British Leyland in the Times - 1974 - Waterloo

[nicholls1966uk]

June 13th 1974

Webster Goes

Harry Webster, 57-year-old technical director of Austin Morris, has resigned and is leaving British Leyland at the end of the month. Webster, an engineer of immense standing in the motor industry, was the surviving member of the triumvirate chosen by Lord Stokes in 1968 to run the volume car operations of the newly merged Leyland-BMC empire. George Turnbull, managing director, and Filmer Paradise, sales director, were the others. Both resigned last year following disagreement over the reorganization of Austin Morris. Webster will be remembered for the very successful Triumph Herald and Triumph 2000 series which he developed as chief engineer of the Coventry company. It was largely, because of this success that he was moved from Triumph along with his boss, Turnbull, to restore morale at Longbridge. His first job there was to rush through a re-design of the Maxi then about to be launched. He has since produced the Marina and the Allegro. Further new Webster models will make their appearance next year. He is at present believed to be holidaying in Spain and was not available to comment last night.
There have been persistent rumours in Midland motor industry circles over the past nine months that he was far from happy with the reduced status of Austin Morris and the departure of Turnbull.
Webster is joining Automotive Products, the Leamington based components group, as director of engineering. John Panks, AP's chief executive, told us last night:
" We are absolutely delighted to have secured a man of Harry's high standing throughout the European motor industry. His arrival will greatly strengthen our engineering team and help our push into European motor markets."



Cool reply to BLMC strike call

By R. W. Shakespeare
A union call for a 24-hour strike by some- 4,000 British Leyland white collar workers, in support of demands for a cost-of-living threshold pay increase, drew only a lukewarm response yesterday. Only about half of the union members, the Association of Executive, Clerical and Computer Staff (APEX), responded to the call. About 2,000 APEX members at the Austin-Morris car plant at Longbridge, Birmingham, decided to stay at work; but at the Austin-Morris plant at Cowley, Oxford, a stoppage by clerical workers halted car production, and some 2,000 manual workers had to be sent home. At other British Levland factories throughout the country, including the rest of the Midlands car plants and the bus and truck centre in Lancashire, Scotland and Middlesex, groups of clerical workers, including those responsible for production control work, joined the stoppage. But vehicle output was not seriously affected. The union is demanding that its members receive the £1.20 a week increase which becomes payable to some eight million other workers in Britain after the latest Retail Price Index announced last month. However, the existing agreement between the union and British Leyland contains no threshold clause. Another one-day strike is planned for next Wednesday, and the union is also calling for an overtime ban and a work-to. rule by all its members in British Leyland.

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June 18th 1974

THE GUARDIAN

STANDARD TRIUMPH NEWS

Production was halted yesterday in Coventry at the Triumph car factory and 9,000 workers laid off because of a strike by clerical staff. The strikers , tally clerks , progress chasers and line controllers , want a threshold agreement. The company hopes to be able to resume production today but much depends on the attitude of the clerical staff.



June 19th 1974

AUSTIN MORRIS - The final British ADO16, a Vanden Plas Princess 1300, left the factory on June 19, 1974.



June 20th 1974

Clifford Webb writes
British Leyland's unofficial combined shop stewards committee yesterday called for immediate action to put threshold pay claims into official procedure at all the group's 59 United Kingdom factories. This is the first action in support of cost-of living payments by BLMC manual workers. The shop stewards, who were meeting in Birmingham, announced that if the claims were rejected they would press for national officials of their unions to meet all BLMC conveners to consider what industrial action should be taken to further their claim. But there were indications that the combined shop stewards were by no means united in this action. Mr Dick Etheridge, joint chairman of the committee and the engineering union's chief convener at Longbridge, said:
" We do not see threshold arrangements as the real solution to the problem. An extra £2 a week may make a deal of difference to someone on the minimum wage, but that does not apply to most car workers. We should do much better to concentrate on the annual wage reviews now coming up and get something substantial added to the basic rate ".


THE GUARDIAN

TRIUMPH NEWS
At the Triumph car plant in Coventry----part of the British Leyland Group---a one day strike by 1,200 clerical workers stopped production and made 5,500 other workers idle.
British Leyland is keeping to its firm line of resistance against threshold increases by pointing out that to concede the expected increases linked to rises in the price index could add about £40 millions to the wage bill.
The British Leyland management----which will tomorrow hold the latest in a series of informal talks with unions to discuss the company's financial situation and prospects----is standing by its policy of conducting annual pay negotiations for most of its workers. Once the statutory pay limitations are removed, it believes that these negotiations can produce wage increases that will take care of increases in the cost of living.
The unofficial shop stewards combine which claims to speak for shop floor workers in all British Leyland plants, is not prepared to accept this. After a meeting in Birmingham yesterday, the stewards accused British Leyland of abrogating its responsibilities and called on all factories to put forward claims through normal negotiating machinery. They said that if there was failure to agree, national union officials and all British Leyland conveners should meet to decide on further action.
In the meantime, the stewards called for a union delegation to see the government to press for subsidies on all essentials.





