THE thousands of Cowley car workers had a good reputation for producing reliable vehicles at affordable prices.

However, there were frequent disputes which brought production to a halt and disrupted distribution of vehicles to dealers and other outlets.

The Oxford Mail’s industrial correspondents were kept busy recording the frequent stoppages which broke out at the Pressed Steel body and the Austin Morris assembly plants.

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A strike at one of the factories was always front page news as it impacted so many Oxfordshire families.

Because each section of the work was closely connected with the one before and the one after, a walkout in one part would quickly disrupt work throughout the plant.

Picture 1 was taken in 1975 when 2,500 production workers at the assembly plant voted at a mass meeting to impose an immediate ban on overtime in a row over pay.

Union leaders were demanding a rise of £16 a week, but the management had offered only £5.60.

The company was trying to get 8,000 models of its new car, codenamed the ADO 71, ready for distribution and feared the overtime ban would disrupt its plans.

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Not every meeting ended in a vote to strike – in Picture 2, we see car workers leaving a meeting in 1974 after voting to return to work.

The vote was the same in Picture 3 when 800 toolmakers who had been on strike at the body plant in 1965, voted to go back to work so that negotiations on their pay demands with the management could resume.

However, the outcome was not always as favourable. Picture 4 shows workers voting decisively in 1983 on the Morris Motors’ sports ground in Crescent Road, Cowley, to continue their strike although, as the Oxford Mail pointed out, only 2,000 of the 5,000 workers turned up.

Car delivery drivers at the assembly plant are seen in Picture 5 attending a meeting at Transport House in Cowley Road in 1970 to decide whether to continue their stoppage.

In Picture 6, we see that managers and workers weren’t the only people strikes affected. Police formed an impenetrable line outside Gate 16 at Cowley during one dispute in 1984.

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About the author 

Andy is the Trade and Tourism reporter for the Oxford Mail and you can sign up to his newsletters for free here. 

He joined the team more than 20 years ago and he covers community news across Oxfordshire.

His Trade and Tourism newsletter is released every Saturday morning. 

You can also read his weekly Traffic and Transport newsletter.