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Both Owen and Peach link−and sometimes identify−the fate of Rubery Owen with the fate of Britain. Both, in their distinctly separate ways, share a sense of loss about the nation as well as the company.
ON THE STATE OF BRITAIN:
Owen: Britain is like a ship without a rudder. In the past ten years we have had no leadership at all. Trudeau, Giscard, Schmidt all put our leaders into a cocked hat. The majority of people are living in Cloud Cuckoo Land. There is the feeling that they will be looked after, come what may.
Peach: When you were a child, you had it drilled into you that Great Britain was great. But what are we today? When a twopenny-ha'penny sergeant like Amin takes the urine out of Britain, it's a pretty mean level we have sunk to. And now that we are in the Common Market, we are just like all those other countries who have foreigners making decisions for us.
ON POLITICAL PARTIES:
Owen: I cannot accept socialism, but I'm not very happy with the Conservative Party. It doesn't have any clearly discernible policy other than wanting to put the clock back 20 years. It just doesn't seem very realistic.
Peach: I am loyal to my class. It is the only reason I vote Labor, because the party is now run by bloody academics. It isn't the working class representing the working class any more.
ON BRITISH INDUSTRY:
Owen: Time is not on our side. Industry has become increasingly uncompetitive with other countries, and with our seeming inability to grow, it's going to be increasingly hard for people like me to stay in business.
Peach: We keep getting all this cheap stuff from abroad to put our own workers out of work. Somebody's unloading goods on Britain from countries where people are happy with a bowl of rice a day.
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For 2½ years there have been no major work stoppages at Rubery Owen. But there still has not been the kind of cooperation between management and labor that is necessary if the company is to weather Britain's current economic crisis. The recession within Britain's strike-prone automobile industry has hit the Darlaston plant hard. Orders have dropped by 30% to 35% in the past 18 months. Three hundred jobs have been lost this year; hundreds more will be at stake over the next twelve months.
John Owen is fatalistic: "The problem facing us is one of survival. I have asked the unions what they want. I even asked whether the fact that this is a family business was a stumbling block. They said it wasn't. I've talked about giving them more of an interest in running the company. The response was disappointing. They mistrust ownership shares because of what happened to companies like Rolls-Royce when they went bust. Workers lost not only their jobs, but part of their savings as well.
"I can't see for the life of me why there is no common interest. Maximum efficiency is good for both management and the unions because it produces greater profit. By all means let's argue how much of that profit is distributed to the work force, but for goodness' sake let's produce. The trade unions must accept, with all the power they have, some responsibility.