British Leyland in the Times - 1974 - Waterloo

[nicholls1966uk]

March 31st 1974

THE OBSERVER

BRITISH LEYLAND RUNS OUT OF ROAD
In the first of a two-part inquiry , MICHAEL BRAHAM loo ks at the plight of Britain 's biggest exporter.

The three day week has knocked a £30 million dent in British Leyland's profits and the Budget has only compounded the damage. The group, which seemed to be moving smoothly into the fast lane at last, has been thrust back on to a narrow, twisting road with, precipices on either side. Valuable export customers have been lost:, some of them for good.
"They haven't been prepared to sit and wait for our cars and will now tend to stay with their new suppliers,"
says deputy chairman and managing director John Barber. He concedes that British Leyland's bank balances have drained away during the prolonged crisis. Heavy borrowings are believed to have taken their place and there could be serious problems finding the £500 million needed to finance new plant and equipment. Without this investment, the competitive position of the only major British-owned motor manufacturer will be further eroded. And that could, ultimately jeopardise 170,000 jobs and exports ;of well over £400 million a year. Mr Healey's Budget, far from providing relief , has piled on further problems. The increase in National Insurance contributions alone will cost British Leyland nearly £4 million a year. The 30 per cent increase in electricity charges and 15 per cent rise in rail freight rates will add significantly to the group's costs. And sales are bound to be affected by the new tax on petrol and the 25 per cent increase in steel prices. The latter will add at least £50 to the cost of a £1,000 car—and it is little more than a month since prices went up by about 10 per cent.

If the company does manage to finish the year with a profit—after a first half loss of perhaps £10 million , compared with a profit of £22.8 million last time—it will then have to pay corporation tax at the new, higher rate of 52 per cent. All this would be discouraging enough if British Leyland could , now look forward to a prolonged period of normal working and a sustained demand for vehicles. But the world market is fraught with uncertainties in the wake of the fuel crisis and the signs are that the companv will continue to be plagued by the labour disputes, that are the bane of the British motor industry.

Only last week, production of the Morris Marina ground to a halt at Cowley and 1,000 workers were sent home when 12 men walked out. This was on the very day that British Leyland's chairman, Lord Stokes, was telling 500 anxious shareholders at the annual meeting in London about the heavy loss caused by three day working. The group lost 100,000 vehicles and £100 million in revenue because output was only 60 per cent of normal. Most plants are now back to five-day working, but the lost production can never be made up. The slowest recovery is in low volume areas like heavy trucks, which also happen to be among the most profitable: So the company is unlikely to get back into the black until May at the earliest. Even this prospect is threatened by the engineering workers ban on overtime, due to start at Easter. Lord Stokes fears it will have "disastrous results." British Leyland's maintenance work is bound to be affected and its 2,000 suppliers could be hit even harder. Once again there is the prospect of component shortages upsetting production schedules:

This is a reminder of just how vulnerable British Leyland is to the effects of disruptive action outside the group. The company has gone a long way in recent years to putting its own house in order. Much of the credit goes to the group's labour relations chief , Pat Lowry, who has masterminded the switch from piece rates to the far less contentious fixed wage-rate system. Lord Stokes points out proudly that the number of man-hours lost through internal disputes fell 41 per cent last year. But the group is losing millions of man-hours a year through external disputes like the miners strike, last year's gas strike and stoppages at major suppliers like Rubery Owen.

Even in today's depressed conditions, the company cannot produce enough vehicles to meet demand in the home market and overseas.

"We can sell all the vehicles we can make," says Barber, now heir-apparent to Stokes.

"The first thing is to restock our dealers and refill the export pipelines."

Production problems been a constant headache since Leyland Motors merged, with British Motor Holdings to form British Leyland in 1968. Long waiting lists built up in the boom years of 1972 and 1973, giving car importers the chance to grab a third of the market. The production difficulties; largely attributable to strikes, help explain why British Leyland, has slipped down the world league since it was formed. In 1968 it was the second-biggest motor manufacturer outside the United States. Now there are four companies — Volkswagen, Fiat, Toyota and Datsun-—which produce twice as many cars as British Leyland. This must be a disappointment to those who hoped that bringing together Austin, Morris, Triumph, Rover and Jaguar—-a move blessed by the last Labour Government—would ensure that Britain stayed in the first division. But Barber insists that the group, "has never been in the super-high volume business. We don't have any aspirations to be big for the sake of being big," he says.

"We think we have our own special niche in the market with good quality, reasonable volume cars. We plan to expand output by about 40 per cent over the next few years and with this modest expansion we will remain viable and profitable."

It is certainly true that, before the latest setback the group was in better shape than at any time since the merger. After more than five years of hard , slog, the model range had been trimmed and strengthened, the home market was buoyant, profit margins were improving and labour relations were taking a turn for the better. At the end of the 1972-73 financial year—last September—there was a best-ever profit of £51 million before tax and ,the group had £51 million cash in hand. Most important of all, the high volume car assembly plants at Longbridge and Cowley had been modernised for Marina and Allegro production at a cost of over £60 million. In the early years, these outdated plants had been millstones round the corporation's neck and dragged down profitability. The old BMC management had simply not invested enough money in re-equipment.

"When I walked into the Cowley works in 1968 . I couldn't believe my eyes" says one industrialist closely concerned

with the Leyland-BMH merger.

"There were belt-driven lathes—at a time when some firms were already using numerically controlled machine tools."

But Lord Stokes has not been able to invest as much as he would like because of the group's poor profitability prior to last year. The upshot is that each British Leyland worker is still backed by less than half the capital that backs each man at Fiat, Volkswagen and Ford of Britain. This in turn makes it difficult to bring productivity up to the level of other companies—the value added by each employee is 75 per cent lower here than in Gerrnany—and profits are held back. That means there is less money to invest in plant and equipment and the company stays stuck in the slow lane. That is why British Leyland's expansion programme announced a year ago, is of vital significance. For the first time priority can be given to the specialist car division—Rover-Triumph and Jaguar and to truck and bus production. Jaguar output for example, is to be doubled to 60,000 a year

The original plan to spend £100 million a, year was quite modest by world standards—Ford of Britain, which is far smaller and did not suffer years of neglect is now spending £65 million a year but at least the money is going into high profit areas. But British Leyland has already admitted that the body-blow to profits will force it to spread the programme over seven years instead of five, which is equivalent to trimming the annual rate by 30 per cent. And the idea of selecting a 'green-fields ' site for a completely new assembly plant by the end of the decade has been quietly dropped.

The big question remains: How will British Leyland finance even this ' stretched ' programme, which involves finding £70 million a year at current prices ? The British market seems likely to shrink 30 per cent this year, the German market 50 per cent. British Leyland analysts are downgrading their forecast for Europe as a whole from 10,250,000 units to 8,250,000 units for 1974-75. It is true that the group will not suffer immediately, since it cannot produce enough to meet demand at the moment. But the gloomy projections make it clear that other major manufacturers will be stuck with spare capacity and that competition is likely to be cut-throat.

British Leyland cars like the Allegro are highly competitive at present thanks to the downward float of the pound. But the company has been unable to take advantage of this to penetrate European markets because of supply difficulties. Barber concedes that British Leylands progress has "slipped a couple of years" because of the cash outflow during the miners strike, the fuel situation and the economic downturn in Europe. But he adds firmly :

"We're convincedthat the motor industry is still a growth industry though our forecasts suggest that growth is about three years in arrears"

Lord Stokes maintains that "given even a reasonable industrial and economic background to operate in, British Leyland could prove very profitable and rewarding business."

But some observers see little chance of that climate emerging and are seriously worried about the implications for the group.

"We know the profit potential is £100 million", says one motor industry analyst. "But the company is still very vulnerable to outside strikes and even if the market holds up, the group will never get a chance to produce that kind of profit on a consistent basis."

He believes that over the next three years British Leyland will need more money than it can hope to generate. After all, with stocks of £400 million in the last balance sheet, it will need an extra £40-£50 million a year just to finance stocks if inflation continues at the present rate. The latest published figures suggest that the group could borrow about £150 million without getting overstretched. But borrowings are expensive and may already be well on the way to this figure. And there must be a limit to the amount the banks will be prepared to lend to a company making little or no profit on sales at £1,500 million. It would hardly be possible to ask shareholders to put up more cash because it is only two years since the company raised over £50 million through a rights issue at 45p. The share price Is now down to 14p and the whole company has a market value of only £80 million. That compares with £320 million soon after the merger.

