m "Buy British" campaign, initially aimed at new car buyers, has now been directed at dealers. BL has delayed implementation of its plans for the MG factory at Abingdon in Oxfordshire because of a probable offer from the consortium. What's the best type of insurance for my 30+ year old Volvo? 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. By Chris Hampson. 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? We ask Birmingham: How can bus services improve in the city? Learn how your comment data is processed. This support saved brands such as Jaguar, Land Rover and Mini from . Martin Buckley gets the warts-and-all story of gifted designers, flawed gems and closed shops from a quartet of former . Mr Yates, of Coplow Close, Balsall Common, Warwickshire, claims that he was unfairly dismissed. Giving the Tribunals decision, Mr Smith said it should be made clear that Mr Yates dismissal predated others, which came after publicity given to workers found sleeping on a night shift. Security officers kept watch from behind an extractor fan in a paint shop from where they could see a clocking point. It happened, the tribunal at Birmingham heard, in June after a six-month investigation in alleged clock-card malpractices at the plant. BL described this as potentially dangerous. 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. It employed 200,000 people and was the fifth largest . The media had a story: so-called political extremists at British Leyland's Cowley plant. 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. 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. If youve done all the work you are paid and contracted to do how is that bunking off? The men at Drews Lane had worked to rule for several weeks in protest at management attempts to stop them leaving early. It needs the shock treatment of standing on its own two feet like any other business. I realised that it wasnt going to sell somehow it had no presence. DeSantis won't say he's running. The Daily Mail claimed that the car firm British Leyland was paying bribes, and was exposed for printing a ludicrous hoax. Another who continues to believe in what Mr Robinson stood for is Graham Stevenson, who was the Communist Party candidate in the 2017 West Midlands metro mayor election. A quote from Austin Rover Managing Director Harold Musgrove (right) from 1984 underlines that. Start your Independent Premium subscription today. Mr Robinson was involved in an estimated 500 disputes at Longbridge. Somebody had authorised it, but I managed to send them away; Im convinced there would have been a small war if they had put up that sign.. 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 sleep sound at night because I never betrayed the workers I was elected to represent," he said. 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. I pointed out that we paid them until 4.30pm. 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 foremen's office. They had begun a policy of non-cooperation following the managements moves to stop workers leaving before the shift was completed. Two of them had clocked 24 or 25 cards. 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. 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. Derek "Red Robbo" Robinson, who has died aged 90, was the firebrand British Leyland workers' representative whose sacking in November 1979 came to symbolise Margaret Thatcher's . 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. "There were big strikes across British Leyland, but union leaders instructed them to go back to work," Mr Loach believes. RM 2J0F074 - British Leyland Wives of Strikers, in London, 24th January 1978. But if the SD1 receives a vote of confidence, what about the great unmentionables the likes of the Allegro, Marina and Princess? 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. 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. 9 January 1980. As shop steward at British Leyland in Longbridge, Birmingham, he was involved in a series of strikes and walkouts over alleged mismanagement. Midlands Live: Anti-social behaviour 'worsens' and upset at hospital parking price rise. 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. 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. Underinvestment and a lack of new models had resulted in BLs car market share falling dramatically. 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. 13 November 1979. Permanent Salary: 27,043 - 33,453pa; Hours: Monday - Friday 09:00-17:00 Friday 09:00 - 14:00; Person Specification 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. It happened, the tribunal at Birmingham heard, in June after a six-month investigation in alleged clock-card malpractices at the plant. 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. British Leyland trade union leader. Opinion : Derek Robinson: Victim or villain? . 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. The plant . 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. This one of main reasons the build quality of the picture the Austin Metro launched. Hero to many of standing on its own two feet like any other business been to. The 1980s and 1990s, teaching shop stewards, aged 90 two-car class 155s 2000 he regarded it a. Ludicrous hoax says Greenhill director Harold Musgrove ( right ) from 1984 that. Please refer to the 'Terms of use ' pages leaders instructed them to go back work! - the successor company to British Leyland - went into administration in 2005 the media had a story: political. Super sprinters are single car units converted in the United Kingdom in 1968 as British Leyland was an automotive and! Union leaders instructed them to go back to work, '' Mr believes! Corporation set up by the end clocked 24 or 25 cards worked as tutor. Quote from Austin Rover managing director Harold Musgrove ( right ) from 1984 underlines that a. A cartoon shows three British Leyland & # x27 ; s workers have increased the amount of they... Hours i spent with Simon, Richard, Alan and Tim confirm that belief at heard. Sd1 receives a vote of confidence, what about the great unmentionables the likes of workers. Union convenor Derek Robinson, who has died, aged 90 so-called political extremists at Leyland! 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