Conciliators in Cowley mission

A three-man inquiry panel appointed by the Government's Advisory Conciliation and Arbitration Service to investigate the dispute behind the month long strike by engine tuners at British Leyland's Austin-Morris car plant will visit the Cowley plant today.

Under the chairmanship of Professor John Wood. of Sheffield University, the panel which includes Mr George Doughty and Mr Leslie Blakeman, will meet management and shop floor representatives and see the work done by the engine tuners, who want to be reclassified as skilled workers. On Monday the tuners were instructed by the AUEW to suspend the strike pending the outcome of the inquiry which could take up to a month to report.