In the 1970’s, unions demanded an increase of 15-20% in salaries and in 1974 the salaries went up from £20-25 to £70-75. In 1979, Thatcher got rid of the unions. She said higher salaries were causing inflation and that the maximum wage increase could be 5%.
Being the First Non-White Employee at John Smith Cranes
Abdul Aziz | Transcript
I got a job as a central lathe turner for one year. Then I tried another factory with a good job, you know. That was funny. When I went there, the foreman came along, and he just ignored me totally. Then he asked the receptionist, ‘Where’s the person who is a central lathe turner?’ She said, ‘He’s there.’ And he looked at me and said, ‘Are you a centre lathe turner?’ I said, ‘Yeah.’ He said, ‘I never thought any Pakistani do that job.’ I said, ‘Probably they don’t. I love this job.’ And he said, ‘Old factory…’ It was John Smith Crane, you know, in Keighley. They used to make a crane on there. He said, ‘He started 1870,’ and 1970… it was 1970 when I went to try the job. ‘There was no Asians, no black person ever employed in our firm. You are the first one on here.’ And then he said, ‘You got a job, but you have to be unionised. You have to be a union member to… It’s an inclusive factory, if you’re not a union member, you can’t work.’ So I said, ‘All right, I will be a union member.’ So I worked there 25, 26 years.
We would pray in the mill. When they start, we take the mat, and this manager would take the mat off us, ‘No, you can’t pray here’. I said ‘Look, I’m Muslim. My machine is running. Foreman’s watching me, they have no complaints, what’s the problem with you?’ But they don’t like him. So at the end of the day he’s causing trouble, and a big strike for all night shifts. Lasted weeks. ‘Prayer time. It takes only 5, 10 minutes. But somebody’s watching my machine, I pray, then he goes to pray, I’m watching the machine. What’s wrong with that?’ So it’s a decent complaint, you see. So at the end of the day, directors and owners, they said, ‘Ok.’ They said, ‘We don’t need this manager here.’ So they changed him. He was fired.
Alerting the Labour Party About Discrimination Against Bangladeshi Workers in 1971
Allan Brack | Transcript
So I joined the Labour Party and, at that time, the Pakistan/Bangladesh war was happening. And Manningham Ward had a lot of Bangladeshi members. And all from… lots of them from down that Cornwall Road area. And they all worked in the mills. It was pre their families coming. And I got to know a lot of them and met some interesting people. And found out about, you know, the kind of things that people had to do to get jobs in the mills that, you know, if somebody came from Bangladesh or Pakistan, they would actually have to pay to get the job. And they’d have to give the foreman a bottle of whisky and things like that, you know what I mean? So they’d have to borrow to get the job and promise to do more shifts, and things like that. They were celebrating things like Eid in their tea breaks, you know. I mean, you can imagine being in a mill where you’re fasting… and you’re praying in your tea break and it’s sweltering hot. You know, what that must have been like. So I went to the Labour Party Young Socialist conference that year, in 1971, at Skegness. And I stood up and gave this speech about, you know, the Pakistani and Bangladeshis I’d met who’d had to pay to get their jobs. And also, I’d met…and I can’t remember his name, but the most lovely Bangladeshi guy who lived on Oxton Street in Girlington (made a superb fish curry!) But he’d caught his hand in a carding machine. And it was all mangled, a real mess. And he didn’t get any compensation. They said it was his negligence, you know. I also remember, incidentally, about 1968… somewhere between ‘66 and ’68, passing Daniel Illingworth’s mill on Thornton Road. And on the gate where there was the vacancies board, was a notice there saying, ‘No blacks, no Irish need apply.’
Harassment
A mill is a community of many different people, and respect and understanding is necessary for it to function properly. Harassment can take many forms – from unwanted sexual approaches to unfair treatment and intimidation. Some of the people we interviewed talked about unpleasant and sometimes damaging experiences that had left a mark on their memories of working in the mills. Actions that were sometimes ignored, belittled or made fun of by others would be considered grossly inappropriate today.
Photograph: Richard Smith | Women Packing at E&S Smiths
Lifelong Injury from Mill Machinery
My hand got chopped in the machine. I think I was about week or two to hospital. I was off work for about two years. I was doing my job. The operator was on the machine. He knew I was working over there, he told me, ‘What’s wrong with the machine?’ Then, I don’t know how, I was cutting a lap on the roller. Then suddenly the machine start rolling. And I got trapped in… and that person stopped the machine. I got the solicitor. They fought my case on that time. The mill offered some money, but not a lot. About £1500, on that time. In 1963.
Photograph: Jarnail Ram | Medical Board Report following lifelong mill injury in 1962.
