Leicester: More than pin money at stake

Press, 28 August 1980, Page 16

Leicester: More than pin money at stake

By

LISA WOOD

in the “Financial Times,” London.

"A family simply cannot live on a man’s wages anymore,” said Mrs Bridget Marlow, a Leicester hosiery worker, at present employed by a company in the hands of the Receiver.

Mrs Marlow, in her early thirties, and with two young children, insists that her wages an? now an- integral part of the family’s budget. Any suggestion that her earnings are for‘‘Rih money” receives a sharp retort. But she, like hundreds of other women in Leicester’s hosiery and knitwear industry whose income has helped support commitments such as hire purchase agreements and mortgages, faces redundancy. Her employer, Admiral Knitwear, has gone into voluntary liquidation. For among the industries in Leicester worst affected by the. present economic climate is the hosiery industry. For some years the industry has been struggling to improve its productivity and

competitiveness, and until recent times has managed to weather temporary downturns in trade. Now, a combination of adverse factors, including the strong pound, high interest rates, low cost imports and a fall in consumer demand, has resulted in manufacturers putting thousands of workers on shorttime and, in many cases, closing down factories.

Workers have been stunned by decisions such as that taken by Harold Ingram, the Leicester knitwear manufacturer, to close two factories in the city and to start directly importing products from Hong Kong with the aim of eventually starting its .own production there. “Even if we worked for nothing we could not compete against imports from Hong Kong and Taiwan,” Mrs Marlow said, echoing the prevailing disbelief in a region

that has yet quite to get used to the changed climate. Mrs Marlow’s wage, for part-time work, has averaged about £4O ($95) a week. It is she’ says, vital for her family which needs “about £lOO ($240) a week to keep going.” Her . husband, in the printing industry, earns about £BO ($190) a week. Mr Marlow’s job — although not immediately threatened — is insecure in that the printing industry is making substantial numbers of workers redundant. “I’ll do anything,” Mrs Marlow said. “I trained as a nursery nurse, but there is no chance of a job there as the council is busy closing nurseries down.”

Mrs Marlow added: “Married women cannot move away from their homes to find new jobs and leave their families behind. Besides, if you cannot find a job in Leicester you won’t find one anywhere else.” Leicester still has an unemployment

rate below the national average. . Official figures claim 1900 redundancies in Leicester’s hosiery industry over the past six months. The Hosiery Manufacturers’ Association believes the real number could be at least 50 per cent higher because some redundancies are . not notified — when fewer than 10 are involved — and some workers are not . entitled to redundancy payments. Hundreds more, including those on Government-sponsored temporary working schemes, fear for their jobs. Of the 5000-odd women registering as unemployed, 1425 are hosiery workers. In the past the city’s Job Centre received few inquiries from women seeking jobs in the industry. In a full labour market, with manufacturers keen to offer part-time or full-time work, with a further option .of outwork which attracted women confined to the home, workers preferred to seek their own jobs. Now with jobs and money in

scarcer supply women are 'signing on for work. However, many want parttime work but they are forced to sign on for full-time employment as Employment Exchanges stipulate that the benefit cannot be claimed unless the claimant registers for full-time w.ork. One married hosiery worker said: “Mrs Thatcher has been asking workers to cut their hours so as to give others, particularly' school leavers, work experience. But we are being told that we either work full-time or we don’t get the dole.” Although often highly trained, women hosiery workers claim they face the stigma of being “unskilled factory workers” when seeking other jobs.

Mrs Pam Colver, who was made redundant from the same company, said: “All the time I am unemployed I am losing my skills and speed. That means I will lose money if I get another job in the industry if the work is on piece rates.”'

Few. appreciate the speed at which such women, usually paid on piece rates, work. A sewing machinist, or .overlocker, can take up to two years to reach a speed which entitles her to maximum rates of pay. Rates are negotiated in pence, not pounds. Overlocking cardigans, for example, could be paid at a rate of 80p ($1.90) a dozen.

At local level, hosiery workers have already accepted lower pay settlements and in some cases cuts in their rates.

The acceptance of a lower wage by these women is exceptional. But even this action has failed to save jobs and women are dismayed to find that redundancy payments are being assessed on these’ rates as well as reduced earnings during shorttime working. For the first time in their working lives, after slipping in and out of employment with the industry, many hosiery workers are expressing fears for its survival.