Leyland puts another 5000 on short time

By R. W. Shakespeare

British Leyland yesterday announced more redundancies and short-time working in some of its big plants, bringing the total number of redundancies in the pipeline to some 3,000 and the number of workers on short time throughout its operations to more than 30,000.

At the SU Carburettors plant in Birmingham 730 workers will go on short time for a month from Monday with 550 of them working a four-day week and the remaining 180 a three-day week. Staff at the plant will be reduced by 80, of whom 70 will be women workers. It was hoped to make this reduction by the end of next week through voluntary redundancies, but if the cuts could not be carried out in this way compulsory redundancies would be made, the company said.

In February the SU plant workforce was reduced by 140 when the company eliminated an evening shift for women workers. The plant makes carburettors and petrol pumps for British Leyland cars and other companies in Britain and abroad.

At the Drews Lane transmissions factory at Washwood Heath, Birmingham, the workforce of 4,000 will go on a three- day week from Monday. The fresh cutbacks seem certain to provoke further angry responses from the car unions. Among redundancies already announced by British Leyland , again through voluntary severance schemes if possible, are 1,200 jobs at the Austin-Morris plant at Longbridge, Birmingham, where another 11,000 workers have been put on short time.