Girling strike further threat to car plants as lay-offs approach 10,000

By Clifford Webb Midland Industrial Correspondent

Disc brake supplies for a large part of the car industry will be halted within days by a strike which began yesterday at Girling's Bromborough, Cheshire, plant. The company will begin laying off men today and expect production to be at a standstill by the weekend. In the past stoppages at Bromborough have seriously affected car production at all the major manufacturers.

At British Leyland's car plant at Cowley, near Oxford, a mass meeting of 2,250 body workers voted overwhelmingly to strike next Monday. The men have been suspended daily during the past week for taking part in a "go slow" campaign for an improvement in a pay and conditions award accepted by 4,000 men in the adjoining assembly plant. Output of 1,000 Marinas and Maxis is being lost for each day of the dispute, and 5,000 men have been laid off so far.

At Triumph, Coventry, car assembly has been halted by a strike of 70 men at the company's Radford component plant which has disrupted supplies of back axles. Over 4,000 men were laid off yesterday.