June 22nd 1974

British Leyland Britain's biggest employer is to cut its labour force. The news was given to union men in London yesterday by top Leyland officials. They gave warning that there must be redundancies among the 170,000 workforce if the company is to stay profitable, particularly in the Austin-Morris division-because of a sales slump.
" Thev would not guarantee there would be no compulsory redundancies," said Mr Bob Wright, an engineering union executive member.
"But we would never agree to it if they suggested that."
Leyland officials revealed they had already stopped recruiting, apart from certain key workers, and they hoped to make the cuts voluntary redundancy, natural wastage and early retirements.
"Already 1,000 workers have been sacked in Australia ", Mr Wright said.
" And they're cutting down overseas operations generally."
Heads of all BLMC plants have been ordered to start drawing up plans for manpower cuts. Company executives yesterday spelled out the gloomy prospects ahead. They expect to sell half a million cars fewer this year than last, a 30 per cent drop and part of a general world slump in sales. It has been accepted for some time that the corporation's £500m. investment programme is now being phased over seven years instead of the five originally envisaged. British Leyland has some 174,000 employees in the United Kingdom.

Trouble at Triumph:
Eight thousand Triumph production workers at Coventry went back to work yesterday after being laid off on Thursday. but they were sent home again a few hours later. Two hundred clerical staff were continuing an overtime ban and a work-to rule over a claim for threshold payments. They refused to do vital paper work covering the dispatch of cars from the finishing line. The management has said it cannot afford threshold payments because they would put £40m on British Leyland's wages bill. Triumph's production troubles have continued most of the week, with different groups staging token stoppages over threshold claims.


THE GUARDIAN

" What we have tried to do is to review the present situation in British Leyland, and the automotive industry generally, to try to get a right perspective. ......We are not in a position to say that redundancies will not be called for, but , clearly, if there are other measures we can take we shall want to take them......... We are looking for whatever is not absolutely essential ."

Pat Lowry, BLMC director of industrial relations

[nicholls1966uk]

June 28th 1974

Measured day work move sparks Leyland strike

Nearly 9,000 shop floor workers at the five British Leyland bus and truck factories in Chorley and Leyland, Lancashire, voted to strike immediately after a mass meeting at lunchtime yesterday. There is deadlock over management proposals to restructure piecework pay rates and introduce measured day working. The vote for strike action was carried almost unanimously. British Leyland had planned to begin implementing the proposals next Wednesday when industrial engineers were scheduled to begin studies designed to institute measured day working. In exchange for acceptance of the deal the company had offered a lump sum payment of £104. The men want a 7 per cent across the-board increase in addition to the lump sum payment and also demand the right to negotiate on the proposals embodied in the package. Mr Len Brindle, works convener, gave warning that the dispute had become as serious as the pay issue that led to a two month stoppage in 1969. The work force is not due to meet again until next Thursday.

N.B The strike lasts for 2 weeks.

Car workers recalled:
British Leyland was resuming car production at its Longbridge plant in Birmingham last night. It had to send 7,000 workers home and halted all car output on Wednesday because of a hold-up in components supplies from factories in the Wilmot Breeden group in Birmingham caused by a strike of 140 white collar workers. Deliveries of accessories were resumed yesterday.

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June 29th 1974

Leyland closure British Leyland's small assembly plant employing 200 at Malines, in Belgium, is to close in December. a company spokesman said yesterday in London. The main Belgian assembly plant at Senasse ( Seneffe ? ) is not affected. Malines has been producing a small number of Triumph Spitfires, and dates from independent Triumph Motor days. But it is considered too small to be economic, the company stated.

[nicholls1966uk]

JULY 1974

Cash strapped British Leyland meets banks to discuss £150m loan.

July 3rd 1974

British Leyland not planning smaller cars to save fuel

By Peter Waymark Motoring Correspondent
British Leyland, Britain's largest motor manufacturer, does not intend to bring out smaller cars in response to the energy crisis. Instead it is to concentrate on making as existing family saloons, such as the Marina and Allegro; much more economical.
Commenting yesterday on the view of the Government's Central Policy Review Staff, or think tank , that a change to smaller cars offered the biggest potential energy saving in the private transport field, Leyland said : ' " The majority of our popular models are extremely economical, giving at least 30 miles to the gallon and often much more. But we think that big improvements can still be made, and our research over the next five to 10 years will aim to secure fuel savings of up to 50 per cent."
Leyland does not feel that the size of the average saloon will change very much, as family motorists will continue to demand the sort of accommodation offered by popular models such as the Marina. Savings on fuel, which may entail some sacrifice of performance, are being sought by refinements to existing engines and by developing a new range of lighter and more efficient aluminium units which should be ready in about five years. Leyland engineers will be looking at such factors, as higher gearing, new body shapes to reduce drag, the cutting down of friction losses, lighter bodyshells and further refinements in carburation. More cars may be fitted with five-speed gearboxes or overdrives. The company is also looking at the wider application of small diesel engines for cars and light commercial vehicles. Diesels are very economical but tend to be noisy in a car. Leyland sees no immediate advance in steam or electric cars, but research work will continue.
On the future of the luxury car, Leyland feels that its Jaguar, though thirsty, is unlikely. to be made in sufficient volume to be a serious drain on fuel resources. Even if plans to double output to 60,000 units a year are realized, that will still be only a tiny part of the company's output of nearly a million cars. Leyland has been in the small car market since the launch of the Mini 15 years ago. Now several other big companies are developing " minis" for the first time. Ford, which had been reluctant to manufacture a model smaller than the Escort because of the low profit margins on small cars, plans to introduce' a new model in the Fiat 127 Renault 5 class in 1976. Vauxhall is also launching a smaller car than its current Viva. It is due to appear next year, and will have a one-litre engine with the emphasis on fuel economy. In the longer run, General Motors, which owns both Vauxhall and the German manufacturer Opel, may bring out a European 'mini" which would be marketed by both companies. Although British car sales as a whole have' been down by , nearly 30 per cent this year because of the oil crisis and the effects of the three-day week, small cars have been taking a bigger share of the market. Hillman Imp and Fiat 127 sales are up on last year and the Mini, small Citroens and Renault 4 are selling at or only slightly below 1973 levels.

