Fabian, Gary
2013 "Fabian, Gary", 2013, HistoryTalk Gary left school at 15, he was a metal worker in a factory at Park Ward, manufacturing cars including the Alvis, Rolls Royce and Daimler. He became aware at a young age of disparities in salary and working conditions, between office workers and facto...
| Institution: | TUC - Trade Union Congress Library |
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| Language: | English |
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London
2013
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| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/10796/31129BC4-EE15-42D1-965F-BDD77954363D http://hdl.handle.net/10796/4F85F440-2C48-433F-BD6C-0652F699A928 |
| Summary: | 2013
"Fabian, Gary", 2013, HistoryTalk
Gary left school at 15, he was a metal worker in a factory at Park Ward, manufacturing cars including the Alvis, Rolls Royce and Daimler. He became aware at a young age of disparities in salary and working conditions, between office workers and factory floor workers and between the cream, the tool makers and panel beaters, and those below, the sheet metal workers and body makers. Trained as an apprentice. Describes chasing the rate.
Gary was a member and then a steward of T&G. Describes how rates and times were fixed by foremen and price fixers and how the union argued for and got a pricing committee to replace the old system to negotiate. Also describes the disputes and their importance, some prevented redundancies. One lasted 17 weeks in 1977 and increased pay and also led to holiday pay.
Talks about the issue of race and sexism at the factory and the initial difficulty in recruiting and maintaining black and female staff due to resistance from workers and management, but how this changed over time.
Talks about the Grunwick dispute that took place at a nearby factory and the support from Gary and his union for the strikers, including picketing, rallying and donations. The factory processed film and the workforce, mainly Asian women, worked under poor pay and working conditions.
In his clip Gary talks about the wage claim and improvements for holiday and sick pay that led to industrial action in 1977 and a successful outcome, with details about picketing and getting press coverage. Gary argues that it was this 17/19 week strike that demonstrated that workforces could sustain industrial action in order to get their demands met.
Click on the pdf icon to read the entire transcript or click on the mp3 icon to hear a clip of the interview. |
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| Physical Description: | Photograph TEXT |