BOSSES at the Cowley Mini plant have paid tribute to union leader Bernard Moss, who has retired after a career dedicated to working in the factory.

Mr Moss was a controversial union leader, who in the later years of his role as convenor endured face-offs with those he represented.

Things came to a head earlier this year when he was pelted with eggs and had a volley of verbal abuse thrown at him during the time when workers were losing their jobs.

There was even a petition passed around the plant, calling for a vote of no confidence to be passed against the union.

However, he survived to fight on for a few more months.

Plant spokesman Rebecca Baxter said: “Bernard Moss worked at Plant Oxford for more than 30 years and was plant convenor for seven years.

“The company would like to thank Bernard for all his hard work during that time and to wish him a long and happy retirement.”

Mr Moss has been succeeded by his deputy, Chris Bond.

Mr Moss, who lives in west Oxfordshire, was in charge of the union throughout most of the highly successful period of the Mini being built at Cowley, during which production has ramped up to more than 240,000 cars a year.

But his involvement stretches far beyond that and he has been involved at a senior level, firstly in the Transport and General Workers Union and then Unite since the 1970s.

During that time he saw the car plant change ownership several times from British Leyland era to the ultimate takeover of Rover by BMW.

He also saw the workforce diminish from more than 20,000 in the 1970s to about 4,000 today.

A major low point was the closure of the old South Works in 1992 when there were 3,000 redundancies.

There were major changes in working practices with the 15-year alliance with Honda bringing in Japanese methods, while BMW then introduced its own practices including the controversial working time account where workers ‘bank’ their overtime and also hours they owe to the company including those built up during shutdowns.

But it was towards the end of his leadership that Mr Moss faced fierce criticism.

Many agency staff blamed the union after 850 workers lost their jobs as demand for the Mini slumped.

In February, when the job losses were announced, eggs were thrown at Mr Moss and union officials by angry workers.

But he refused to accept the union had been weak in its handling of the redundancies.

He told the Oxford Mail: “I don’t accept that. We have negotiated 1,400 full-time contracts, pay increases which match those of BMW elsewhere and represented workers in disciplinary matters.”

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