Whalen – stop striking!

British Leyland's management bluntly warned 157,000 workers yesterday that they face a bleak future unless they stop striking.
Mr Geoff Whalen, personnel director, said in Leyland's own newspaper,

"This is not just an old-fashioned message of encouragement from the management. We really do want to go forward. We want to make improvements for every one as fast as we can. " But we cannot progress if people continue to take part in strikes and other forms of industrial action within Leyland Cars. This is our single most serious problem.

"We cannot achieve security or improvements for anyone unless we reduce drastically the number of strikes which have dogged us in the past and are at present." Car dealers were geared to sell as they had never sold before. But if workers did not respond to the demand for Leyland cars there would not be another chance."

Rover strike spreads: Land Rover and Range Rover production is threatened by a new strike at the troubled Rover car plant in Solihull:
Yesterday, 80 drivers at the factory stopped work over an objection to the use of industrial engineers, time and motion study men. The drivers will not meet again until Friday. Rover car production has been halted for almost a fortnight by a strike of 1,0O0 assembly workers in a separate dispute.