Save the Triumph Bonneville The Inside Story of the Meriden Workers' Co-op

by Rosamond, John; Benn, Tony

• ISBN13: 9781845842659
• ISBN10: 1845842650
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2009-09-15
• Publisher: Veloce Publishing

Summary

Written by the ex-chairman workers' board of directors of the famous Meriden co-op, this is the real story of the last bastion of British motorcycle production following the collapse of the industry. It¿s also the story of a workforce¿s refusal to let the Triumph Bonneville die ...

Author Biography

John Rosamond was, like the British motorcycle industry, born in the West Midlands. After leaving school, he learnt his trade as a skilled welder and shortly thereafter was employed by the world famous Triumph motorcycle factory at Meriden to work producing their new oil-bearing frames. A socialist and union man, John was elected to speak on behalf of his fellow welders.  Returning to welding frames after the Meriden sit-in, John became, in 1977, the second and last chairman of the Triumph workers' board of directors in particular, seeing through the continuing development of the world famous Bonneville model until the factory's closure in 1983.  After Meriden, John was employed by the new Triumph firm in Hinckley and then returned to his original trade as a welder, assessing students in the craft until his retirement in 2003.

Table of Contents

Dedication	p. 5
Foreword	p. 6
Prologue	p. 8
Baptism of fire	p. 10
Battle for Triumph	p. 17
Factory occupation	p. 30
Glad to be back	p. 46
Facing up to commercial reality	p. 66
Stage 2 Co-op ideology revisited	p. 8
Going our separate ways	p. 95
Advisors return	p. 111
Inherent and irreconcilable contradictions	p. 121
Freedom of the press	p. 129
Retirements and redundancies	p. 139
Government sword of Damocles	p. 146
Partnership negotiations	p. 158
Legal proceedings	p. 170
Japanese negotiations	p. 180
British negotiations	p. 189
New beginnings	p. 202
Optimism or false dawn?	p. 208
Confronting reality	p. 221
Coming of age	p. 232
Pay our way of close	p. 244
Cauldron of activity	p. 256
Mandate for change	p. 274
Make or break	p. 286
Crisis management	p. 302
Buying time	p. 318
Politics take over	p. 329
Financial reconstruction	p. 344
Clash of operating cultures	p. 354
More sinister than coincidence	p. 374
Words are no longer enough	p. 385
Capital and labour partnership	p. 397
On the brink of receivership	p. 413
Receivership or liquidation?	p. 423
Epilogue	p. 436
Index	p. 443
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