Back in time for the factory

[Graphista]

Anyone watching? I love social history programmes like this. I've done a couple of the jobs being looked at but in the 80's not 60's, mum did one in the 60's.

Interesting to see how hard they're finding it, but these are new skills and tools to them. Although as someone who's done a LOT of typing regardless of what my job title at the time was, I do find it shocking that current youngsters are so slow and inaccurate on this.

The accuracy I can kind of understand as its so easy to correct but the speed should be faster if anything.

Back in Time for the Factory is the best thing I’ve seen in ages. Just watched episodes 1 and 2 on catch up.

They have very cleverly referenced the Ford equal pay dispute to highlight some relatively recent social changes. I love Emma and her daughters, Leah and Mary Jane. I wish I worked with them!

Re - Their accents.. I think the new supervisor is from Cardiff, and the other girls are from further up towards the valleys - Hence totally different accents.

Ah ok thanks. I was puzzled as still a strong welsh accent just not quite the same as the others.

I've just found this thread. We have been watching and loving this as OH and I were 'in the job' so to speak.

I was 18 in 1983 and working in a factory which made military uniforms. So post Falklands we had masses of work so the downturn for our factory hadn't happened yet. There were over 500, mostly women working there. It was hard work but a fab enviroment, our equipment was the latest there was and well looked after. We still had a canteen that served breakfast and a full on meal at lunch. Quite a few women who lived alone relied on the lunch as their proper meal.

Whenever it was someones birthday you would always get masses of cards and babies, weddings etc were always celebrated. There were always lots of girls to go out with on the town. I left in 1984 as I got married and moved away. The factory shut down a few years later and is now flats

At the same time OH was a mechanic in a factory in the North East that employed over 3000 women, and it was just one of many similar sized factories.

The end of the 80's seemed to be the death knell for these places. OH moved down south in 1988 as work had become so scarce back home.

I once read a figure of 80,000 jobs (mainly women) were lost in the clothing manufacturing trade in 1988/9. This just passed most people by as, just like the people shown on BITFTF, the average person just wanted cheaper clothing and didnt actually care about all the job losses. There certainly wasn't the spotlight on these job loses as say the steel or mining industry

Just watched the 2nd ep.

that the young lad's basic pay was ore for the same job!

Also that the apprentice cutter got more for using a pair of scissors!!

I wonder if machining was thought of as unskilled as many/most of the girls learned it at school?

I think it would have been assumed that sewing was something women could just do automatically rather than the skill it really was.

Just for anyone who's been watching who may have mistakenly thought last weeks was last episode, final episode tonight with the original factory girls.

Wow! Anyone who hasn't seen this I heartily recommend.

Forgotten pioneers indeed

I have only watched tonight’s episode but I hated the narrative that this is “history” and all in the past. Women talking about having to work and do the majority of the household tasks too!! Or that pay inequality was somehow solved by the Equal Pay Act! I’m not taking away for one minute the respect that’s owed to the women who fought for these rights but for the BBC to punt these as historical issues is infuriating

They clearly made the point that pay inequality was not ended by the Equal Pay Act as employers found a way round it.

footballmum I think that would make more sense if you see the rest of the episodes, I thought they raised the working (and pay) conditions of the times the episodes were set in (60's/70's/80's) really well and the younger women realised what their parents and grandparents had been through.

I missed it tonight, will have to catch up as it has been a great series.

I disagree I don't think at any point they said the issues no longer existed, but rightly acknowledged that things are better now than they were then.

I remember whem i quslified as a nurse around 20 years ago , the Health care assistants were paid a bad wage at the time and the unions were striking for better deals , one of the health care asdostants(a women ) said how were men supposed to manage on those wages , so there were still attitudes in the 1990,s that men should get paid more just becausr they were men and presumably the "main wage earner"

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