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July 5th 1974

British Leyland face' month shutdown in bus and truck division

By R. W. Shakespeare
British Leyland is facing its most serious labour relations crisis for several years in the key bus and truck division factories in Lancashire. At a mass meeting. yesterday the 8,500 workers from the five factories at Leyland and Chorley voted overwhelmingly to continue the all-out strike, which began a week ago. They. also decided not to meet again until July 17, two days before the factories are due to shut down for the summer holidays. British Leyland faces the prospect of production being at a standstill for at least a month. The trouble in the bus and truck division centres on management proposals to abolish piecework and bring in a new structure of standard day rates, similar to those introduced in BLMC car plants. Shop floor negotiators have rejected the management's offer of settlement terms for making the change. The trouble came to a head last week over the use of industrial engineers to carry out shop floor studies and job evaluation. At yesterday's meeting, Mr Len Brindle, works convener for the five factories, said that a pre-requisite of a return to work must be a seven per cent across the board pay increase which he claimed all workers were entitled to from May 1 under Phase Three. He said that only when this increase was conceded would the negotiators be prepared to enter into more discussions with the management about changes in the wages, structure. He implied that even then the changes should not become operative until January of next year. The management has' offered a new graded wage structure which would guarantee earnings ranging from just over £30 for a 40-hour week for the lowest paid in the factories up to more' than £50 for skilled toolmakers. They have also offered a lump sum payment of £104 to 'each worker. The dispute has been argued through the new British Leyland disputes procedure which has now been exhausted. Another attempt at management/ union negotiations earlier this week ended in deadlock. Last night a British Leyland management spokesman said that the decision to continue the strike' could only be harmful to everyone concerned. The company believed that given good will on both sides an agreement could be reached. The voting at yesterday's meeting made it clear that there is solid support among the workers for the stand taken by their shop stewards. Any hopes of a settlement being negotiated before the next mass meeting is held now appear to hang on an approach by the company to national officials of the unions.

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July 6th 1974

British Leyland calls for a 10pc reduction in salaried staff at Cowley and Abingdon plants

By Edward Townsend
British Leyland yesterday took the first step in its plan to trim down its 175,000-strong labour force with the announcement that a 10 per cent reduction in salaried staff was needed at the Cowley and Abingdon plants. Letters have gone out to all 30,000. workers in the corporation's body and assembly division, which includes plants at Oxford and Llanelli. They call for a 7 per cent increase in efficiency from hourly paid workers. A 3 per cent increase is said to be needed at the MG plant at Abingdon. The staff reduction, which it is hoped will be achieved "as far as possible " by voluntary redundancy, could mean a cutback of about 700 white collar workers throughout the division. Discussions are to begin immediately, with union officials. Yesterday's announcement marked the first practical move by the company to curb its manning requirements in the face of the worldwide slump in car sales. It follows statements from Mr Pat Lowry, the BLMC industrial relations director, to national union officials last month that an urgent programme of economies was needed. Mr Lowry's assurance that compulsory redundancies were not yet inevitable was repeated in the letters. Mr John Symonds, the Cowley assembly plant director, said in the letterto his workers that a decision to retain surplus labour remained as long as demand did not fall for the Maxi and Marina models, now running at 1,000 and 4,250 a week respectively. The labour pool at Cowley is now about 1,000 strong. Mr Symonds re-emphasized the seriousness of the present financial position and underlined the need to produce every vehicle possible in order to finance future plans. There was no doubt that they must improve their competitiveness. In every area of the corporation, at central, divisional and plant levels, similar critical reviews were taking place, he said. Management of the company's power and transmission division, which includes the Midlands factories, have been meeting local union officials to spell out a similar message, although no cuts are yet planned. Shop stewards in the Midlands will hear at meetings on Monday that workers' co-operation is needed if the current policy of natural wastage, including voluntary redundancy, is to continue.
Meanwhile, the strike by 8,500 workers at the truck and bus factories in Lancashire is continuing and a further mass meeting is not planned until July 17.

[nicholls1966uk]

July 9th 1974

Driving ahead

Over 200 of the British motor industry's top engineers have applied to join George Turnbull, the ex-managing director of British Leyland in setting up a South Korean motor industry, Business Diary hears.
It isn't surprising, considering the attractive salaries, reckoned to be around £20,000 a year, tax free Turnbull is offering. But it is symptomatic of the growing frustration felt by the bright young technical experts in the United Kingdom's highly geared car industry who now see a more exciting future in helping to organize a whole new industry from the grass roots. Turnbull, who is said to have negotiated a £30,000 salary as head of Hyundai Motors, interviewed a short list of 12 for the first five jobs and the lucky ones include three British Leyland engineers. They are Kenneth Barnett, BLMC's top body design engineer, who is to have a similar role in Korea; John Simpson, chief engineer, at Dunstable Tool and Die, a BLMC subsidiary; and Edward Chapman, the 61-year-old chief engineer at Triumph's Liverpool factory. The others are John Crosthwaite, former chief engineer at Reliant, who has been appointed chief chassis engineer and Peter Slater, chief development engineer for Girling who is to become Hyundai's chief development and test engineer. Turnbull's United Kingdom spokesman hinted yesterday that further appointments are still to be made. The new men are understood to have accepted 3 to 5 year contracts by which time the plan to have 250,000 Korean cars rolling off the track a year should have been fulfilled. Turnbull, who is highly optimistic about the Korean venture said at his now headquarters in Seoul yesterday that the English engineers would complement the "very high calibre" of the university-trained Korean engineers.

