Interview. Margaret Jones, Voices from the Factory Floor

Description

Margaret's first job was in the kitchen in the school canteen, washing up and helping with the dinners, for which she thinks she earned the equivalent of 50p. She was there for about two years. She went to the toy factory in 1948 after going down to the factory in person to ask for job. She must have had an interview but can't remember. She was happy to have a job because you had to have a job in those days, she said. She thinks she worked from 8am to 5pm, but didn't have to work weekends. They had breaks but there was no canteen. The workers went to MacLean's Cafe in a street nearby where they bought their teas and coffees and something to eat. She worked in the toy factory for ten years between 1948-1958. She says it was a friendly place to work and she built the dolls houses the whole time she was there. There was no messing about, you had to concentrate on the job, she said. The owner, Mr Bacon, was always there, in and out of the office. In the end, she left for a job that offered better wages.

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