Almost 10,000 British Leyland workers idle as Birmingham strike spreads

Almost 10,000 British Leyland workers in the Midlands were idle yesterday as the effects of the strike at the company's Castle Bromwich body plant in Birmingham spread.

The strike by 1,300 men has already led to 5,500 workers being laid off. A company spokesman said yesterday that the shortage of car bodies meant that Jaguar production at Coventry was running at half its normal rate with 2,000 men laid off. Production of minis at Longbridge, in Birmingham, had been halted with another 2,000 lay-offs.

The Castle Bromwich strike started on Monday as a walkout by 250 paint shop men in a pay dispute. They were later joined by more than 1,000 members of the former National Union of Vehicle Builders, now part of the Transport and General Workers' Union.