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August 6th 1974

By Clifford Webb
Ford is now outselling British Leyland in the United Kingdom for the first time since the British group was formed six years ago. This development will be confirmed officially next week when the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders publishes details of new car registrations. Reliable sources in the car Industry said last night that Ford took more than 30 per cent of the market in July compared with BLMC's 28 per cent. In June BLMC with 32 per cent were six points clear of Ford with 26 per cent. The 4 per cent drop in July has all gone to Ford.

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August 7th 1974

4,500 laid off because of BLMC clerks' dispute

By R. W. Shakespeare
In addition to the gloom caused by its falling share of the home car market British Leyland yesterday ran into more disruption through labour troubles in its top earning bus and truck divisions. All production of trucks and tractors was halted at the Bathgate factory in Midlothian because of a strike by 450 clerks and the consequent lay-off of nearly 4,500 men. The clerks gave notice of their intended strike action on Monday after the breakdown of negotiations on a pay deal. Yesterday the entire production workforce, with the exception of some toolroom workers and maintenance engineers, were sent home " until further notice ". The clerks have turned down a company offer of an average 11.1. per cent pay increase which would have raised their earnings to between £40 and £46 for a 40-hour week depending on grade.

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August 8th 1974

British Leyland seeks speed-up of scheme to cut its work force

By Clifford Webb
British Leyland is expected to offer early retirement or voluntary redundancy to workers throughout the group within the next week or so in an attempt to speed the reduction of its 175,000-strong labour force. Union reaction has already been sounded at national and local level. Time is running out. It is now over a month since Mr Pat Lowry, the corporation's director of industrial relations, told union leaders that the sharp fall in world demand for cars made it imperative that the labour force should be cut in line with reduced production forecasts. Most observers believe that the position will be critical by September or October at the latest. Mr John Barber, BLMC's deputy chairman and managing director, has said that the world's motor industry faces three of the toughest years in its history and that it will be 1978 before car sales begin to show growth again. Some categories of workers at Longbridge are already being offered retirement at 63 instead of 65. Also the company has said it is looking for a 10 per cent cut in staff at Cowley and Abingdon. About 100 workers walked out at Longbridge yesterday claiming that management was attempting to force them to leave the company by moving them from highly paid assembly line work to poorer paid jobs. They suggested this was being done to avoid making redundancy payments. Pickets were mounted at several gates to stop the movement of components into the plant and the delivery of finished cars. A company spokesman said last night:
"We are exploring every avenue to avoid compulsory redundancy and one of the ways is by redeploying labour wherever possible. We stopped recruitment several months ago and this has made some re-arrangement of production schedules necessary. The men who walked out at Longbridge have now returned to allow discussions to take place."

[nicholls1966uk]

August 10th 1974

Strike makes 3,000 idle at Longbridge

By R. W. Shakespeare Northern Industrial Correspondent

A strike over the sacking of two men alleged to have been fighting on the shop floor stopped car engine production at British Leyland's Longbridge plant, Birmingham, yesterday and made nearly 3,000 workers idle. The trouble began on the night shift on Thursday when the 1,300 workers making engines for Mini, Marina and Allegro cars walked out demanding the reinstatement of a toolsetter and a labourer dismissed for "industrial misconduct ". Yesterday toolroom workers on the day shift joined the stoppage and another 1,500 production workers had to be sent home. Last night talks between shop stewards and management were still in progress. A company spokesman said:
"Finished car production is not yet affected because the assembly lines are working from existing stocks of engines ".

Talks also started yesterday between union leaders and management in a fresh attempt to resolve the three-week strike by 450 clerical workers at British Leyland's truck and tractor factory at Bathgate, Scotland. This stoppage over a pay dispute has halted production and nearly 5,000 workers are laid off.

[nicholls1966uk]

