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VSE028 Marion Blanche Jones, Hoover, Merthyr;Teddington Aircraft, Merthyr;Birmingham Small Arms, Dowlais;AB Metals, Abercynon;Kayser Bondor, Merthyr
Marion left school at c.16 (1951) and started in Kayser Bondor – until 1958. She feels they were pushed form pillar to post and so she left. Didn’t have a permanent job there so difficult to earn well. Singing and waving to their favourite songs. Moved to AB Metals – making TV tuners. Made redundant after 2-3 years – TV unit closed. In Kayser Bondor not earning much – crying coming home. Loved working In AB Metals. Gave her mother all her wages until she died (1960). Next to BSA making parts for guns. – closed down after a year. Then to Teddington’s making parts for aeroplanes. Cleaning coils under a microscope. Then to Hoover’s 1963. £10 a week and a weekly, monthly and Xmas bonus. Then equality became an issue. Member of union and shop steward. Working on new disposal bags. Once Equal Pay Act ,1970 passed – men became bitter. They knew Ford’s women (Dagenham) had had equal pay. Women contacted Ann Clwyd for advice. They went to management but convenor said they weren’t doing the same work as men. Men went on strike but had to give in, but animosity for years. Not fighting firm but the union. Describes changes in machines. C. 7000 employees in three MT factories. Hoover’s recognised 5,10,15,20 and 25 years service- necklaces. Good staff discounts. Years of wear and tear on body. Noisy and compensation. Section dos, but things changed as other companies took over. Left in 1992 after 29 years.VSW028 Patricia Lewis, Morris Motors (British Leyland), Llanelli
Patricia left school at 15 (1956), and worked in shops, then married and had children before starting in British Leyland (1968). She had 14/6 for making 100 silencers a day. It was dangerous work – her gun exploded and she fainted. She also welded seats. Her parents helped with child-care. Then she was sent to the Dafen factory to make car radiators. She injured her back and had to leave. Her fellow workers didn’t do their share of the work. Wearing gloves and paying for them. The company gave them aprons and spats for their feet. It was very noisy – some had compensation for this. The salary went up but she had to make 480 silencers a day. Some poor supervisors. When they had reached their target they went to the cloakroom – fortune telling, parties, hair-dressing. Discount (c.£2000) for a new car. Unionism had gone overboard – too many strikes. You could buy anything in the factory – they had sidelines. The bad language there was an education. Nurse and Pat had a metal rod in her breast. Unfair distribution of work. Excellent social nights in the club. She left in 1984. She feels pride that she produced work of a high standard there.VN029 Gaynor Hughes, Courtaulds, Flint
Gaynor worked at Courtaulds for 4 years, the whole time on the coning. She did have an interview but she can't remember it and neither can she remember her first day, though the factory was much bigger than the paper mill where she'd been working previously, straight from school. At Courtaulds, there were three factories - Deeside, Castle and Aber; Aber was the nicest one and she was in that one. Gaynor hadn't done that sort of work before so she had a couple of days training when she started. She picked it up very quickly and loved it there, because it was something she'd achieved, keeping her 'ends' up and the cones going. They had a machine each and she worked in a team with two others who were older than she was and had started before her. Gaynor started on 'normal' coning machines and because she was fast they put her on the wool. She left at 20 and got married soon after. She returned to factory work later on, for a few years, but not to Courtaulds. In 1970, her photograph was used in the office Courtaulds magazine.VSE029 Patricia Howard, Harwin's Electronics Factory, Treorchy;Ray-O-Vac battery factory, Treorchy;Winchester Sausage Factory, Treorchy;Sobells, Aberdare;EMI, Treorchy;Polikoff's, Treorchy
Patricia’s father worked as collier for 51 years. She left school at 15 (1958) and started in Polikoff’s but hated sewing. After a week (went back there later) moved to Sobell’s. ‘Your life is ruled by a bell.’ Making televisions- putting glass fibre on sleeving, then soldering. Found canteen forbidding. Smoking at workplace. Factory work calls for self-discipline. Women did conveyor belt work. Stayed 2 years, and then to EMI – working with a needle and gold wire. No conveyor belt. Strike because of cold. Bonus because of the Beatles. Made different parts of record players. Night out in Shack, live music. After this she and her sister went away to Winchester. Returned fairly quickly to Ray-o-vacs. Dirty because of carbon. Making batteries. Then pregnant and returned after 2 years to EMI (same firm) She was 21 now. She lived on pocket money until 29. She stayed 9 years in EMI. Suspended because of Xmas revelry but factory went on strike. Then reinstated. EMI social club. Good-natured teasing. Later she worked for Harwin’s for 11 years, Made redundant at 53 (1996). Harwin’s made intricate components – again soldering. No union but well-treated. Still working in caring at 71 years old. She played for EMI football team against Polikoff’s – for Cambrian disaster fund (1965). They won – ructions.VSW029 Anonymous, Revlon 'powder puff' factory, Pontardawe;Belt making factory, Ynysmeudwy