"If you worried too much about the short-term share price I think you'd have a nervous breakdown" says Barber. "We can still see that our cash needs are covered for the next two to three years."

The proposed sale of the Spanish offshoot to General Motors for £27.6 million, will ease the immediate pressure, so long as the deal is sanctioned by the Spanish Government. If and when British Leyland does run short of money, the Government could certainly not stand by and see Britain's biggest exporter go under. The funds would have to be found to preserve both export sales and jobs, though this might mean nationalisation or State participation on the lines of the BP shareholding. That might seem revolutionary, but there are good precedents in Europe, including Renault which is entirely Government-owned. It maybe only a matter of time before Fiat, which made an operating los of £45 million last year, goes the same way. So there is no reason why the British Government of the day should be abashed about standing behind Britain's biggest motor company. After all the industry as a whole provides one in eight, households with their family incomes.

[nicholls1966uk]

April 1st 1974

BLMC again faced with idle Marina lines in dispute over Cowley manning study

By R. W. Shakespeare Northern Industrial Correspondent

Production of the Marina car range at British Leyland's Cowley car plant is likely to be at a standstill again today as the management makes further efforts to resolve a dispute at the plant. The dispute stopped the assembly lines for four days last week and has caused output losses of some 3,000 cars worth between £3m and £4m. The dispute centres on shop floor objections to the management's use of industrial engineers to study ways of cutting manning scales and increasing assembly line production rates. The issue is crucial to British Leyland's overall strategy and the need to improve the productivity and profitability of manufacturing operations. This is to match the new high earnings and guaranteed wage rates that have been brought in to replace piecework payments. At Cowley, the management is attempting to achieve greater flexibility of labour on the shop floor and to step up the assembly line speeds from the present maximum of 27 to 30 cars an hour. Cowley was the first of the major car plants to make the change to standard day work rates. The dispute could have far-reaching implications for the rest of the car manufacturing centres which have subsequently been involved in the change from piecework. These include the Midlands plants at Birmingham and Coventry.

Peace on Merseyside: Peace returns to the car industry on Merseyside today at the two British Leyland factories at Speke. A mass meeting of the 370 strikers in the press shop at Woodend, who caused , 2000 Triumph workers to be laid off at that factory and the adjacent one of Speke Hall, decided on Saturday to return.

[nicholls1966uk]

April 2nd 1974

Dispute again halts Marina output

By R. W. Shakespeare

Continuing troubles on the shop floor at British Leyland's car plant at Cowley, Oxford, led to another shutdown of all assembly of the Marina car range yesterday. Soon after the speed of the line had been raised to 30 an hour, shop stewards called the 800 men to a meeting. Work was not resumed and about 1,200 workers were sent home. With more disruption likely, other workers may have to be laid off during this week. The Marina lines were closed for four days last week, and production losses now total well over £4m at a time when British Leyland faces a heavy backlog of orders. The further standstill yesterday came after a mass meeting of assembly workers had renewed their objection to the management's use of industrial engineers to carry out studies concerned with the reorganization of working arrangements. British Leyland's plan is to reduce manning scales and adjust line speeds to achieve increased productivity. Although the Cowley management takes the line that it has a prior commitment by the unions to measures it is taking, it hopes to negotiate a settlement of the dispute, which is causing the loss of some 750 vehicles a day. But no talks have yet been arranged, and it seems unlikely that there can be a resumption of production today.

[nicholls1966uk]

April 3rd 1974

British Leyland losses mount as Marina and Mini lines stay shut

By R. W. Shakespeare

A fresh wave of strikes in the car, components and engineering industries, is taking a heavy toll of production. Output losses are running into millions of pounds, at a time when these key industrial sectors are struggling to recover from the financial drain and backlog of orders following the power crisis and three-day week.
This was the grim picture yesterday. All Marina car production was stopped for the sixth day running, with losses totalling more than £5m. All Mini production was halted at Longbridge, Birmingham, with 2,500 workers laid off and production losses of £1m a day. This resulted from a strike at the British Leyland-owned SU Carburettor plant at Birmingham, where 380 workers have stopped over a pay dispute and another 460 are laid off.
At the British Leyland car plant at Oxford it now seems doubtful that the Marina car lines will be reopened this week. Assembly workers who are on strike against the management's use of industrial engineers to evolve plans for reduced manning scales and higher productivity, met yesterday morning and decided to continue their action. About 1,200 workers are idle and they will not now meet again until tomorrow morning. With output losses mounting at the rate of £1m a day there is the growing prospect that more Cowley workers will have to be laid off. No fresh negotiations have yet been arranged and the management is sticking to its case that it has a standing agreement with the car unions covering the reorganization plans it is trying to carry out.
The standstill of the Mini lines at Longbridge, which normally turn out between 800 and 900 cars in each 24 hours, is another bitter blow for British Leyland. Demand for these cars is at a peak because of high petrol prices and there is a big backlog of orders. The trouble stems from a strike at the Birmingham components factory. On Monday there was a walkout by 120 men and 260 women workers following the breakdown of plant level pay talks. Another 460 workers had to be sent home.

[nicholls1966uk]

April 4th 1974

Prospect of settlement in Longbridge dispute as more are laid off

By R. W. Shakespeare

Labour disputes, which have cost British Leyland some £8m. worth in lost car production over the past eight days, again stopped output of Marina and Mini cars at Cowley and Birmingham yesterday. More than 9,000 car and components workers are idle at Oxford and in the Midlands and seem likely to remain so until at least the end of this week. By then, production losses will be about £12m. However, there is some prospect of a settlement of the trouble that has led to the shut-down at Longbridge. This began on Monday following a strike by 380 workers and the layoff of another 460 at the British Leyland-owned SU Carburetter factory at Birmingham. The dispute is over a pay claim which ended in deadlock at plant level negotiations. Yesterday, there were some indications that union officials may now recommend a return to work pending further talks. This could lead to a reopening of the Mini assembly lines at Longbridge, which had run out of carburetters on Monday morning and the recall of more than 2500 car workers who were laid off . At Cowley, the 2,400 assembly- line workers who are on strike, with another 4,000 laid off-are due to meet again today. They will be voting on whether or not to continue their stoppage which is in protest against the management's plans to re- arrange working schedules including reducing manning scales and changing line speeds, to achieve greater productivity. The walkout on Tuesday of last week came when industrial engineers were employed to make studies on the assembly lines. There have been no fresh talks since the strikers met on Tuesday when they voted to continue their action. But since then more workers have had to be sent home.

[nicholls1966uk]

April 7th 1974
THE OBSERVER

THREE YEARS HARD LABOUR
By David Wilson

After losing £100 million worth of production from the three-day week British Leyland is the only car manufacturer which has gone on losing output through industrial disputes. At Cowley, Oxford, 2,500 men are on strike and 4,000 laid off, 7,000 Marinas have been lost, worth £7 million. In Birmingham 2,600 workers are laid off and Mini production halted by a strike at SU Carburettor.

It is a grisly picture for a company with a derisory share price of 12p and little prospect of profitability this year . And it obscures one of the great industrial dramas of our time—the virtual abolition of piecework in British Leyland's 59 factories over the past three years. The reform of payments began in January 1971 when management at the Cowley factories ignored the protests of shop stewards and simply told workers that piecework had ended; instead, they would be paid £1.05 an hour , like it or lump it. The men liked it. Within days, the Rover works at Solihull had switched. Next summer, the Swindon body plant and Triumph in Liverpool changed, then the main Longbridge works in Birmingham. Finally Coventry fell when, the Standard-Triumph and Jaguar factories accepted new payment systems. Now 91,000 of British Leyland's 93,000 hourly paid workers—97.5 per cent—have abandoned piecework. Counting the bus and truck division , the figure is 103,000 out of 121,000 hourly-paid workers or 85 per cent.