August 12th 1974

Leyland's last piecework outpost-Industry in the Regions
by R. W. Shakespeare

British Leyland's long and difficult battle to reform its wages structure now appears to be moving into its final stage. The last big effort centres on the 8,500-strong labour force at the corporation's five bus and truck factories in Lancashire, where Lord Stokes began his career in the motor industry as an apprentice in the 1930s. There is irony in the fact that these plants at Leyland and Chorley which, until recently enjoyed a unique record for trouble-free labour relations, should have become the final outpost of shop-floor resistance to innovations which have been accepted after a struggle in militant car assembly centres like Cowley and Longbridge.
When Mr Pat Lowry, with a reputation as one of the outstanding talents in the labour relations field, was persuaded by Lord Stokes to leave the Engineering Employers Association in the late 1960s to become BLMC's director of industrial relations, he walked into a jungle of wage bargaining systems. These were largely based on the long-standing piece-work and rate fixing processes. Mr Lowry made reform of wages structure throughout the corporation and elimination of piecework the first objectives of his new labour relations strategy. In just over four years, from the starting point of fierce union resistance to change, and later " imported " union hostility engendered by the Industrial Relations Act and the various stages of incomes policy, the wage reforms were carried through in all the car plants. Workers in the huge Austin Morris complexes, in Triumph, Jaguar, Rover and elsewhere are all now operating under graded wage structures that give standard pay rates, with most getting about £50 for a 40-hour week. Mr Lowry's strategy has linked these changes to other innovations such as guaranteed lay-off pay agreements and a special procedure for settling disputes. In the light of experience, most trade union and shop-floor leaders are now persuaded that the changes were necessary Although a great many labour relations problems remain, and British Leyland has yet to find the answers to matching productivity with its new earnings levels they no longer stem from the eternal piecemeal bickering over price-fixing on the shop floors. Only in the Lancashire factories does the piecework system still survive and even there shop-floor negotiators have come round to the point where there is an agreement in principle that a change is necessary. To a large extent, British Leyland has been the victim of circumstances over its negotiations in the Lancashire factories. But it has also had to contend with a much more effective and astute shop-floor leadership that developed in the past few years with the emergence of men like Mr Len Brindle, the convenor for the five plants. The initial attempt by the management to push through wage reforms ran aground on the Conservative Government's incomes policy. Within the restraints imposed, British Leyland could not meet the price being demanded by the shop floor for making the change. The Lancashire workers were in an extremely strong bargaining position. They had before them examples of the kind of terms conceded to car workers at Longbridge on the eve of Mr Heath's announcement of the initial 90-day wages freeze. In the end, British Leyland had to abandon its insistence on implementation of the new wages structure in Lancashire and concede a general wage increase up to the permitted ceiling. Last month after much bargaining the management again put its proposals on the table. They varied in one important respect from the type of wage deals made in the car plants. While envisaging a standard wage structure, they also left room for higher earnings geared to increased performance. These were again rejected because Mr Brindle and his colleagues insisted that British Leyland must concede the full permitted increase under Phase Three before terms for a new wage structure could be dis- cussed. There was a two week strike on this issue, which ended when British Leyland paid the general increases. But it also got from the union negotiators the acceptance in principle of a revised wage structure and a terminal date, September 16 for plant level negotiations. This turbulent period in the bus and truck factories has meant a testing time for Mr Geoffrey Armstrong, the young executive chosen by Mr Lowry from his London staff to take charge of negotiations. But now for the first time he can see some real hope that within the next week or two agreements will be reached.

[nicholls1966uk]

August 12th 1974

Leyland's last piecework outpost-Industry in the Regions
by R. W. Shakespeare

British Leyland's long and difficult battle to reform its wages structure now appears to be moving into its final stage. The last big effort centres on the 8,500-strong labour force at the corporation's five bus and truck factories in Lancashire, where Lord Stokes began his career in the motor industry as an apprentice in the 1930s. There is irony in the fact that these plants at Leyland and Chorley which, until recently enjoyed a unique record for trouble-free labour relations, should have become the final outpost of shop-floor resistance to innovations which have been accepted after a struggle in militant car assembly centres like Cowley and Longbridge.
When Mr Pat Lowry, with a reputation as one of the outstanding talents in the labour relations field, was persuaded by Lord Stokes to leave the Engineering Employers Association in the late 1960s to become BLMC's director of industrial relations, he walked into a jungle of wage bargaining systems. These were largely based on the long-standing piece-work and rate fixing processes. Mr Lowry made reform of wages structure throughout the corporation and elimination of piecework the first objectives of his new labour relations strategy. In just over four years, from the starting point of fierce union resistance to change, and later " imported " union hostility engendered by the Industrial Relations Act and the various stages of incomes policy, the wage reforms were carried through in all the car plants. Workers in the huge Austin Morris complexes, in Triumph, Jaguar, Rover and elsewhere are all now operating under graded wage structures that give standard pay rates, with most getting about £50 for a 40-hour week. Mr Lowry's strategy has linked these changes to other innovations such as guaranteed lay-off pay agreements and a special procedure for settling disputes. In the light of experience, most trade union and shop-floor leaders are now persuaded that the changes were necessary Although a great many labour relations problems remain, and British Leyland has yet to find the answers to matching productivity with its new earnings levels they no longer stem from the eternal piecemeal bickering over price-fixing on the shop floors. Only in the Lancashire factories does the piecework system still survive and even there shop-floor negotiators have come round to the point where there is an agreement in principle that a change is necessary. To a large extent, British Leyland has been the victim of circumstances over its negotiations in the Lancashire factories. But it has also had to contend with a much more effective and astute shop-floor leadership that developed in the past few years with the emergence of men like Mr Len Brindle, the convenor for the five plants. The initial attempt by the management to push through wage reforms ran aground on the Conservative Government's incomes policy. Within the restraints imposed, British Leyland could not meet the price being demanded by the shop floor for making the change. The Lancashire workers were in an extremely strong bargaining position. They had before them examples of the kind of terms conceded to car workers at Longbridge on the eve of Mr Heath's announcement of the initial 90-day wages freeze. In the end, British Leyland had to abandon its insistence on implementation of the new wages structure in Lancashire and concede a general wage increase up to the permitted ceiling. Last month after much bargaining the management again put its proposals on the table. They varied in one important respect from the type of wage deals made in the car plants. While envisaging a standard wage structure, they also left room for higher earnings geared to increased performance. These were again rejected because Mr Brindle and his colleagues insisted that British Leyland must concede the full permitted increase under Phase Three before terms for a new wage structure could be dis-cussed. There was a two week strike on this issue, which ended when British Leyland paid the general increases. But it also got from the union negotiators the acceptance in principle of a revised wage structure and a terminal date, September 16 for plant level negotiations. This turbulent period in the bus and truck factories has meant a testing time for Mr Geoffrey Armstrong, the young executive chosen by Mr Lowry from his London staff to take charge of negotiations. But now for the first time he can see some real hope that within the next week or two agreements will be reached.

