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 . 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. Exterior view of British Leyland Strandard Triumph works entrance and gatehouse at Canley, Coventry . 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. Ultimately it would become nationalised as British Leyland, often referred to as just BL.In 1986 it was renamed to Rover Group.. History. 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. Heal opens up on shock mid-season move. 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. Lancashire's workers have increased the amount of hours they put in by 1.5% since . Yesterday they faced a disciplinary hearing. When questioned the men said they had completed their work quota. I hadnt been there for many years. The story first hit the headlines on 12 November 1979 when it was revealed that 14night shift workershad been caught sleeping at a British Leyland plant. Officers discovered Lai was sleeping in a squalid property . A Supervisor who was sleeping was also dismissed, along with a Foreman. He also stood as a Communist Party candidate in four general elections in the city between 1966 and 1974. The behavior of absenteeism is normally evidenced in work places where some workers may decide to make absenteeism their habit. He was in charge of 32 men on the night shift who were dismissed, disciplined, or 'who resigned rather than be dismissed. 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. Currently he owns a Jaguar and two classic Minis. Two of them had clocked 24 or 25 cards. My favourite was from an old work colleague working for an engineering firm in Glasgow back in the 80s. Midlands Live: Anti-social behaviour 'worsens' and upset at hospital parking price rise. 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. An example of data being processed may be a unique identifier stored in a cookie. 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. Pay and Contract. By Chris Hampson. In the morning when they woke up they had large banging on the door it was the police. For many, Mr Robinson is remembered "very badly", according to Chris Cowin, an expert on British Leyland's history. 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. In February 1980, less than a year after Margaret Thatcher became prime minister, thousands of car workers gathered following the sacking of one man. 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. At the crash site of 'no hope' - BBC reporter in Greece. Derek 'Red Robbo' Robinson led a long-running battle against management at the British Leyland plant in Longbridge throughout the 1970s. acquired by BMC in 1953. 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. 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. 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. 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. The British Leyland Motor Company, BLMC, was formed back in 1968. Belated attempts to set up acceptable new output targets had been resisted by the Shop Stewards. Manage Settings . Former Leyland worker Stephen Cox said Mr Robinson was regarded by many as "way out on an extreme". He was in charge of 32 men on the night shift who were dismissed, disciplined, or who resigned rather than be dismissed. 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. So says Simon Pearson of his time at the much-maligned British Leyland. Born in Cradley Heath in the Black Country in 1927, Mr Robinson had begun working at the Longbridge plant aged 14 and was in his 50s when the axe fell. 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 - nicknamed "Red Robbo" by tabloid newspapers - was one of the biggest names in the trade union movement . See thats the part that confuses me. 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. 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. Five minutes afterwards Mr Yates came out. DeSantis won't say he's running. "The Communist Party then dominated the factory's workforce, with many hundred Daily Workers [newspaper] being sold every day," he wrote in his blog. It happened, the tribunal at Birmingham heard, in June after a six-month investigation in alleged clock-card malpractices at the plant. document.getElementById("ak_js_1").setAttribute("value",(new Date()).getTime()); This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Similar incidents had occurred before and appropriate action had been taken. It wasnt cheap steel.it was steel that was galvanised on one side only..the idea being that the galvanised side went towards the wet..if only you could guarantee that the steel blank had been put in the press the right way round.. My father and his work colleague both had red S reg 2600 Rovers from new. 13 November 1979. The director believes Mr Robinson was "betrayed" by a union leadership with whom he had a thorny relationship. He will give evidence today. Says Pearson: We had quite regular contact with DGS as he was known internally. 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. The organisation specialises in providing best-in-class care and . Writing the same year, the Conservative MP Michael Grylls said: The truth is that today Leyland needs nothing but that most difficult of remedies for a politician to prescribe. Mr Robinson was among those trade unionists soon to lose their grip on power. Sir William Lyons, the founder of Jaguar Cars Ltd., died in his sleep this morning at his home near Leamington Spa in Warwickshire. 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. Over 50,000 workers across British Leyland immediately came out on strike, including the 20,000 workers at Longbridge in . It was a merger promoted by the Industrial Reorganisation Corporation set up by the 1964-70 Labour government of Harold Wilson. A company statement on the Superintendents discovery, said they had all completed their work quota. My god it was awful, it was bought . First edition. 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. Hello there we are looking for witnesses to the fire next door can you help. No votes so far! Furthermore most of their fathers, uncles, etc. VideoRecord numbers of guide dog volunteers after BBC story. Vilified by the media as "Red Robbo" he was also betrayed, in the eyes of his supporters, by trade union bosses. 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. As a young man, his first job was selling the newly launched Maestro at a BL dealership in his native Cumbria. 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 . 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