Accident in the Mill Lift
Gerald McCauley | Transcript
One incident, we had a lift that used to lift yarn up from one floor to the next. And it was like a lift, but it wasn’t a shop lift or anything like that. Just a platform going up in a caged area. And one day we were putting something…they’d get big sacks of yarn, about so tall, you know. Full of bobbins. And you’d stack them in and lift them up onto the next floor. But this particular time, this lift was going up and it got stuck at the top because a bag had keeled over and jammed. And the lift couldn’t go any further. So, one of the chaps at the top end, on the top floor opened the door. Which he shouldn’t have done. But he opened the door and started to try and release it. But prior to him…they tried to take the lift back down again. The lift… the cables came slack, but the lift didn’t move. So, this guy opened the door at the top, and he pushed his wheels. And the whole lot went down. Head first down the shaft. Down 30 feet, you know. He went down. But I thought, ’Oh, God Almighty, there’s going to be hell to pay over this.’ But he got himself up. Guy got himself up. He was an Asian lad, you know. And he was a big lad, you know. He got himself up, and he put his coat on, and he went home. I thought, ‘My God. ‘And lo and behold, he rolled up the following morning, and got to work, and you never heard another word said about it. And I thought, ‘If that happened now, today, oh my God, you’d be hung, drawn and quartered.’
Cardigan Caught in Machine
Shantaben Mistry | Transcript
It was dangerous because one day my cardigan wasn’t buttoned up and it went in, in that machine they used to roll. Not the cap spinning, the machine that goes on and on and it went in. It was so hard to come out because it went inside. Yeah it pulled inside and because it is so much noise no one can hear you, nobody could hear you die. They all did their job, they were looking into there and I was scared. My sweater’s in when it happened but then I pulled it hard and then God helped me it came out or if it rolled double I would have [been] pulled in and maybe they damaged my face or something because it pulls in and in. And my cardigan wasn’t buttoned up so it went straight away in, and rolled. I had to pull because I knew there wasn’t going to be any help.
Weaver Injured from a Shuttle
Trevor Keighley | Transcript
One of the dangers of working with the looms was the shuttles, when the shuttles are going across, across the loom. And if something went wrong with the loom, the shuttles would fly out. And quite often, they flew out the shuttles. And I always remember once, the shuttle flying out, hitting one of the weavers, who collapsed, and her arm went down into the loom, which crushed her arm.
Life in the textile mills was sometimes harsh, with long hours, repetitive tasks and exposure to dust and noise. Although working conditions had improved significantly since Victorian times, unfair dismissals, workplace harassment, accidents and health problems were still happening.
Between 1970 and 2000 the textile industry in Bradford declined sharply and many mills closed, with redundancies, job cuts and sometimes wage reductions. Resistance to these and other concerns could be fierce, with protests and campaigns to improve pay, tackle racism, ensure fairer deals for women and protect working conditions – issues that are still important today.
Discrimination
Working life in the mills was not always equal and discrimination could take many forms. 50 years ago, women would only be considered for junior clerical jobs or menial work. The managers and foremen were almost always men and almost always white.
Many people from Pakistan, Bangladesh, India and eastern Europe came to Bradford to work in the mills and start a new life. Although they were often valued, sometimes they were met with hostility and prejudice which had to be confronted.
Photograph: Arshad Mahmood | Arshad, former Spinner, Doffer and Drawer at John Fosters (1979-92)
The court case brought by the Transport and General Workers Union against the owners of John Haggas mill became a national issue. The Asian workers’ claim that John Haggas was illegally paying them less than white workers was upheld by a tribunal and they were awarded compensation. See the Look North video below.
Photograph: Val Rowlands | T&A Article from 29th May 1993
Experiencing Sexism in C.H Fletcher’s as a Designer in 1980s
Kate Rawnsley | Transcript
There was a wonderfully, gorgeously posh girl. For the sake of this recording, we’ll call her Linda. And then there was my colleague, John. Linda dressed immaculately. She had beautiful little mini skirts, gorgeous legs, high heels. Her hair was coiffured, and she had a big tin box on her desk which was full of makeup, and a mirror. And any time she knew that somebody was coming to the office, this tin box would get opened and a mirror was there, and off she was, plastering her face doing all this. It was hysterical. John and myself used to just kill ourselves laughing. But my boss, and possibly a lot of the men there, thought she was the most divine woman ever. Now, at that time… well, I still am a bit out there… I used to wear the craziest clothes ever. It was New Romantics, it was the ‘80s. My boss used to say, ‘Why can’t you be more like Linda? She’s beautiful. Look at those gorgeous legs. Look at you, wearing your wild and weird clothes, in your orange boiler suits.’ And I used to say ‘Because I don’t want to be like that! I want to wear shoes that feel comfortable, and I like what I wear.’ ‘Well, you don’t look feminine.’ And when I asked for a wage rise once he said, ‘This to you should be pin money. You should be married with children.’ I said ‘Well, I don’t want to get married and have children. I just want to be myself. I’m only in my early 20s.’ ‘No, you should learn to be more ladylike.’ Oh, it is… Misogyny was just absolutely horrendous. And it got worse, and the more he hit at me, the more that I got really, really angry with him.
Maternity Leave at Coney Lane Mills in 1986
Christine Davenport | Transcript
I remember the overlooker, because I wouldn’t take maternity leave. Maternity was different then as well. And so, every now and then he used to throw a ball of wool into the machine as he was walking past. And I used to run like hell to turn that machine button off. The emergency stop off. If I couldn’t have done it…
LMI: It would turn the machine off.
