Barnett, Tony
2013 "Barnett, Tony", 2013, HistoryTalk Tony started his working at the age of fifteen at the Mobil Oil Company in their laboratories in Wandsworth working as a chemist, earning £2. 10s per week. He initially also attended night school at Harrow Technical College for five evenings a wee...
| 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/EA7979AE-2B06-4794-A903-74176624F5F6 http://hdl.handle.net/10796/873AA87F-A4B4-4AF9-A541-B1C619386712 |
| Summary: | 2013
"Barnett, Tony", 2013, HistoryTalk
Tony started his working at the age of fifteen at the Mobil Oil Company in their laboratories in Wandsworth working as a chemist, earning £2. 10s per week. He initially also attended night school at Harrow Technical College for five evenings a week to get O levels. He then worked for Kodak film processing in Harrow. After about nine months at Mobil he attended college full- time and obtained three A levels. In 1956 at 19 years old he did National Service in the navy, repairing radar sets. Describes doing work in this factory, starting at Hornchurch in Essex which selected officer material and then Stoke Heath. After National Service he went to Battersea Polytechnic in 1959 and then returned to work at Kodak doing research for 33 years until 1993. Here he was initially a laboratory assistant and then a technician. He describes his work and the bonus system and how Kodak gave him the money to obtain a mortgage. He moved up to the post of senior scientist and describes married life and having childre.He travelled to USA as a scientific manager and project management and discusses American style of management and production and staff facilities. Notes there were some 13,000 people working for Kodak with 3 and a half thousand at his site but later much reduced and mentions composition of the workforce.
Tony was a member of ASTMS (Association of Scientific & Technical Managers) and describes the single union agreement at Kodak for his grades. Notes this was not a closed shop. Describes how Kodak agreed to union representation after the 1974 Act and strike action which was won by the union. He became branch secretary and union representative for his members and describes his role and some key issues in 1980s.
In his clip Tony talks about how Kodak gave him a mortgage and how he paid it off in three years.
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 |