Rubery Owen disruption
17 April 1973
As the strike by more than 2,000 workers in two Midlands factories of the Rubery Owen group, one of the country's leading component manufacturers, entered its third week yesterday, more car and commercial vehicle production was halted and many more workers laid off.
The fresh lay-offs yesterday came at British Leyland plants in Birmingham, Castle Bromwich, and Cowley, and almost all of the corporation's car production is now threatened by component shortages. The biggest single batch of lay-offs yesterday came at the Castle Bromwich body pressing plant where 1,000 men were sent home.
At Cowley another 250 men in the body pressing department were laid off. They normally make bodies for the Rover car plant at Solihull. Elsewhere in British Leyland, Jaguar production at Coventry and Triumph assembly on Merseyside was resumed yesterday followving the settlement of internal strikes.
Meanwhile, at the five bus and truck factories in Lancashire a continuing pay dispute involving 59 engine assemblers has caused the lay-off of another 520 workers.
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