[nicholls1966uk]

August 13th 1974

Strike by 150 inspectors halts Rover production at Solihull

By R. W. Shakespeare Northern Industrial Correspondent

British Leyland, which already faces a crisis over mounting production losses due to disputes, and a lower share of the diminishing home market for cars, ran into still more labour troubles yesterday. A strike by 150 inspectors meant all output of Rover cars, Land-Rovers and Range-Rovers was stopped at the corporation's plant in Solihull, Birmingham, and some 2,700 production workers on both the day and night shifts had to be sent home. At the same time about 100 clerical workers at Rover's axle and transmission factory in Cardiff also walked out. But output there is not immediately affected and there are no other lay-offs at present. The inspectors at Solihull, who belong to the Transport and General Workers' Union, have demanded regrading into a higher wage scale, and their unofficial walkout followed a break-down in plant level negotiations. A company spokesman said:

"The lay-offs are for an indefinite period because we are not sure what the next move will be since the stoppage is unofficial."

The Solihull plant makes the 2000 and 3500 Rover cars together with the full range of Land-Rovers and the Range- Rovers, all of which are big export earners. It turns out about 2,500 vehicles a week, and the shutdown means production losses of nearly £1m a day at showroom values.
The dispute in Cardiff Is over a grading issue involving members of the white collar union Apex. In addition to the manufacture, of transmission and axle units for the entire Rover range this plant also houses a central spares department supplying the Rover assembly lines and the servicing trade. Talks with union officials have been arranged for Friday.
Meanwhile, at the British' Leyland Austin/Morris engines plant at Longbridge, Birmingham, a dispute which halted all production and made some 3,000 workers idle before the week-end was temporarily resolved yesterday. A strike by some 1,500 workers followed by the lay-off of 1,500 others began after the management dismissed two men for allegedly fighting on the shop floor. Now the company has agreed to reinstate the men, although they will remain suspended without pay while the matter is discussed with union officials.

[nicholls1966uk]

August 14th 1974

Longbridge walkout causes new stoppage

By R. W. Shakespeare
Trouble in the British Leyland car plants persisted yesterday. All production remained at a standstill in the Rover complex at Solihull, Birmingham, and a fresh walkout again halted production at the Austin-Morris engines factory at Longbridge.
Output of Rover cars, Land-Rovers and Range-Rovers, has now been stopped for two full days, with production losses running at the rate of £1m a day at showroom values, because of a strike by 150 inspectors at Solihull. About 2,700 production workers on the day and night shifts have been laid off for " an indefinite period ". The inspectors' strike, which is unofficial, is in support of their demand to be regraded into a higher wage bracket. So far no fresh negotiations have been arranged and it seems unlikely that any production will be resumed today.
Yesterday there was a fresh walkout by 240 toolroom workers on the day shift at Longbridge, where work in the engines department, which feeds the Mini, Marina and Allegro car assembly lines, was resumed on Monday after a stoppage over the dismissal of two men who, the management allege, had been fighting on the shop floor. The toolroom workers were protesting about the fact that although the two men had been reinstated they are still suspended without pay pending the outcome of talks between the management and union officials. The entire production day-shift of 1,500 men had to be sent home again. Later a company spokesman said:
"A fresh formula has been agreed in talks today, and this will be put to the night-shift workers tonight and the day-shift men tomorrow."

[nicholls1966uk]

August 15th 1974

8,500 are laid off in disputes at British Leyland

By R. W. Shakespeare

More than 8,500 British Leyland workers were still laid off yesterday because of continuing labour disputes affecting four plants.
All Rover car production at Solihull, Birmingham, together with Land-Rover and Range-Rover output has now been at a standstill for three days because of an unofficial strike by 150 inspectors who are demanding regrading into a higher pay bracket.. About 3,000 production workers are laid off, an increase of about 300 compared with earlier this week.
At the Rover component factory in Cardiff, which makes axle and transmission units, 230 workers in the spares warehouse have, now been laid off because of a pay strike by 100 clerical staff who are also demanding regrading. The dispute could lead to bottlenecks in supplies to the assembly plants and the servicing trade.
At the truck and tractor plant at Bathgate, Midlothian, a complete shutdown is now in its second week with 450 clerical workers on strike over a pay dispute and 4,500 production men laid off.


THE GUARDIAN

AUSTIN MORRIS NEWS

Production was resumed at British Leyland's Austin-Morris factory at Longbridge, Birmingham, after a strike by 400 toolsetters and labourers. The dispute , which began when two men were suspended without pay for fighting, led to 2,500 workers being laid off. But the night shift returned on Tuesday after a peace formula had been worked out. The day shift followed .

[nicholls1966uk]

August 19th 1974

The British Leyland Rover assembly plant at Solihull, Birmingham, is expected to be back in operation today after being closed all last week with 3,000 workers laid off because of a strike by 150 inspectors.

[nicholls1966uk]

August 20th 1974

Production was halted yesterday at the Alvis factory in Coventry, British Leyland's military vehicle division, because of a strike by 82 inspectors over a pay dispute. The plant's 1,500 production workers are laid off.
In Scotland,. the British Leyland truck and tractor plant at Bathgate, West Lothian, is still at a standstill for the third week running because of a stoppage by 450 clerical workers. Another 4,500 production workers there have been laid off.

New deal accepted: More than 8,500 shopfloor workers at British Leyland's five bus and truck factories at Chorley and Leyland, Lancashire, yesterday voted to accept a new deal which will put them in the top flight within the British Leyland empire. At a meeting they said farewell to the traditional piece-work system of payment in favour of accepting measured day working and a restructuring of payments. In exchange for acceptance of the deal, all the workers will receive a lump sum payment of £52 in their wage packets next week, plus another £52 at Christmas on top of the 8 per cent across the board rise already negotiated.