It is a formidable achievement, since the militant left opposed the change tooth and nail. Piecework , ironically forced on a reluctant union movement in the 1920s, formed the basis of a shop steward's power. Every time a job changed, a new rate had to be negotiated. Not surprisingly, managers joked wryly that the only useful maxim was : 'If at first you don't concede, try, try and try again.' The Unions sacred principle of mutuality where unions agreed any change in materials , methods and means of production—grew out of piecework. So did the high earnings of men on the line.

In October 1970, six months after Pat Lowry was appointed to take charge of group industrial relations , the abolition of piecework - was put high on a list of policy objectives. One month later , a top-level meeting of officers of the Transport and General Workers Union, including Jack Jones, made it possible. They decided that flat-rate payments were acceptable as long as mutuality was retained. Last month, British Leyland formulated a new list of policy objectives. The document is top secret, but its three main targets show that the real battles for management must now begin.The targets are :

1. achieving more commitment by employees to the company.

2. reaching tha same levels of efficiency as competitors.

3. developing long term fire prevention policies instead of fire-fighting.

All three objectives point to problems which stem from the assault on piecework ; the incidence of strikes remains disturbingly high and the level of output is disturbingly low. In fact, if the attaining of the 1970 objectives is to be counted a success, British Leyland must now prove that it was not a pyrrhic victory.

The cost of the switch-over has undoubtedly been steep. The launch of the Marina at Cowley—Leyland had vowed it would never be built under piecework--was hampered by strikes. Equally, the launch of the Jaguar XJ 12 was ruined by an 11-week strike against the introduction of measured day work. But management in both cases did not concede and when the Allegro was launched last summer , there were only minor hiccups. Nor has it been a cheap operation. Ford and Vauxhall have always had measured day work and Chrysler switched from piecework by 1969; because it was last to make the change, Leyland had to establish the highest production rates in the industry. But the cost has not been as astronomical as pessimists feared. The chart shows remarkable consistency of rates from one Leyland plant to another, and roughly comparable rates with Chrysler , if not Ford and Vauxhall . Man for man on the total payroll, Leyland pays less than its competitors . Crudely compared , the average annual pay for all Vauxhall employees rose from £1,618 to £2,107 between 1970 and 1972; for Ford , from £1,992 to £2,574;and for Chrysler , from £1,619 to £2,192 . For Leyland it rose from £1,474 to £1,919 and to £2,218 last year. The strike record during the transition has also been bad. ln the four years from 1970 until last year 178,000, 106,000, 170,000 and 173,000 vehicles have been lost. But some of British Leyland's worst losses stem from external disputes among suppliers. Last year the most damaging shutdowns were the result of strikes at British Road Services and Rubery Owen.

Both Lord Stokes and Pat Lowry publicly console, themselves that the man-hours lost from internal disputes in 1973 were 41 per cent down on 1972 —5,939,747 hours compared with 10 million. But the real weakness of British Leyland is the output achieved per man. It is the lowest of the industry and this is not solely the consequence of under-investment over the years. Performance has fallen with the removal of the piecework carrot. At Cowley. the problem is most acute; the current dispute, which has stopped Marina production, results from attempts to restore the speeds of the assembly lines, with job targets charted by industrial engineers. Management was so determined to launch the Marina on measured day work, that it chained itself to the millstone of mutuality, virtually as demanded by the TGWU.

"Man-assignments shall be mutually agreed" , the agreement reads ." Standard performance, i.e. effort, shall be mutually agreed on the basis of normal output without over-exertion , with due consideration to fatigue , and the need for an agreed amount of personal time. "

Changes in effort or manning, mobility and relief, times were all lumped under the heading of mutuality. It appears that performance fell by at least 25 per cent. At any rate, a second line had to be installed to get the required Marina production of 5,500 a week. Recruitment was heavy, but stopped last winter , with the fuel crisis. Line speeds were cut from 35 to 25 cars per hour, after three-day working and when management tried to restore them to 30 two weeks ago, the assembly plant struck. The men argued that 800 workers had left Cowley and manning was now inadequate. But they also objected to the presence of that new breed of technician , the industrial engineer , armed with white coat, clipboard and stopwatch. In three British Leyland factories, industrial engineering has been opposed. At Standard - Triumph in Coventry, programme schedulers refused to do the work because of their own pay dispute. At Swindon last year, the press operators struck over relief times worth a fraction of a penny. Some 650 men wanted an extra 65 seconds of relief time per day for .monotony, on top of the 1.62 minutes for personal needs. 1.30 minutes for fatigue and 65 seconds , for sitting-down after standing too long. But the centre of opposition is Cowley. Time and motion is a callous job.

" Both hands should not be idle except at rest periods , hands should work in curves, hands should be removed from all work which could be done by other parts of the body."

Triumph workers were told—but it is a tool which management cannot ignore. The unions accept this in the national engineering agreement. Even Communlsts like Dick Etheridge , the Longbridge convener so reviled in the 1950's, accepts the stopwatch in his plant, just as he accepts job valuation. But the Cowley assembly workers, with their mutuality clause, have said no.

Union officials see the solution in a return to some form of incentive bonus. David Buckle, the TGWU district Secretary for the Cowley body plant , says :

" Workers will not give piecework effort for day wages. If the employers cannot win on industrial , engineering, we will get some form of bonus within two or three years. Then we will have achieved one of the union's primary objectives—getting a high basic rate with high security and incentive payments."

Already Chrysler at its Ryton assembly plant have restored a small bonus and in Standard-Triumph , Coventry, Leyland left a 10 per-cent bonus element in the £46 to £54 production rates. But Lowry is adamant :

"We have, got to make the new systems work ," he says.

"We have got to make supervisory skills adequate to achieve our targets. Measured day work has had three years of operation at most and it would cause demoralisation among managers if we changed again. "

Three further problems have emerged with measured day work : the demand for parity between plants, rivalries between grades, and the desire for meaningful income security. Under piecework , no one knew What they would earn from week to week, let alone year by year. But with flat-rate wages, comparison is easy. Company compares itself with company, plant with plant , toolroom workers with men on the line. While inter-company parity is still a rallying cry for the unions, Leyland has reached a modus vivendi between its own plants. Each complex can make its own pay offers, but first they are vetted by the group personnel department to ensure that basic common conditions obtain.

Lowry sees this strengthening of the industrial relations role in the corporation as the most important achievement of the 1970 policy objectives. He kept Leyland in the Engineering Employers Federation to maintain the protection over such things as the length of working week; and holidays: But local autotomy remains in fixing wages and in practice measured day work settlements have fallen within a consistent range.

The unions accept that interplant parity is a non-starter, if plant bargaining, the paramount objective is to remain. In fact , in issues where companywide policy seems sensible, like pensions and insurance cover , the conveners have preferred local autonomy.

"The entire issue of parity has lost its emotive connotations over the past year, in British Leyland."

Moss Evans , the national organiser of the TGWU, said.

The whole issue, however could be revived if Leyland leaves the Engineering Employers Federation. The company would then need group agreements with the unions to avoid being picked off plant by plant on issues like the 35-hour week, or four weeks holiday. Comparison between workers --the old differential problem—has also been highlighted by measured day work. Craftsmen often used to tolerate the high earnings of semi-skilled piece-workers, because of the insecurity of jobs on the line. Now they see themselves getting little more, or the same as people without their skills or expertise. At Chrysler , the toolroom got staff status to appease their wounded pride. But strikes by electricians and millwrights for similar treatment soon followed.

In Leyland, this predominance of the TGWU, essentiallty a production workers union, has exacerbated this problem. At Cowley the TGWU has achieved a 'second to none' principle for production workers. This means they get the same earnings as craftsmen and they demand identical conditions; in effect it also means that the TGWU negotiates for the craft unions and if membership increases on the way, Jack Jones will not complain.

The TGWU's power at Cowley is in large measure an historical accident. William Morris; later Lord Nuffield , recruited his labour from the farms, shops and college servants of Oxford and strongly resisted union organisation. But when he needed an associated body plant, later Pressed Steel had to attract labour from the unionised parts at Britain. One Josh Murphy, an ex-Rotherham coal miner , duly began to organise the body plant and asked to join the Amalgamated Engineering Union. He was refused , because he was unskilled. So he turned to the TGWU and Hugh Scanlon, the engineering workers president , is still complaining at the ensuing blitz on his Midlands membership.

