You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles
YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.
Now they call them supervisors.<br />
I worked fi ve days a week and<br />
Saturday mornings. We did 48 hours a<br />
week which later reduced to 40.<br />
How did your fi rst promotion<br />
come about?<br />
The offi ce girls used to come and talk to<br />
me and one day they asked me to come<br />
over to the offi ce to check the sugar<br />
weight sheets.<br />
One day I went to my friend’s<br />
granddad’s birthday party and drank<br />
port and lemon all night. When I came<br />
home, I was sick in the night – I’ve<br />
never had a day off work but I felt so ill<br />
I couldn’t go in. My friend that worked<br />
in the offi ce came to see what was the<br />
> WORKING LIVES<br />
matter with me, and of course I told her.<br />
The next day they took me out of the<br />
offi ce and put me back on the machines.<br />
Despite this, I later ended up as a forelady<br />
and was in charge of 200 people.<br />
How did you get involved with the book?<br />
I had a visit from a young lady. She went<br />
to the school where my daughter-in-law<br />
works to ask if they knew anyone that<br />
used to work at Tate & Lyle and she sent<br />
her round to me.<br />
Do you miss working?<br />
No. When I retired someone said I’d<br />
probably get a part-time job somewhere,<br />
but I never did. I feel sorry for the people<br />
today, the young ones. Some people<br />
say they’re lazy but all the factories are<br />
shutting. In my day you could come out of<br />
one factory and go and get another job in<br />
the next one. You can’t do that today. So<br />
it’s not their fault really.<br />
Ethel’s story features in The<br />
Sugar Girls: Tales of Hardship,<br />
Hunger and Happiness in Tate &<br />
Lyle’s East End, out at the end<br />
of March. Canning Town’s the<br />
hub, 123 Star Lane, is hosting a<br />
launch event on Wednesday 28<br />
March, from 11am-1pm. Come<br />
along to fi nd out more about the<br />
history of women at Tate & Lyle,<br />
see old pictures, meet former<br />
‘sugar girls’ who featured in the<br />
book and enjoy free tea, coffee<br />
and cake.<br />
Current workers at Tate<br />
& Lyle may face redundancy<br />
or have their working days<br />
cut because of higher import<br />
tariffs on raw sugar cane<br />
being introduced by the<br />
European Commission. Voice<br />
your concerns about this<br />
change which will affect<br />
850 workers by emailing<br />
the European commissioner<br />
Dacian Ciolas on dacian.<br />
ciolas@ec.europa.eu<br />
23
Change language