THE GUARDIAN

ROVER NEWS

Rover production at Solihull was normal after a stoppage of a week. The factory's 150 inspectors ended a strike in return for a promise of talks on their claim for a £6 a week grading improvement.

[nicholls1966uk]

August 21st 1974

Production at the Alvis works in Coventry, British Leyland's military vehicle division, was again at a standstill yesterday because of a strike by 82 inspectors. The rest of the 1,500 production force is laid off. The inspectors say the company has refused to honour a promise to deal with their demand for a £50 plus weekly wage. A company spokesman said yesterday:
"We are willing to negotiate on the basis of a new company-wide pay structure already put to the unions."
However; the inspectors, who meet again tomorrow, insist on separate negotiations. They say thev were promised the new wage deal " when legislation permitted ".

British Leyland also has rumblings of trouble at its Jaguar engines plant In Coventry. Some 115 toolroom workers went on strike two weeks ago over a claim for restoration of pay differentials. They have since returned to work but negotiations on their demands are continuing.

[nicholls1966uk]

August 24th 1974

Dispute resolved: A two-week- old strike by 260 workers at British Leyland's Butec factory at Leyland, Lancashire, ended yesterday when the men accepted a wage increase of about £5 for all employees. The workers, who produce electrical equipment for heavy vehicles, were seeking parity with colleagues at the five bus and truck factories in the area.

[nicholls1966uk]

August 27th 1974

Components strike may halt Leyland assembly

By R. W. Shakespeare

British Leyland is facing a shut-down on car assembly operation at its Austin Morris plants at Longbridge, Birmingham, and Cowley, Oxford. Several thousand workers are likely to be laid off from today and many thousands more could be idle within a day or two because of a strike that has closed key components factories in the Midlands. This threat to the motor industry comes at a time when some 20000 car and component workers are idle because of disputes at plants in the Midlands and in Scotland. The fresh trouble centres on a pay dispute at British Leyland's central transmissions plant at Washwood Heath, Birmingham. Production is at a standstill because of a walk-out by 2,000 workers. A further 1,700 have been laid off. The strikers, who will be holding a mass meeting today, have rejected the management's offer of a new pay deal which is not due to take effect until October 1. The deal gives across the board increases of £4 a week with direct pay increase of £1.74p and the rest made up of additional holiday payments and higher premium payments. A company spokesman said yesteday:

" The strike is in breach of procedure because the negotiating machinery has not yet been exhausted. We cannot resume negotiations until there is a return to work."

The Washwood Heath factory makes transmission units for the entire Austin Morris range of cars assembled at Longbridge and Cowley which between them employ more than 30,000 workers. It also makes transmissions for the MG factory at Abingdon.
Another major strike which has closed British Leyland trucks and tractor plant at Bath- gate, West Lothian, is now into its fifth week. Yesterday 450 clerical workers who are out in support of pay demands voted to continue their action

[nicholls1966uk]

August 28th 1974

With all the American'-owned Chrysler Company's car production in Britain at a standstill, yesterday British Leyland had to stop its Mini and Allegro assembly lines at Longbridge, Birmingham, and lay off 5,000 workers.
Last night another 1,000 men were laid off from the other big Austin Morris plant at Cowley, Oxford, and production of Marina cars was cut. There may be many more lay-offs at Cowley from today, and production could also be affected at British Leyland's MG plant at Abingdon. British Leyland's problems stem from a strike by 2,000 production workers at its central transmissions plant at Washwood Heath, Birmingham. Production there is stopped and another 1,700 workers have been laid off. This plant supplies all the transmission units for both the Austin Morris assembly lines and for the MG factory. The strikers walked out after rejecting management proposals for a new pay deal which is not due to take effect until October 1. The offer is worth £4 a week, made up of straight wage increases, improved overtime and shift premiums, and higher holiday pay. What is particularly worrying for British Leyland is that the strike has been staged while the current wage agreement is still in force and before the agreed negotiating procedure with the unions has been exhausted. Until now British Leyland's specially tailored negotiating machinery for each of its plants has appeared to work well and this is the first time that it has been breached.
At Bathgate, West Lothian, production is at a standstill for the fourth week running at British Leyland's truck and tractor plant where 450 clerical workers are on strike over pay demands and 4,500 production workers are laid off.

[nicholls1966uk]

August 29th

Author of "The Leyland Papers" courts contreversy

British Leyland yesterday denied that its Cowley car plant was a " skiver's paradise ", as alleged earlier by Mr Graham Turner, a journalist and economist who has made a study of the company. It accused Mr Turner of "gross distortion ", but one of its executive admitted that there was a labour surplus at the plant. Mr Turner said in a BBC radio interview that Cowley workers had told him that men in one department went to bed after as little as two hours of a night shift; one man sunbathed, at work, and there were stories of card schools and working "one hour on, one off ". Many men had said that the plant could function adequately with only half its present work force, he alleged. The company replied that such a statement demonstrated Mr Turner's ignorance of the realities of manufacturing. Mr David Buckle, Oxford district secretary of the Transport and General Workers' Union, also rejected Mr Turner's allegation. But Mr Geoffrey Whalen, personnel director of British Leyland's body and assembly divisions, said there was a pool of extra men who were not fully employed.