The final problem of measured day work is to make the system live up to its promise of giving true income security. Some of the bitterest strikes have been over lay-off pay, where workers are made idle through no fault of their own. Lowry insists some exclusions are needed to prevent collusive bargaining where some workers could strike without fear of consequence to their fellows on guaranteed wages. Moss Evans sees the issue of lay-off pay in all motor company's as a major battleground of the future. Present lay-off pay is usually 80 per cent of grade rates but limited to 14 to 28 days a year and it is seldom given for disputes in allied plants. While me unions would like staff status for all workers, thereby ensuring payment when unable to work, Lowry will only move along this road in small carefully measured steps.

The reforms of British Leyland's first six years as a corporation are considerable. Piecework is virtually gone; company dispute procedures have been set up; job evaluation has been accepted and to a lesser extent, industrial engineering. With Lowry's appointment to the board of directors in 1972 industrial relations found its rightful place in company decision-making. But strikes persist and overmanning has yet to be tackled.

The problem now is how pursue efficiency at a time of extreme market uncertainty,and with income,security as a union priority. Leyland's task is unenviable.



April 9th 1974

£10m Cowley car strike ends today

By R. W. Shakespeare

A strike that has cost British Leyland some £10m worth of Marina car output at Cowley, Oxford and led to a management warning that men who did not resume work would face dismissal, will end today. At a mass meeting yesterday the 2,500 assembly workers who have been on strike since March 26 voted by a 5-1 majority to resume this morning. Another 4,000 Cowley workers who have been laid off and, like the strikers, have each lost about £90 in wages over the past two weeks, are being recalled. No Marina cars have been produced at Cowley since the strike began. About 8,000 vehicles have been lost at a time when British Leyland has a huge backlog of orders resulting from the power crisis and three-day working. The vote to resume work clearly implies a majority shop-floor acceptance of the management's proposals for a reorganization of working arrangements, including reduced manning scales and changes in assembly line speeds. A British Leyland spokesman said yesterday that the new arrangements would apply from this morning. The assembly workers' stoppage was a protest against these plans and the use by the management of industrial engineers to carry them out. During the weekend, Mr John Symonds, the Cowley plant director, sent out letters to each of the strikers, with the warning that they faced dismissal. He said

" The company is not bluffing. We would be irresponsible to let a minority put the whole future of Cowley at risk."

Another strike at Cowley involving 1,000 workers in the central spares department is also being called off. Workers there have accepted a lump sum payment in settlement of their claim of an anomaly in their wage rates. This dispute began on March 27 and has caused delays and bottlenecks in the delivery of components to garages and service stations.

At the British Leyland-owned SU Carburettor factory in Birmingham nearly 330 workers who have been out for the past 10 days also voted to return yesterday. Another 460 who were laid off have been recalled. However, a group of seven maintenance electricians refused to accept the settlement terms, which involve fresh talks on a pay claim. This is delaying the resumption of full production. It also means that production of Mini cars at the Longbridge, Birmingham plant, where 2,500 workers are laid off, cannot be resumed today. The Mini assembly lines were closed all of last week and yesterday, with vehicle losses totalling some £3m. Another 200 men at the Castle Bromwich body pressing plant were also idle. A management spokesman at Longbridge said it might be possible to resume production there on tonight's shift.

[nicholls1966uk]

April 10th 1974

Fresh troubles halt Cowley assembly lines

By R. W. Shakespeare

British Leyland has run into more labour troubles. Yesterday several car assembly lines were at a standstill with about 10,000 workers idle through strikes and lay-offs and more car production and jobs are threatened. At Cowley, Oxford, where Marina production was resumed only this week after a standstill that cost £10m worth of production and made 6.400 workers idle, all of the car lines were halted yesterday and more than 7,000 workers had to be sent home. The new trouble was caused when 150 forklift truck drivers walked out in protest against the suspension of lay-off pay during the recent dispute on the Marina assembly lines. Their action halted output of Marinas, Maxis and 1300 cars. Under agreement made with the unions lay-off pay guarantees are suspended when a stoppage results from a dispute within the plant. The standstill at Longbridge has alreadv cost £5m worth of Mini production. About 2,500 workers have been laid off for more than a week. Now production of other models at Longbridge, including the Allegro range, together with car production at some other British Leyland centres is at risk and thousands more workers could be facing lay-offs before the Easter holidays begin tomorrow night. The disruption at Longbridge results from a dispute at the British Leyland owned SU Carburettors factory at Birmingham where a strike by 380 workers and the lay off of 460 others stopped production for the whole of last week. Although the majority of the strikers returned to work on Monday pending fresh talks on a pay claim a group of seven electricians has refused to call off their stopppge. After a meeting yesterday they again refused to return to work. In addition to carrying out essential maintenance work these electricians are responsible for starting up many of the production processes and without them most of the labour force cannot work. A British Leyland spokesman said yesterday:

" The position is extremely serious and stocks of carburettors for other models are running out."

[nicholls1966uk]

April 11th 1974

Two Leyland factories at standstill

By R. W. Shakespeare

All car production at British Leyland's two Austin-Morris plants at Cowley, Oxford and Longbridge, Birmingham was at a standstill yesterday with some 17,000 workers either on strike or laid off. There will be no resumption of work at Cowley before the Easter holidays begin tonight, but at Longbridge all workers are being recalled today and will work full shifts before their Easter break begins tomorrow night. The Cowley plant where the number of layoffs rose to 10,500 yesterday, has been losing output of some 1,200 cars each day this week as a result of a fresh dispute with 150 transport drivers. Their strike has come immediately after a two-week stoppage by 2,400 Marina assembly workers which made another 4000 men idle and cost some £10m worth of lost car output. The total production losses at Cowley over the past three weeks will by tonight, amount to around £15m. The drivers whose job is to keep components and materials moving at Cowley are objecting to layoff arrangements. This follows the situation which developed during the Marina strike when some of them had to be sent home while others remained at work. Now their stoppage has halted all production of Marina, Maxi and 1300 cars. At a meeting yesterday the drivers decided not to meet again until Tuesday when the plant is due to reopen after the holidays.
At Longbridge all car production-including Minis, Allegros, 1800s and 2200s, had to be stopped yesterday and 6,500 workers sent home because of a shortage of carburettors. This results from a dispute at the British Leyland-owned SU Carburettor plant at Birmingham which stopped Mini production at Longbridge last week and this week. However, seven electricians who were holding out at the carburettor plant after other workers had called off their strike decided to resume work yesterday afternoon. This means that the Longbridge workers can be recalled.

[nicholls1966uk]

April 13th 1974

Order to shop steward may spark more Cowley trouble

From R. W. Shakespeare

More trouble could be on the way at the strike hit British Leyland car plant at Cowley, Oxford, when it reopens on Tuesday morning following the Easter holidays. It seems certain to arise from a management decision to refuse to continue to recognize the chairman of the Cowley joint shop stewards' committee, Mr Alan Thornett, and an instruction to him to return to his normal job as a transport driver. When the plant closed for the holidays on Thursday night, all car assembly operations were at a standstill and 10,500 workers were laid off, because of a strike by 150 transport drivers over layoff pay arrangements. This stoppage began immediately after a two week shutdown of the Marina assembly lines, which was in protest over new working arrangements aimed at increasing productivity. In a statement the Cowley management accuses Mr Thornett of "blatantly demonstrating his unwillingness to use his best endeavours to keep men at work while disputes are discussed" and of not complying with the company's agreed disputes procedures.