The speaker had to leave school because her father wasn’t well and go to work in the belt factory. Within a year she was a supervisor. She could bring work home to earn extra money. She doesn’t feel they were well treated – they had to work hard. The smell of glue was very strong. The factory closed after 2½ years and she moved to Revlon, where she worked for further 2½ years. She left when she became pregnant..VN030 Iorwerth Davies, Cookes Explosives, Penrhyndeudraeth
Iorwerth worked at Cookes Explosives Ltd for 46 years, starting at the age of 14. He didn't have an interview, just went down to ask for a job. At that time, the new Labour Party had come to power and they established a rule that young workers finish their work half an hour before the older workers, so Iorwerth could leave work at 4:30. There was quite a lot of young workers in Cookes as many people went there after finishing at the village school. The boys had to be 16 and the girls 18 before they could work with explosives. Iorwerth did a number of jobs in Cookes during the years he was there, starting with bags - 'paper shells - into which the explosives went. The bags then went to the girls in the packing to be filled with explosives. After reaching 16, he was working in the huts with other women and men, not with explosive itself but with bags. Men went round to every house with bags and collected them after they were filled. He moved to other jobs in the factory and ended up as transport manager, monitoring the transport of explosives to mines all over the country and often having to defuse them when they'd become unsafe. He married one of the girls in the 'cwts,' Mary.VSE030 Maureen Williams, Kayser Bondor, Merthyr
Maureen left the grammar school at 15 (1950) to go to the technical school, then she worked in a coal merchant’s and gained wide experience. She moved to Kayser Bondor wages department. She trained as a comptometer operator. Paying girls on piecework. Details kept on cards. C.1,000 employees and she was responsible for 200 records per week. Using the Kalamazoo System. She worked there for 9 years and transferred to the accounts dept, then became a supervisor. Production was moved to Dowlais – worked for 1 year there, then pregnant. Staff wages kept a secret. Employees bought Not Quite Perfect and spoilage items from factory shop. Fantastic lingerie made here. She also kept the shop accounts. Tickets collected from girls on factory floor – personal record card. Sewing black garments priced at a premium. Clerk got bonus from union for deducting union fees. Canteen and toilets separate for supervisors. Payday Friday – working late Thursdays. Inter-factory dances. She worked for a month at Hoover’s – much stricter in the wages section. Nine years later she went to TBS c.1969 no calculators there! She spent 25 years there. She did costings, wages and accounts.VSW030 Anonymous, Berleis, Pontardawe;Anglo-Celtic Watch Co. (inc. Smith's Industries and Ingersoll aka 'Tick Tock'), Ystradgynlais;Economics, Pontardawe
The speaker describes her upbringing. She left school to work in Woolworths’ before moving to the Tick Tock factory (c.1958), where she earned ‘a lot of money’. She left when she became pregnant (c.1965). When the children were small she started at the Economics making drums for the Mond Works (c.1970-1). This was dirty work in noisy, poor conditions. She moved to Berlei’s to work in the canteen (c. 1971-81) and became the manageress. She describes buying bras for sixpence, timing toilet breaks, ‘top payers’, unionism, music, a trip with the Merthyr factory on the train to London. When the factory closed she went back to Tick Tock (Rover works) (1983-99). She became a supervisor and got her cap and gown for business management.VN031 Eddie and Sharon Parry, Courtaulds, Flint
Like a lot of factories, Courtaulds had a women's football team. This photo is from around 1969 and was donated by Eddi Parry, whose wife Sharon worked in the factory, though she isn't in the photo.VSE031 Maureen Howard Boiarde, Polikoff's, Treorchy;Sobell's TV and Radio, Rhigos'
Maureen left school at 15 (1962) and started at Polikoff’s. Story about her mother on her first day – she would be out of the house if she lost the job. Noise - gigantic irons and presses. It was magical. Men’s section seemed drab. Precise cutting of c. 2 feet of cloth at the same time. Sexism – women doing the monotonous work. She became a floater- higher wages but couldn’t earn bonuses. Cost of scissors taken out of wages. Handing over whole wage, just board and lodging. Finished in Polikoff’s on hand sewing. Overtime. Men earned more – always. Lot of sexual bantering – men pinched bottoms but women paid them back. ‘Bull week’ – Xmas and before annual holiday –earning extra bonuses. Could make a dress for 30p. Needle through finger many times – rite of passage. Kept pad near machine to mop up. Did sew army clothes too. Engraved name on factory scissors. Listen to radio three times a week. Had to leave to go to London with mother – c.1963. Returned soon to Sobell’s – worked here for 1 year. Aberdare people were strangers to them. Workers in Polikoff organised lots of social events. Women’s football team played EMI. Factory taught her independence and gave her stamina.Part of this interview is available as an audio file