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Why Thousands Are Idle
29 August 1974
Six thousand workers at the Austin and Morris factories in Cowley have been laid off because of a pay strike in Birmingham.
The strike, by 2,000 men at British Leyland's transmissions factory in Washwood Heath, began last Friday and has disrupted the flow of components.
On Tuesday the Birmingham men voted at a mass meeting to stay out and hold another meeting on Monday.
As well as Marina production in Cowley being halted, output of Mini’s and Allegros came to a standstill at Longbridge, Birmingham.
Cowley had its own industrial trouble last April, when a three-week strike by transport drivers over a shop steward's recognition caused 12,500 workers to be laid off.
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