[nicholls1966uk]

April 17th 1974

12,000 car workers laid off as Cowley plant halts again

By R. W. Shakespeare

The huge British Leyland Austin-Morris car plant at Cowley, Oxford, which reopened yesterday morning after the Easter holidays, is again at a standstill because of labour troubles. All car production is stopped and from this morning 12,000 workers will be laid off. The shutdown follows a decision yesterday by 150 transport drivers to continue their unofficial strike over layoff arrangements at the plant. This dispute closed the assembly lines at the body plant before the holidays, making 10,500 workers idle. Now a new and abrasive element has been added to the dispute with a decision by the management to withdraw official recognition and facilities from Mr Alan Thornett, the chairman of the Cowley joint shop stewards committee. He has been instructed to return to his normal work as a transport driver. At their mass meeting yesterday the drivers decided not to meet again until Friday. This means that the Cowley plant is faced with a probable shutdown for the whole of this week and the loss of car production worth about £6m. Over the two weeks before the holidays British Leyland suffered losses of some £10m worth of cars at Cowley and another £5m worth at Long- bridge, Birmingham, because of labour troubles. The fresh wave of disputes comes at a critical time for the corporation which has a massive backlog of orders after the power crisis and three-day week, during which it lost output of 100,000 vehicles. The shop stewards committee at Cowley is certain to make a big issue out of the action taken by the management over Mr Thornett. The managements statement accused Mr Thornett of
" blatantly demonstrating his unwillingness to use his best endeavours to keep men at work while disputes are discussed "
and of failing to comply with agreed disputes procedures. The troubles at Cowley stem from management moves to introduce new working arrangements, including revised manning scales and line speeds aimed at higher productivity. These led to a strike by workers on the Marina assembly lines during which some 4,000 other men, including some of the transport drivers, bad to be laid off. This strike ended'a few hours after Mr John Symonds, the plant director, warned the men involved that those who refused to work under the new arrangement would be sacked. Then the transport drivers walked out. They challenged the lay-off arrangements which had applied during the assembly line stoppage, although the lay-off agreement at Cowley, as in other British Leyland plants, clearly states that guaranteed lay-off pay is suspended if a stoppage is caused by any dispute within the plant. There are, however, some hopeful signs for British Leyland which has had to face a succession of costly shop floor confrontations at Cowley recently, in addition to a whole series of problems over component supplies because of disputes in other firms. There are some indications of a growing shop floor reaction against some of the more militant shop stewards and their supporters. The fresh shut down this week with most workers again losing pay at an average rate of £45 a week could strengthen this trend. But British Leyland will, of course, find itself involved in the national action over the engineering pay claim. British Leyland is a member of the Engineering Employers Federation and its own workers will be expected to observe the official overtime ban. It could also run into further components supply problems because most of its 2,000 components suppliers are also federated firms.

[nicholls1966uk]

April 18th 1974

Overtime ban hits British Leyland

By R. W. Shakespeare
The overtime ban in the engineering industry, called by the unions in support of pay demands for two million workers in about 5,000 companies, began to bite deeply into production schedules yesterday. This was the first full working day for the whole industry after the Easter holidays. With the start of early morning shifts, it quickly became clear that the ban was being widely observed. The car industry, and British Leyland plants in particular, was once again in trouble. Production could not start until the afternoon at the big Austin Morris plant at Longbridge, Birmingham. More than 3,400 day-shift workers who clocked on at 7.30 am had to be sent home and told to report back later in the day. There were also start-up problems and lost production at the British Leyland Triumph and Jaguar factories in Coventry. An engineering employers' spokesman in the Midlands said that a great many companies, especially those with foundries and heat treatment equipment had experienced difficulties. The industry's main problems centred initially on maintenance and service activities which are normally carried out on an overtime basis outside normal shifts. This was the position at Longbridge where equipment in the foundries, the heat treatment plants and the paint sections of the factory had not been made ready in time for the start of the production shifts. As a result of the delays about five hours of production were lost. The Longbridge management is calling in all workers for their normal shifts today. A company spokesman said:

"We will be doing our best to reach full production levels."

[nicholls1966uk]

April 20th 1974

Overtime ban causing big losses to Leyland

BY Clifford Webb

The national overtime ban by engineering union workers is already causing serious production losses to British Leyland. Yesterday all car assembly stopped at Austin-Morris at Longbridge and Triumph at Coventry. More than 6,000 workers were laid off last night. A company spokesman said further lay-offs were likely next week because of the effects of the ban on component suppliers. He added:
" We have been told to expect less than 75 per cent of scheduled deliveries from some of our key component makers."

Yesterday, 3,000 Longbridge assembly workers were sent home at midday to enable maintenance and safety work to be carried out during the remainder of the shift. This is work normally done as overtime. Several thousand engine and gearbox workers at Longbridge also face layoffs next week as a result of the strike which has closed the group's Cowley plant. They produce the components for Cowley's Marina and Maxi models. The stoppage could last for some time. The company has refused payment on two counts: that the strikers are members of the Amalgamated Union of Engineering Workers, the union imposing the overtime ban, and that existing layoff agreements exclude payment for stoppages resulting from strikes within the company. Meanwhile the strike by 150 workers at British Leyland's Cowley assembly plant, where 12,500 workers had to be laid off, is to continue. By a clear majority at their meeting yesterday men in the transport department, voted to stay out until next Thursday and to continue their protest against Leyland's refusal to recognize Mr Alan Thornett as a shop steward. He is the chief spokesman for the transport department and the deputy convener for the Transport & General Workers' Union at the plant.

[nicholls1966uk]

April 22nd 1974

BLMC denies state finance call

By Clifford Webb

After a weekend of growing speculation on its future, British Leyland last night issued a strongly worded statement denying reports suggesting it was seeking financial help from the Government. The statement said:

" We have no information concerning the source of these rumours. The corporation has made no approaches to the Government for assistance and has no intention of doing so in the future. Our strong cash position at the end of the last financial year enabled us to cope with the problems created by the recent industrial crisis and the resources available to us meet all our foreseeable requirements."

Sources close to the company said the present speculation was probably caused by two factors: press reports emphasizing the seriousness of the present strike at Cowley, its second largest plant, and unofficial statements by union militants that Mr Wedgwood Benn, Secretary of State for Industry and one of the strongest advocates of more state ownership of big public companies, had instructed staff to prepare contingency proposals in the event of British Leyland seeking financial assistance. These reports suggest Mr Benn will use any such request as an excuse to inject sufficient Government capital to obtain a majority shareholding. It is further suggested that he has been impressed by the success of Regie Renault, France's largest motor group, which has been state-owned for many years. A Department of Industry spokesman said last night that the Government had drawn up no plans for public participation in British Leyland. He said:

"We have held talks with British Leyland, as with other companies. But that is a normal procedure concerned with development proposals under the Industry Act, which provides for incentives on which industry can act. We have discussed this with British Leyland, but that is all."

A plea for more information about the future of British Leyland was made yesterday at the annual conference in Blackpool of the Association of Professional Executive, Clerical and Computer Staff (APEX). There is little doubt that the combined effects of the Cowley confrontation and the engineering unions' national ban on overtime are causing severe production losses In recent months the group has lost an estimated £20m worth of cars at retail prices. To some extent, the corporation is itself to blame for the chaos at Cowley. Until soaring petrol prices, in particular, and the fuel crisis, in general, depressed world car markets, British Leyland's overriding concern was to obtain maximum production at any cost. To do this they have operated their industrial relations policies on a very low key. This is no longer the position.


THE GUARDIAN

TRIUMPH NEWS
The 340 paint shop workers whose strike over lost pay has stopped all production at the Triumph motor factory in Coventry are to be recomended to return to work today. The strike began last Thursday and caused 3,000 production workers to be laid off.

[nicholls1966uk]

April 23rd 1974

By R. W. Shakespeare

Car production was again the main casualty of the national overtime ban in engineering as the campaign in support of pay demands covering two million workers moved into its second week yesterday.
But for British Leyland the biggest concern is still internal labour troubles which have now cost more than £20m worth of lost car production, at the Austin Morris plant at Cowley, Oxford, since the end of the power crisis and. three-day week. All car production at Cowley was again at a standstill yesterday with 12,500 out of the total labour force of 18,000 laid off. The latest trouble centres on a strike by 150 transport drivers which is now entering its second week. They are protesting about lay-off arrangements at the plant and also a management decision to withdraw recognition from a Transport and General Workers Union convener, Mr Alan Thornett. The Cowley plant could well be idle again for the whole of this week since the drivers are not due to meet again until Thursday and there are no signs of a negotiated settlement. Production losses are mounting at the rate of 1,200 cars a day and workers made idle are losing an average £45 a week in wages. There are, however, some signs of a shopfloor reaction against the continued activities of militants at Cowley. Yesterday about 400 workers staged a demonstration outside the plant demanding an end to unofficial disruption and consequent lay- offs. And a group of wives of Cowley car workers also held a meeting and recommended their own form of strike action against husbands who stop work.
At the other big Austin Morris plant at Longbridge, Birmingham, the overtime ban caused several hours' delay to the start of assembly line operations yesterday morning, because vital maintenance and servicing work had not been completed. This is normally done on an overtime basis. Some 3,000 assembly line workers who had to be sent home at midday on Friday, with the loss of 350 cars during the afternoon, so that maintenance duties could be started were recalled by mid-morning yesterday. In the afternoon production was back to normal. There were also "start up" problems in many other car and engineering plants yesterday morning because of the over- time ban, especially in those with foundries and heat treatment equipment.