"We felt it right to retain them until we can find them new jobs ",
he said. There were other reasons for some of the men not having enough work, including a shortage of parts because of the three-day week. Mr Jack Reid, who used to work in the plant's trim shop, agreed with Mr Turner.
" I used to go in at 8 pm for the night shift and by 12.30 I could go to sleep until 6.30 in the morning",
he said yesterday.
" There were too many people in the shop and there was always someone to do my work while I slept. Those who did not want to sleep played cards, draughts or shove ha'penny."
Mr Roy Gatehouse who still works at the plant disagreed. He said:
" The situation at the moment, where more men than usual have not got much work to do, is temporary. It has been created by changeovers to new models and obviously it won't last for ever. To say that it's a skiver's paradise is ludicrous."
Mr Turner said in the interview that he had based his remarks on information from a relatively few men
" who might be rogues and liars, but I believe them to be honest men, men who actually would be happier to work much harder than they are working ".
A worker had told him about a particular night shift supposed to start about 10 pm. The men would usually knock off at about 1 am and go to bed for the rest of the shift: Another worker had said:
"Thats not true. We normally go to bed about midnight."
British Leyland said Mr Turner's comments could cause only bitterness and resentment in a community that was doing a great deal to help to support the country's economy.

[nicholls1966uk]

August 30th 1974

Here is the plant-by-plant position in the industry yesterday:
British Leyland:
Production has been halted at the central transmissions plant at Washwood Heath, Birmingham, by a strike involving 2,000 workers, with another: 1,700 laid-off. Car assembly at Longbridge and Cowley has halted, with 11,000 workers laid-off from their normal jobs but 5,000 at Longbridge called in on a temporary basis for stocktaking. Last night another 1,300 workers were laid off at Abingdon, Oxford, Castle Bromwich and Smethwick. All output has stopped at the truck and tractor plant at Bathgate, West Lothian, with 450 clerical workers out and 4,500 production men idle. Another production standstill is at the Alvis plant in Coventry, BLMC's military vehicles division where 82 inspectors are on strike and 1,500 other workers laid off. About 250 staff employees, members of the Association of Scientific, Technical and Managerial Staffs, are on strike from the Jaguar, Rover, Triumph spares division at Canley, Coventry, over demands for separate wage bargaining arrangements.
The British Leyland strikers at Washwood Heath are due to meet on Monday. So far there are no indications that they will change their minds and accept the managements offer of a new £4 a week pay deal, or vote to return to work pending further negotiations, as the management has suggested. Car production halted by the disputes includes British Leyland's Marina, Allegro 1800, and Mini.


PR chief is appointed to top post at Leyland

By Clifford Webb

Mr Keith Hopkins, the 44- year-old head of British Leyland's public relations department, is to become managing director of the group's Austin-Morris division. This announcement was greeted with considerable surprise in the industry last night. It is unusual for PR personnel, at any level, to move into general management, and to become managing director of a large operating company in one step must be rare. A company statement said that after the death recently of Mr Bill Saunders, director of manufacturing for Rover- Triumph, and to safeguard important expansion schemes now in progress there, Mr Richard Perry, managing director of the Austin-Morris division was being appointed deputy managing director of Rover-Triumph. His successor at Austin-Morris would be Mr Hopkins. Mr Hopkins said last night:

" PR is as wide and all embracing as top management allow it to be. I have been fortunate in that I have been close to Lord Stokes for the past 12 years, and have been involved in every aspect of the motor business. So, the sort of, work I shall now be undertaking will not be such a big break as it would seem on the surface. I hope that some of the expertise of Lord Stokes and other senior members of British Leyland has rubbed off on me:"

The new director of public relations is to be Mr Tony Spalding, the present products public relations manager who joined British Leyland from Ford last year. The new appointments take effect from October 1. The original Austin-Morris division, the bulk of the old BMC empire, was broken into three separate operations after the resignation last year of Mr George Turnbull, head of Austin-Morris and group deputy managing director. Mr Hopkins takes over that part which is now responsible for sales, marketing engineering and service.



Tony Spalding


Driving ahead

The news that Keith Hopkins, the British Leyland public relations chief, is to take over as managing director of the corporation's Austin Morris division was causing a good deal of surprise among close observers of the industry yesterday. Hopkins, who has led the corporation's large public relations team since the merger of 1968. has had the reputation among some pressmen of not being the easiest PR man in the business to deal with. Now, as head of part of one of the more troublesome sectors of the group, his undoubted talents could have a much greater impact.
Hopkins, a Coventry man, gained an MA in modern languages at Oxford and studied at the University of Heidelberg and the Sorbonne in Paris. In 1954 he joined the old Standard Motor Company in Coventry as a humble public relations officer and later began his long association with Donald Stokes. By 1957 he was using his languages as overseas PR and two years later became PR executive. In 1961 when the Leyland Motor Corporation took over, he was appointed group PR manager. Hopkins, recognized in the industry as a considerable opportunist, became one of Lord Stokes's right hand men. Now he assumes the title held until last year by George Turnbull and although it is a watered down version of the job Turnbull had, there are to be three Austin' Morris managing diiectors, Hopkins will still be responsible for sales, marketing, engineering and service.

DAILY EXPRESS

STOKES PICKS A "MR FLAIR"

By David Benson

Car chief Lord Stokes shook the industry last night by giving British Leyland's biggest job to a non-engineer . The firm's public relations director, 44-year-old Keith Hopkins, is to become managing director of the Austin Morris Division—which includes Longbridge and the controversial Cowley factories. Eleven months ago, George Turnbull—the man tipped to take over the Leyland giant when Lord Stokes retires quit the Austin Morris job following a serious disagreement over future policy. Since then, the division has been more closely integrated into the group. Lord Stokes said last night:

" We now have an excellent production, design and engineering team at Austin Morris. What we need is flair from the top which I think Keith can give the company."

Mr Hopkins, son of a Coventry car worker, takes over on October 1st. His first statement, after his appointment was announced was to refute allegations of "skivers " in the Cowley workforce.