My friend Denis Crowder Johnson, who has died aged 71 of cancer, was a lifelong socialist and trade unionist, forged in the British motorcycle industry; someone who truly cared for the betterment of others in the workplace. In the mid 1970s he was a driving force in bringing about the Meriden co-operative, which saved the name of Triumph motorcycles and lessened the impact of a big restructuring and redundancy programme.
Born into an engineering family, Denis joined Triumph motorcycles as a 16-year-old in 1959. At 21 he experienced the benefit of trade unions when his performance at putting together motorcycle parts was assessed as qualifying for the skilled rate – an increase of twopence an hour to 1s 6d.
Long before he was 30, he was convener and chairman of the shop stewards’ committee – the factory had seven trade unions – representing the Transport and General Workers’ Union. Something of a rebel, Denis fought for many improvements in working practices. But nothing could prepare him for the day when closure was announced, in the face of competition from foreign imports. Denis was not going to sit back and let that happen.
He led the workforce into a lock-in, to prevent closure, then through two years of uncertainty while the Labour government was persuaded to fund Meriden as a going concern. Denis found himself negotiating multimillion-pound loans, coaxing American bike dealers to promote the legendary Bonneville model, and keeping the core workforce together on picket lines and through very hard times.
And he succeeded. With government loans organised by Tony Benn, huge favours from sympathetic industry moguls Geoffrey Robinson and Arnold Weinstock, with Denis as chairman, Triumph motorcycles again rolled off a production line and their place in history through to the modern form was secured, along with hundreds of jobs. All of them were on the same pay - £50 a week.
It all changed in 1977 when the co-operative voted to bring in “professional” management. Denis, driven by his principles, found a manager and then departed. The co-operative would come to regret this, as was documented in Save the Triumph Bonneville (2009), by John Rosamond.
Denis took up a full-time role with the Transport and General, eventually moving from Coventry to Portsmouth, as an officer representing members in Hampshire and the Isle of Wight.
Retirement saw Denis helping his second wife, Anna, a childminder, with her charges. He found happiness among the hills and cliffs of Purbeck, Dorset, and the unanticipated late joy of his life, his daughter, Sarah.
He is survived by Anna and Sarah, and by his daughter, Jann, and sons, Philip, Paul and Bill, from his first marriage, to Gwen, which ended in divorce.