From Diana Geddes , Oxford

A delegation of eight women, representing about 250 wives of workers at the strike- bedevilled British Leyland car assembly plant at Cowley, Oxford, were granted an interview with the plant's director, Mr. John Symonds, yesterday. He told them that he could not accept their demand to disrniss militant trade unionists who, they said, were depriving their husbands of their livelihood. The factory has been crippled by industrial disputes since Christmas. The present unofficial strike by 150 transport drivers, now in its third week, has led to more than 12,000 workers being laid off. It began because of a dispute over lay-offs during an earlier strike, but has developed into a dispute over the recognition of Mr Alan Thornett as a shop steward. Mr Thornett is deputy senior shop steward of the Transport and General Workers' Union at the Cowley assembly plant. British Leyland has refused to recognize him as a union representative. The car workers' wives, who took part in yesterday's demonstration and marched to the British Leyland factory gates, see Mr Thornett as their main enemy. They want him and the other militants removed. Their husbands do not want to strike, they maintain. With no money coming in, the wives say they are finding it increasingly difficult to meet household bills. One said her husband usually brought home £45 a week. He has been out of work for a month, and they and their four children are living on social security benefits and on what she earns cleaning in the evenings.

"The last time we went out was on New Year's Day ".
she said. While the women were demonstrating, most of their husbands were at home. babysitting. I asked some of them what their husbands thought of their activities.
" Mine's thrilled to bits ", one said. Others were less persuaded of such total rapture, but said they thought it a " good idea ". Not one thought her husband disapproved. The wives' view was supported by car workers with whom I spoke, many of whom joined the march. A group of maintenance men at the factory gates who were still at work said they liked to see somebody doing something.
"The women are doing what the men really should have done ", they said. " But what good will it do ? "
Mr Symonds told the women's delegates, led by Mrs Carol Miller and Mrs Margaret Whiffen, although the company was as anxious as they were to assure an early settlement, he could not jeopardize the management's long-term relationship with the unions.
"This is not the time to go round sacking everyone who is a militant ". he said. After half an hour's discussion, the delegates told the wives waiting outside that the meeting had been
" a flop, a waste of time ".

[nicholls1966uk]

April 24th 1974

Cowley workers recalled in effort to isolate militants

Cowley workers recalled in effort to isolate militants

By R. W. Shakespeare Northern Industrial Correspondent

British Leyland has decided to attempt to isolate the militants at its strike-bound Cowley car plant at Oxford. It will re-open the assembly lines this morning and recall all the 12,500 workers who have been idle for the past fortnight. The management hopes that enough of the 150 internal transport drivers, whose two-week- old strike is at the centre of the latest Cowley troubles, will return to keep the plant going. In a statement yesterday the management made clear that its move did not imply a change of attitude to one of the main issues with the drivers-the withdrawal of recognition from Mr Alan Thornett, a convener of the Transport and General Workers' Union. , British Leyland's decision, it says, was based on " massive representations " from employees, their families, and local opinion that workers should be, given the earliest opportunity to resume work. Labour disputes at the Cowley plant have cost more than £20m worth of production since the end of the power crisis and the three-day week. Initially, when they walked out, the drivers were protesting about lay-off arrangements. Some had been sent home during the assembly Workers' stoppage. Then the management announced that it had ordered Mr Thornett back to work as a transport driver and withdrawn his credentials as a convener and chairman of the Cowley joint shop stewards' committee. The company accused him of failing to observe agreements with the unions and of " not using his best endeavours to keep men at work while disputes are discussed ". The striking transport drivers are due to meet again tomorrow. There have been demonstrations by workers calling for an end to unofficial disruptions. Workers laid off have been losing an average of £45 a week in wages. The management has clearly judged that the moment has come to put shop-floor opinion to the test. It might be a costly exercise if it fails to get production started again, because workers recalled are covered by a guaranteed shift agreement. If they report when asked to do so they must be paid for the full shift, even if they are sent home again. That would certainly be the situation if none of the striking transport drivers responds to the management's initiative. In its statement yesterday the management offered talks on the lay-off arrangements. However, it is unlikely to be willing to change the clause in all British Leyland's lay-off pay agreements, stipulating that these agreements are suspended if a stoppage arises from a dispute within the plant. To do so would mean that the corporation might end up paying heavily for its own strikes. The management seems to be adamant in its attitude towards its recognition of Mr Thornett. The TGWU leadership may have to decide whether to intervene on his behalf. The union has long delegated the maximum authority to its shop stewards and conveners, and may well decide that in circumstances such as these it is obliged to give maximum support.

Women celebrate: The angry women of Oxford claimed a victory yesterday as British Leyland decided to recall its employees to work (Tim Jones writes). The decision came after two days o0f unprecedented scenes when the women and children marched to demand the dismissal of militants from the Cowley plant. As the women celebrated, two shop stewards called for an inquiry into union practices at the plant. The two men, who watched the women march, said:
" We are right behind them. The shame is that they are doing what we should have done a long time ago."
Both men re-fused to be identified because, they said, they feared reprisals from their workmates. One, who works in the paint shop, said:
"The senior shop stewards who deal with management are elected by the other shop stewards, so the men have no say in the process at all and their views are not made clear. The situation has reached the point where the union, led by a small number, is telling all the men what to do, instead of the other way round. Too often what the shop stewards decide has nothing to do with the men on the shop-floor at all. Some kind of inquiry is long overdue."
About 200 wives marched with their' children and called for the dismissal of Mr Thornett and " other militants ". Mrs Carol Miller, who organized the demonstration, went to discuss the situation with management officials. She said:
" If the men go in, then we will make sure they don't come out until they have done some work."

[nicholls1966uk]

April 25th 1974

Union may discipline drivers who clocked in

From Tim Jones Oxford

As the assembly lines at Cowley started producing cars again yesterday it became clear that the dispute that has crippled the British Leyland plant for two and a half weeks is by no means over. The lines were opened only because 12 of the 150 transport drivers in unofficial dispute responded to a company call and clocked in. But after angry wives, who were demanding the dismissal of militants from the plant, had marched to the local headquarters of the Transport and General Workers' Union, Mr William Thompson, the district organizer, said:
"The action of the 12 men certainly will not help to cool the situaton ".
The dispute, which started because of disagreements over lay-offs, has now centred on the management's refusal to recognize Mr Alan Thornett, deputy convenor for the TGWU, as a trade union official. The company decided to re-open the assembly lines after wives and children had marched for two days to demand his dismissal along with "other militants ". It is understood that in addition to the 12 drivers, 30 men from other departments agreed to transport materials through the factory complex after they had been given assurances on protection by the management. That is bound to anger the transport drivers when they meet today to discuss a return to work. Mr Thompson indicated that although it is an unofficial strike, disciplinary action might be taken against the 12 transport men who worked. The wives who saw Mr Thompson yesterday said that workers at the plant were frightened of defying the shop stewards and making their true feelings known. Mrs Carol Miller, one of the organizers, said: "We asked them to hold a secret ballot of every worker in the factory on this issue, but that was refused. It seems now that all our livelihoods depend on 150 men."
Last night the wives formed themselves into a women's association in an attempt to influence trade union practices at the Leyland plant. More than 12,000 people are employed at the works. The company indicated that it was willing to discuss the original grievance with the transport men, but added in a notice to all employees :
"Any resolution which requires the company to agree to Mr Thornett retaining his facilities will not be acceptable and will result in the dispute continuing. It was not his action as a transport shop steward alone, but rather his activities as a whole, which led to the company's decision."
In another message yesterday, signed by Mr J. R. Symonds, the plant director, Leyland says:
"The company is not anti-trade-union, nor is it embarking on a policy of individual victimization."
According to Leyland, the transport drivers were advised yesterday to go home by shop stewards, who refused a request for a secret ballot into the dispute. The drivers say the company rejected a suggestion that both sides should accept the decision of an independent inquiry into the allegations against Mr Thornett.

