Generations: celebrating 50 years of Caribbean recruitment

Caribbean women at London Transport
Merna Miller being crowned canteen queen, 1971
LTM 1998/18599
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From the beginning of the
direct recruitment scheme, a
small number of the recruits
to the operating grades were
women, coming to work as
bus conductors, station
women and canteen staff.
At first it was LT policy to
recruit single people. In reality
many unmarried couples and
single parents left children
behind to be looked after by
relatives until they could bring
them over to England. So
families were split in the
search for a new life. Others
brought children with them
and tried to manage families
and shift work.
In 1968, London Transport
estimated that they had
about 9,000 black staff
employed in a workforce of
73,000. This included around
2,000 in departments such
as catering, many of whom
were women. As in the capital
as a whole, West Indian
foods and flavours were
gradually introduced into
the canteen menus.
Nona Roberts, bus conductor, 1979
‘When I started, we were doing 44 hours.
Starting at 6.30am till 3.30pm. We worked
on a rota basis. I got on with customers;
sometimes people would complain
about the portions. Most staff in the
canteen were from Jamaica and Barbados
and people from the different islands
used to mix. It was hard work. They had
beauty contests, and things like that used
to help. The first canteen queen was from
our canteen.’
– Sybil Campbell, came independently from Jamaica, worked as a canteen
assistant, 1961
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