More than my job’s worth

THE death of ‘ Red Robbo’, Derek Robinson, the British Leyland trades unionist, takes me back to the Seventies when I temped in the car firm’s personnel department.

There was very little work to be done, so when I heard that a nearby office was busy and could do with help, I volunteered my services.

What followed illustrates the intimidation and aggression that went on at British Leyland at that time. Through the door came four burly union members who advised me that if I did not cease work immediately, they would bring the whole factory out on strike. My crime was to have crossed what they classed demarcation lines — going from one

office to another. I was sent back to personnel where I sat at a desk with nothing to do until the end of my contract.

In my short time at British Leyland, flash strikes over trivia occurred on almost a daily basis. Who would want those times back?

LINDA CURLEY, Gillingham, Dorset.