Challenge expected: The British Leyland management may be facing conflict with the Transport and General Workers' Union (R. W. Shakespeare writes). The Midlands district committee of the union met in Birmingham yesterday, with Mr Moss Evans, the senior head- quarters official responsible for the- TGWU's automotive group, and called for support for a return to the status quo over Mr Thornetts position while the question of his union activities is investigated. The next move will depend on any decisions taken by the TGWU national leadership. The union will almost certainly challenge the Cowley management's decision to take unilateral action over Mr Thornett. Tory congratulations: Mr James Prior, Conservative frontbench spokesman on home affairs in the Commons, yesterday sent a telegram to Mrs Miller at Cowley congratulating her on
" a great victory for good sense ".
It added:
" The lead and example that you and your fellow women have given to the men of Cowley is an inspiration to. the whole country. More power to your elbow. All of 'us should be grateful to you for showing the way."

[nicholls1966uk]

April 29th 1974

Leyland to prune Allegro car range

By Peter Waymark Motoring Correspondent

British Leyland is dropping three models in its Austin Allegro small saloon range, less than a year after the car was introduced, because of poor demand. They are the two-door versions of the 1300 de luxe, the 1500 super de luxe and the 1750 sport. The Allegro was launched in 12 versions, based on four engine sizes, and Leyland now concedes that this was too many. By pruning the range it hopes to concentrate its production and sales efforts on the more popular Allegros, for which there are waiting lists in many areas. Leyland expected the greatest demand for the bigger engined Allegros, but this has not been the case. The soaring prices of petrol and other increases in motoring costs have persuaded buyers to choose the smaller, more economical cars. But the four-door versions, with a price difference of only £40, have proved much more popular than the two-door. The only two-door Allegro still available is the basic 1100 model. A succession of industrial disputes, the three-day week and falling demand for cars because of the energy crisis have meant that the Allegro, one of the most important new British models for some years, has so far failed to have the impact Leyland expected. In the first three months of this year it came seventh in the list of best-selling cars in Britain, a modest performance compared with its predecessor, the 1100/1300. Production is still running at only just over half the weekly capacity of 4,500 to 5,000 units.

[nicholls1966uk]

May 1st 1974

Cowley men postpone strike call meeting

HOME NEWS- From Our Correspondent Oxford

Workers at British Leyland's car assembly plant at Cowley, last night adjourned their meeting at Oxford town hall because nearly a thousand were unable to get in. The meeting had been called to enable members of the Transport and General Workers' Union at the factory to vote on whether the union should become involved in an official strike over a shop steward. The shop steward. Mr Alan Thornett, who is the union's deputy convener and chairman of 5/55 branch, was one of those able to get in to the main assembly room of the town hall, But almost as many were unsuccessful. British Leyland has refused to recognize him as a shop steward. Another meeting has been called for today on the works sports field at Cowley.
Limited production: Car production at Cowley was limited yesterday (our Northern Industrial Correspondent writes). The dispute, which began over lay-off arrangements, has prevented output of cars worth more than £20m. At British Leyland's other big Austin/Morris plant at Long- bridge, Birmingham about 3,000 workers were still laid off yesterday. Car production was curtailed because of the lingering effects of the engineers' national overtime ban and component shortages. The management hopes to return to full working today.

[nicholls1966uk]

May 2nd 1974

Steward stands down as Leyland deputy convener

From Our Correspondent, Oxford

Mr Alan Thornett, whom British Leyland refused to recognize as a shop steward, is standing down as deputy convener for the Transport and General Workers' Union and as chairman of the joint shop stewards' committee at the Leyland car assembly plant at Cowley, but the union wants him to continue as a steward for the drivers. The company's action had caused a three-week strike by 130 men in the transport department. On Monday they decided to resume work until the union made the dispute official. Mr Moss Evans, the union's senior official in the motor industry, who has taken charge of the Thornett affair, made a statement yesterday to try to clear up confusion which had arisen after two attempts to call members to a mass meeting. Worker complain that they are still being denied a vote, but Mr Evans said there had been a total change in the position. There was now only one issue: whether Mr Thornett should be a steward in the transport department. Leyland says its attitude is unchanged. This was last explained to the union a week ago when the suggestion was first made that Mr Thornett should act only as a steward for the drivers pending the result of an inquiry. Leyland then said that because of Mr Thornett's past conduct it could not accept the proposal.

Our Northern Industrial Correspondent writes:
A fresh dispute broke out yesterday at British Leyland's Morris/Austin plant at Longbridge, Birmingham. An unofficial strike by 120 men in the engine factory led to 2,000 other night shift workers being laid off. As with the Cowley transport drivers, a demand for layoff pay has started the trouble.



British Leyland suffer first-half loss of £17m

Bv Maurice Barnfather

British Leyland's first half loss, predicted at the annual meeting in March by Lord Stokes, the chairman, turns out so be £16.6m, against a £22.8mn profit for the same period last year. Disclosing this yesterday, the company said that "in view of the non-recurrent circumstances " which caused the loss, BLMC is holding its interim dividend at 0.7p gross a share. However, this dividend
" does not imply that any particular level of final dividend will be recommended ",
Lord Stokes said.
The whole of the interim loss was due to the three-day week, with BLMC losing sales worth about £100m or 100,000 units. Unit sales fell from 561,000 to 496,000 in the six months to March. Without this loss of production due to the three day week, BLMC had expected pre-tax profits in the opening six months to improve on the same period of the previous year, Lord Stokes said yesterday. Despite production problems, BLMC's share of the home car market increased from 31 per cent to 35 per cent, with the value of exports from the United Kingdom higher than in any previous half year in the corporation's history. But the total car market declined and BLMC's sales for the six months slipped from £759m to £741m, the United Kingdom falling from £411m to £405m and overseas from £348m to £336m. Of the total sales figure, direct exports increased from £213m to £218m. Lord Stokes did offer comfort to shareholders yesterday, apart from the maintained interim payment, when he forecast that despite the after-effects of the national emergency and the severe rate of cost inflation,
" a profit should be made in the second half of the year as long as reasonable continuity of production is possible ".
Lord Stokes spoke of the
"catastrophic effect of the oil crisis when for two or three months people almost stopped buying cars ".
This has led BLMC to revise downwards from 10 million to eight million cars its expectations of the total European car market this year and hence its own sales projections for Europe. BLMC has around 9 per cent of this market. As for BLMC's financial position, there had obviously been an outflow of cash during the three-day week, but the group was well within its borrowing limits, Lord Stokes said. He repeated that BLMC would not be asking for any government money.

[nicholls1966uk]

May 4th 1974

Lord Stokes gives his staff all the facts on outlook

BY Clifford Webb

British Leyland has launched a big communications exercise to tell its 171,000 employees in Britain "the facts" about the group's problems and its hopes. The first step yesterday was a unique all day meeting in an hotel at Solihull, Warwickshire, between Lord Stokes and the whole of his executive board on the one hand and 375 managers, staff representatives and shop stewards from all 59 United' Kingdom factories on the other. Lord Stokes told the gathering:
"This conference is the direct result of management's review of, firstly, what information should be available to employees in respect of the corporation's plans and trading position-particularly at a time when our industry is facing a period of considerable uncertainty, and- secondly; how to communicate such information to employees in an organization of this size."

The meeting was held in private but a company spokesman gave a short outline of the proceedings. He said that Mr John Barber, managing director, had briefed employees on the depressed state of the car market and outlined the range of new models in the pipeline with a special emphasis on. economy motoring. Mr Alex Park, finance director, had spelt out the implications of the group's £16.6m loss in the first half of the present financial year.

Cowley inquiry: Mr Arthur Davies, a Coventry magistrate, is to lead the seven man inquiry into the activities of the Transport and General Workers' Union at Cowley. The inner cabinet of the union's midland region committee is to look into British Leyland's reasons for refusing to recognize Mr Alan Thornett as a shop steward.