CD: Yeah, because it would get caught round the mandarins, which would then slacken, and they can break the next one on. Now of course, it did used to catch, but I used to get to the stop button before he did. And what it was is, if I couldn’t have done that, I would have been made to go on maternity. And that’s what he did it for. He was testing my reflexes. And it was quite funny because when we were going… We broke up for the Wakes Week fortnight and us overlooker turned round and he says, ‘Oh’ he says, ‘I’ll see you when you’ve had the baby.’ I said, ‘No you won’t. You’ll see me after holiday.’ Lo and behold, the weekend after the holiday, I was missing, because he were born eight weeks early. And then weekend afterwards, I went back in in my normal jeans. And I’m back on the machine with my sister-in-law. And he walks through, stopped, walked back again, looked at me. Baby’s in special care and I’m back to work. He was probably about two weeks old. So I was the breadwinner, you know, I had a mortgage to pay. So I went back to work straight away.
Bullied by Women at Bulmer and Lumb
Lawrence Meer | Transcript
I was very young, so they [the women] sort of bullied you. They’d send you off on fool’s errands and mess you around. They used to ask me to make the wool a bit heavier and say, you know, that they’d doffed 400 bobbins, not 380, because it was more money for them. And I used to sort of… when I had my pen, because they all wore little pinnies, short sleeve pinnies and stuff, and I’d be stood at the side of them, and maybe I’d have my pen to write their weights down, and when they said, ‘Oh put me down for more.’ Which I couldn’t, I couldn’t do that, it was re-weighed by someone else. I used to write on, you know, just do that on their arm with the pen, just, you know. Anyway, one lunchtime, I remember, I’m sat at the side of a machine, all the machines were off at lunchtime, but no one went home for lunch, they just sat there eating their sandwiches. And suddenly these four women came up, got me in a corner, stripped me naked, absolutely naked, Alan, I kid you not. And they… I won’t say where the pens went, but I was well written on, absolutely well written on. I was locked in a skep. They put the lid down on these big basket skeps. And I was in there for an hour. Naked. Written on…you know, whatever they’d written – silly things – naughts and crosses…where the naughts went it’s not mentionable! They were a force to be reckoned with.
AD: You must’ve been terrified!
LM: I was terrified! Absolutely. I was scared of the women. I never used to walk down the sides of the machines when they called me.
Health and Injury
Some of the people we interviewed told us about difficult working conditions in the mill. A textile mill can be a noisy, dusty place full of dangerous machinery. Heavy bales and skeps are moved around, pulleys, chains, cables and hot pipes are a hazard, looms and spinning machines have many moving parts. Sometimes things would go wrong – an item of clothing caught, a weight dropped onto a foot, a trip or or a fall could change a person’s life. Working in a noisy environment for years could permanently damage ears and lungs.
Photograph: Tim Smith | Signage and calendar in Drummonds Mill, 1991.
The Health and Safety at Work Act of 1974 ensured that employers were legally required to run their factories safely. Employers had to invest in safety equipment and work with the workforce to ensure conditions became standard, contributing to fewer accidents and a better working environment.
Slip Hazards on Mill Floor
Richard Freeman | Transcript
The rooms where the machines were, were gigantic. It was like being in an airport, you couldn’t see from one end to the other. The problem was that the floors of the mills in… 60 years ago when I worked there, were flags. They weren’t wood. And unfortunately the machines used to be oiled. And that oil got onto the flags. And it was quite dangerous because you slipped.
Leg Injury at Moorside Mill
Paul Meer | Transcript
Yes, I got injured working at the mill. There were these big bins, as large as this room, if not larger. And they used to fill them with wool. But at the back of those bins was [a] corridor with a stop button and a start button at each end. So there was literally two walls at the side of you. It was a steel frame and then the wood frame on top. And that used to carry the bales from one yard into another. So they’d drop down a chute so they could be stored down there. And what happened, some workmen had been in and taken some wooden lats off. On some occasions, the bales would get twisted. So we’d have to jump on there and run up the corridor and straighten the bales with hand hooks. And what happens when you straighten a bale with a hand hook, it literally pushes you back. And my leg went in between the wood that was moving, and the frame. So I was trapped halfway through, in this mill. And no way to get out. And I was being pulled into the machine. So just out of sheer fear, I think, I pulled my leg out and it broke all the bones in the bottom of my leg and twisted my ankle bones round. And I was carried out and taken to hospital on a chair. And had a plate put in my leg.
Things to do...
Bradford’s textile industry played a huge part in human rights and equality movements in the late 20th century. Laws created to improve safety, embrace diversity, and treat people fairly, are just as important today. Take a look at these additional activities to focus more on these issues:
What to do next...
The success of the John Haggas Racial Discrimination case in the mid 1990s was a huge milestone for British Asian workers. Find the full interview with Bashir Ahmed, Mohammed Khan, Mohammed Rasab and Val Rowlands on our archive to learn more on the complexities of this social rights case.
What to do next...
As you’ve seen from the stories on this page, the mills could be dangerous places to work! Click here to use this printout, label potential injuries and list ideas on how to keep people safe whilst making textiles.
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