Car parking dispute starts strike at BL

THE GUARDIAN
CAR PARKING DISPUTE STARTS STRIKE AT BL
By Paul Johnson

Night shift workers at the BL plant at Solihull, West Midlands, went on strike in a row over car parking. About two thirds of the night shift – 170 men – walked off the Land-Rover production line after being told to move their cars to an official car park. The vehicles had been left in a main access road near the factory and the plant health and safely committee decided that they should be moved. But the men refused the joint union-management request and after a meeting, walked out.

A company spokesman said yesterday: "I suppose the men did not take too kindly to the idea of the car park because it meant a longer walk for them."

The workers agreed yesterday to turn up for their next night shift on Monday. Land-Rover production at the plant had been halted the previous day after a dispute involving one man who refused to carry out a task he considered was not part of his normal work. The 2,500 men laid off because of that dispute have now returned to work.

Two toolroom workers have resigned from the Rover engine factory in Acocks Green , Birmingham, after being caught asleep on the night shift