[nicholls1966uk]

May 9th 1974

British Leyland plan £180m expansion for Rover-Triumph

By Clifford Webb

British Leyland are giving priority to the expansion of their profitable Rover-Triumph executive and sports car division. In a major reassessment of their £500m investment plans a number of projects have been put back, but no - less than £180m has been earmarked for Rover-Triumph over the next three years. At Solihull, Warwickshire, work is well advanced on the first new car factory to be built by the group since its formation nearly six years ago. It should be in production by autumn 1975 and with similar expansion at Triumph Liverpool and Triumph Coventry will double Rover-Triumph production from 5,000 to 10,000 cars a week by 1977. Mr Bernard Jackman, managing director of Rover-Triumph said:
" On the Triumph scene some £30m worth of expenditure is planned at Liverpool and supporting factories in Coventry. The whole of this sum has been committed and about half has already been spent. At Rover some £50m worth of expansion is envisaged at Solihull and supply factories in Birmingham and Cardiff. The bulk of this money has already been committed but only a relatively small amount has actually been spent at this point in time."
The present model lineup is being drastically reduced. By 1978 the intention is to have four basic models, two sports cars and two executive saloons with the usual variants. The labour force of 32,000 produces some, 200,000 cars a year, although there is nominal capacity for 280,000. The intention is to double production with a minimal addition to the pay roll. It is expected that only 2,000 more workers will be required for the new Rover factory at Solihull which will have three assembly lines and a capacity of 3,000 cars a week. Although there is no official confirmation the plan for Triumph seems to call for the Coventry factories to concentrate on engines, gearboxes and saloons while complete sports cars will be assembled at Liverpool. Although some publicity has been given to the new Solihull factory the extent of the project and its implications for British Leyland profits have not been generally appreciated.
Fears that demand for cars over 1-5 litres would fall sharply due to soaring petrol prices have not materialized. There is growing evidence to suggest that the Rover-Triumph range of executive cars has benefited from a movement down the market from larger, high powered prestige cars. Rover-Triumph are already the biggest profit earners in British Leyland, some sources suggest that they account for one third of group profits. But the best selling Rover 2200 is based on a 10 years old design and cannot hold its place in the market for much longer. Given the impetus of new models in the pipeline and much increased production capacity they could substantially improve their share of the market and make further inroads into Europe.

[nicholls1966uk]

May 22nd 1974

Ballot-box election for Cowley shop stewards

By Clifford Webb Midland Industrial Correspondent

The Transport and General Workers' Union has exonerated Mr Alan Thornett, the man at the centre of the strike at British Leyland's Cowley plant last. month, finding no justification for the company's allegations against him. But it has changed the system under which union officials like Mr Thornett. are elected at the plant. The refusal of British Leyland to recognize Mr Thornett's credenials as a deputy senior shop, steward in the transport section led to an 18-day strike by 150 transport drivers. It cost the company about £17m in lost production; 12,000 workerswere laid of. A report, by a team of six, was presented to the' unions Midland regional committee yesterday. Mr Brian Mathers, the regional secretary, said it had been accepted by 24 votes to one, with-one abstention.
Two significant changes in the union structure at Cowley were proposed by the team. The main one, that senior shop stewards and their deputies should not be elected by the shop stewards' body but by a ballot of all the membership, is designed to break the self- perpetuating authority of such officials. The other' proposed change that a new branch of the union should be set up for the Cowley assembly shops only, would enable officials and members to keep more closely in touch with more parochial issues. Mr Mathers said the report did not specifically call for Mr Thornett's reinstatement as a shop steward because "that matter is being dealt with by the union's national executive "' But it reinforced the union's view that he should be reinstated.
Company surprised: British Leland said last that it had not been invited to present evidence to the inquiry and had not yet had the opportunity to see the report (our Labour. Staff writes).
"In the meantime, from what we have been told, we are surprised at the unitlateral way in which the union has reached its conclusions ",
the company said.



May 29th 1974

THE GUARDIAN

STRIKERS END CAR PLANT SIT IN

From our Correspondent, Madrid, May 28

Striking workers at the Authi factory in Pamplona, a subsidiary of British Leyland, today made a deal with the Spanish police. They agreed to leave the premises where they had been staging a sit-in in exchange for a promise that no worker would be arrested. One thousand three hundred of the 1,700 work force started their sit-in protest at midday last Monday. The workers demanded a basic monthly wage increase of 6,000 pesetas---about £48---and the reinstatement of sacked shop stewards.

After fears that the strike would spread and lead to violence, the police reportedly acting on instructions from the Civil Governor, agreed that the workers would be allowed to leave without threats of arrest or prosecution. However, according to Spanish press reports Authi has not accepted the Governments attempt to calm a potentiall critical situation. The company has imposed a two day lock out as a penalty and has so far refused to agree to the reinstatement of sacked labour leaders.

[nicholls1966uk]

June 1st 1974

BLMC plans car factory in Midlands with 5,000 jobs

By Clifford Webb .

British Leyland has submitted an application to the Department of Industry for permission to build a new car plant at Moon's Moat, a 100 acre site at Redditch new town Worcestershire. Unofficiai reports say it will cost between £20m and £30m and provide work for 5,000. The proposed site is only ten miles from Longbridge, the group's largest car complex employing more than 22,000. A company spokesman said last night:
" We are not in a position to give details because the project is only in the investigatory stage. We have applied for an industrial development certificate, but no decisions have been made on whether or not the project should go ahead."
Sources close to British Leyland insist that the Redditch proposal is not the much publicized, fully integrated new car plant outlined by Lord Stokes last year. That would need a much bigger site than the one at Moon's Moat which is itself the last big section of land available for industrial development in the new town. It is suggested-that the application is for a large engine and transmission plant. Facilities at Longbridge for this type of production have become increasingly congested in recent years as Longbridge has been developed as the main engine and transmissions centre for Austin Morris. About 600 sales staff at Longbridge have been told that they may be moved to new accommodation at Redditch or Yardley, Birmingham. Mr Hal Miller, Conservative MP for Bromsgrove and. Redditch, and the party's link man between the Shadow Cabinet and the motor industry, yesterday saw Mr David Andrews, managing director of the Austin Morris power and transmissions division at Longbridge. Afterwards he said :
" I wanted to lift the secrecy. British Leyland has just con- firmed for the first time that it wants the site north of Redditch for both relocation and expansion."

[nicholls1966uk]

June 6th 1974

Workers at Cowley reject Trotskyist Mr Thornett

By Raymond Perman Labour Staff

Workers at British Leyland's Austin-Morris car assembly plant at Cowley, voting in a secret ballot for the first time, have rejected Mr Alan Thornett, a member of the Trotskyist Workers' Revolutionary Party, as their senior shop steward. Mr Thornett was accused by the management of stirring up industrial unrest in the plant and the withdrawal of his credentials as deputy senior shop steward and steward for the transport drivers caused an 18-day unofficial strike by 150 drivers, which made 12,500 men idle. The secret ballot, held in the factory, was the result of an internal inquiry by .the Trans- port and General Workers' Union. It cleared Mr Thornett of the management's accusations, but criticized Mr Bob Fryer, senior shop steward. In the voting results, declared yesterday, Mr Thornett and Mr Fryer were beaten by Mr Reg Parsons, a former left-winger who describes himself as a moderate. The voting was: Mr Parsons, 1,881 (about 60 per cent); Mr Fryer, 824 (26 per cent); Mr Thornett, 407 (13 per cent) and bottom of the poll. About 5,000 men were eligible to vote, but some could not do so because they could not produce their union cards. Before the poll, senior and deputy senior shop stewards were elected by vote of the stewards. The shop-floor workers took no direct part. British Leyland told the union yesterday that it would accept Mr Thornett as steward of the transport drivers.

[nicholls1966uk]

June 7th 1974

BLMC go-ahead for £10m foundry still under review

British Leyland have obtained an industrial development certificate to build a £10m foundry on land adjoining their existing foundry complex at Wellingborough, Northants. Confirming this last night, a company spokesman said the project was still under investigation.
"No decision has yet been made by the board of the special products division which is responsible for all foundries within the group"
he said.