Derek Robinson (trade unionist)
Derek Robinson | |
---|---|
Cradley, Worcestershire | |
Died | (aged 90) |
Nationality | British |
Other names | Red Robbo |
Occupation | Trade Unionist |
Years active | 1970s |
Known for | British Leyland trade union leader |
Political party | Communist Party of Great Britain, Communist Party of Britain[1] |
Derek Robinson (1927–2017) was a British trade unionist. Formerly a convenor and
Career
Robinson was born in Cradley, then in
British Leyland was the result of a series of mergers between different British motor vehicle manufacturers. By 1975, Robinson was the union convener of the Longbridge plant in Birmingham, having worked his way up from the shop floor to serve as the deputy of the previous convenor, Dick Etheridge, a fellow member of the Communist Party.[5]
With his network of representatives in the 42 different Leyland plants around the country, he led a long-running campaign of strikes around the company, which he argued were in protest at mismanagement, leading 523 walkouts at Leyland's Birmingham plant during a 30-month period.
Robinson had seen the idea of "participation" as central both to his political aims and to making British Leyland a success, stating: "If we make Leyland successful, it will be a political victory. It will prove that ordinary working people have got the intelligence and determination to run industry".[7][8]
During the 1970s union organisation in British Leyland was split between the largely Communist Party-oriented stewards under Etheridge, and later Robinson, at Longbridge, and a smaller number of Trotskyist stewards based at the more militant
Relationship with the press, and sacking
The filmmaker Ken Loach suggested that Robinson was unfairly smeared by the press of the time; contrary to their depiction of him controlling strikes at will, Loach claimed, he in fact spent much of his time attempting to prevent unofficial strikes. This viewpoint was examined by Loach in part of an (untransmitted) documentary film series, Questions of Leadership (1983).[9]
Margaret Thatcher later described Robinson in her memoirs as a "notorious agitator".[10] Many years later, Robinson commented "The pressures were immense but were it not for the ideological understanding that I had, I could very well have ended up with a nervous breakdown".[11]
A 2002 BBC documentary series by Peter Taylor revealed that in the late 1970s MI5 had been attempting to undermine Robinson through an agent they had placed amongst his union officials; Edwardes stated that he had been "privileged to read minutes of meetings of the [...] joint committee of the Communist Party and our shop stewards", which had been passed to him via the Government.[12]
Robinson was eventually sacked by BL in November 1979 for putting his name to a pamphlet that criticised the BL management, and refusing to withdraw his name from the pamphlet when asked to do so. A ballot on a proposed strike in sympathy with Robinson and against his dismissal was lost, with 14,000 votes against and only 600 in favour.[12]
Taylor's documentary suggested that this was a result of the MI5 agent's activity, with Edwardes acknowledging that the removal of Robinson was in some ways necessary for the company's preparations to bring the new Austin Metro into production. Longbridge was being substantially redeveloped and expanded for the new car, whose assembly was heavily automated in comparison to previous models and job losses would have been inevitable: "It was planned only in the sense...well, the answer is 'Yes', from a strategic point of view we knew that we couldn’t have the Metro and him. Whether or not we wanted him to go, his actions made it inevitable that he would have to go".[12]
After British Leyland
Robinson subsequently applied for several engineering jobs and for a position as an organiser for the AEU in the Midlands, but these were rejected.[4] He became a sales representative for the Morning Star newspaper,[4] worked as a tutor in trade union studies during the 1980s and 1990s, and was national chair of the Communist Party of Britain for a period in the 1990s.[1]
References
- ^ a b c Stevenson, Graham. "Robinson Derek". A Compendium of Communist Biographies. Retrieved 13 April 2011.
- ^ a b "Red Robbo: Trade unionist Derek Robinson dies, aged 90". BBC News. 31 October 2017. Retrieved 31 October 2017.
- ^ "Derek Robinson". The Times. 1 November 2017.
- ^ a b c d e Adeney, Martin (1 November 2017). "Derek Robinson obituary". The Guardian.
- ^ a b c Hughes, Frank (April 2002). "Lions led by well-paid donkeys". Workers Liberty (62). Retrieved 31 October 2017.
- ^ "Red Robbo: The man behind 523 car factory strikes". BBC News. 4 November 2017. Retrieved 7 December 2019.
- ^ Jacobi, O (1986). Technological change, rationalisation, and industrial relations. Taylor & Francis. p. 102.
- ^ "'Longbridge Leader Derek Robinson Dies". Morning Star. 1 November 2017. Archived from the original on 1 November 2017. Retrieved 1 November 2017.
- ^ Leigh, J (2002). "The cinema of Ken Loach: art in the service of the people". Wallflower: 135.
- ^ Thatcher, Margaret (1995). The Downing Street Years. Harper. p. 116.
- ^ "'I'm not to blame for Rover' – Red Robbo". BBC Online. 28 March 2000. Retrieved 31 October 2017.
- ^ a b c "Transcript of 'True Spies' documentary". BBC. 2002. Retrieved 31 October 2017.