Wildcat strikes at Rover
21 August 1970
DAILY MIRROR
Nine strikers shut down the dollar earning Rover car firm indefinitely last night. The wildcat strikers defied union officials who had advised them to return to work. Now all production of the export-winning Rover 2000 and 3500 models has been halted "until further notice."
The strikers, component washers , are employed at the Rover engine plant at Acock's Green, Birmingham. They are demanding a switch from day rates of pay to piecework rates.
Yesterday Mr Sam Robinson, district official of the Transport and General Workers Union, tried to persuade the men to go back to work. He offered to raise their grievance at a joint employer-union conference at York. But the nine men refused the offer. As a result , Rover’s were forced to close the 2000 and 3500 assembly tracks at their main Solihull factory.
The strike will cost the already trouble-hit British Leyland giant an estimated £250,000 a day in lost production.
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