RPM
I joined the work-force at Radcliffe Paper Mill in February 1974. the Production Manager was Jim Morrison who interviewed me for the job and who was to play a very important role in my employment by British Plaster Board, the parent company of Radcliffe Paper Mill and the sister company, Radcliffe Paper Tubes.
Paper making goes back some hundreds of years in the North West of England and in the area covered by Bury and Radcliffe some 25 paper mills have been in operation since the middle of the seventeenth century.
In 1974 when I joined Radcliffe Paper Mill there were 14 mills operating , that figure is now, (1997) down to seven operating mills. [Editor's Note: The last paper mill in Radcliffe closed in 2001.]
For a period the area around Bury and Radcliffe had the highest concentration of paper making and related industries in the country. Providing employment for a large percentage of the population there were engineering factories producing paper-making machinery and all the related products. So at the time I became an employee of Radcliffe Paper Mill in 1974 the district was fairly prosperous.
When the first paper mill opened on the site in 1915 there were about sixty employees. When I started to work there in 1974 the number had grown to around 700. In terms of the production in tonnage of paper and board etc., the figures are even more startling. The original yearly production was around about 2,000 tons, and is presently in excess of 100,000 tons, manufactured solely from waste paper and rags.
Radcliffe is a small town with an assortment of industries and is mentioned in the Domesday Book.
The two main requirements of a paper mill are a plentiful supply of power and water and Radcliffe had both being situated on the River Irwell and close to a good, regular, source of coal.
As in most small industrial towns, the centres of employment, the mills, were very close to the local community and in fact were very much family orientated. To find whole families employed at the same place of work was common. At first it was quite confusing to find so many people with the same name, especially if they were on the same shift or working on the same machine.
Both the Mill and Tubes were situated on adjacent sites in Radcliffe and were governed by the same management team from offices in the Mill in James Street, Radcliffe.
I was taken on as a labourer with the promise that I would be moved into the Quality Control Office as soon as the position became vacant.
This was a totally new experience for me. I had never worked in a factory before, all my working life I had been involved in Gents' Hairdressing or selling to the public in one form or another. So the change to this totally strange environment was a leap into the unknown. As I said, I was taken on as a labourer, the lowest form of life. In order to describe the work it is necessary to give the reader an impression of the machine-house where I started.
Imagine an area approximately the size of a football pitch. The main part of that area taken up by, what to me was a monster, a paper-board machine, some 25 feet in height and filling most of the length of the machine-house. The raw material used in the manufacture of the board is water, and waste paper mixed into a pulp at the start of the process in huge vats called, appropriately, pulpers, then fed onto a moving belt into the board-machine where it goes over a series of heated cylinders, gradually drying out until it emerges as board at the end of the process and is rolled onto a huge, steel bar, which is then taken to a machine called a 'reeler' where the board is then 'reeled' onto a tube made from board. It is then taken to the warehouse for dispatch.
The board produced on the Number 1 machine is used in the manufacture of cardboard boxes, bookbinding etc. The majority of the board is used in the building industry as partitioning.
On the other side of the machine-house, opposite the board machine was a machine that manufactured a type of felt that when treated was made into roofing felt. This felt was made from rags and water. The rag content was mainly old clothes, cotton, wool etc., chopped in what can only be described as a huge food-processor.
The board machine was designated as Number 1 machine and the felt machine was Number 2.
The two machines were operated by their own crews. On Number 1 machine there was a machine-man in charge, his job entailed looking after what was known as the "wet-end", that is where the wet material came onto the conveyor, and he was responsible for the running of the machine. At the other end, where the finished board comes off the machine it goes through a set of rollers called calenders, these control the thickness and smoothness of the finished product. This end is looked after by a "dryer-man" who has a mate to help and together they operate the calenders and the reeler.
Number 2 machine has a machine-man, who, similar to the machine-man on Number 1, runs the machine and is responsible for the "wet-end", and again, as on Number 1, there is a dryer-man who runs the calenders and the reeler.
The job of the labourer was to keep the machine-house clean, that is ensure that any waste board off the Number 1 machine or felt from Number 2, was cleared away and fed into a small pulper that was situated at the top end of the machine-house. This material was fed back into the system so nothing was wasted.
The board machine had been built over a pit, similar to a pit in a garage where the car could be positioned over the pit to allow for work to be done underneath. In the case of the board machine, whenever there was a break in production, the scrap board that was cut from the cylinders was allowed to accumulate in the pit. As it was important to keep the machine running, clearing the scrap was of secondary importance. The consequence was that eventually there came a time when there was so much scrap material in the pit, it became necessary to get every available body onto the job of clearing the pit. It must have been the most detested job in the mill. The heat from the stacks of cylinders above, was so intense that within a few minutes the sweat just poured off your body. The conditions were exhausting, filthy with a mixture of water and oil that dripped down from the machine, the smell given off by this mixture of oil, water and scrap board was indescribable, making the whole operation one to be avoided at all costs if that was possible.
This was, to say the least, an experience I shall never forget. The noise, the heat, the dirt was something totally abhorrent. I had applied for the job in the belief that I would get the position of Quality Control Inspector, which meant working in an office checking the paper, felt and board produced on the three machines, the third machine, contrarily called Number 4 was in a separate part of the mill.
I must admit that I dodged as much as possible the dirty, heavy work I was supposed to do until I was given the position in Quality Control.
If I remember correctly, it only took about a week and I was moved into the office which was entered from the machine-house through a door which led into two offices, Quality Control and the Foreman's office.
The position of these two offices is critical to understanding some of the events that I must relate.
The door from the machine-house opened into the Quality Control Office, so anyone wanting to go into the foreman's office had to enter the office where I worked.
The centre of the activity in the mill was the foreman's office. All the work was organised from there by the shift foreman and so the senior managers were constant visitors ensuring that matters were running smoothly, sorting out any problems and of course, keeping an eye on the workforce.
As I said, the Production Manager was Jim Morrison, a huge figure of a man, he must have weighed 20 stones if not more; like most big men, he was very light on his feet and would appear in the machine-house without any warning, so the workers were always on the alert expecting him to be trying to catch someone slacking.
The General Manager was Bill Dagnall. These two were responsible for the running of the Mill and Paper Tubes.
As soon as possible I joined the Trade Union that was responsible for production workers in the Mill, SOGAT, (the Society of Graphical and Allied Trades) and immediately involved myself in the work of the Union in the Mill.
The local organisation in the trade unions in the paper and allied industries, printing, journalism manufacture etc., are called Chapels whereas in other industries they would be Branches. The person elected to lead the Chapel is called the Father/Mother of the Chapel, (FOC/MOC).The FOC at Radcliffe Paper Mill when I started there was a man who always boasted about his connections with the Scottish miners, but unfortunately, from the trade union point of view he did not compare with the militant history of the Scottish Trade Union Movement.
Nat Cairns, FOC at the mill, was the reelerman on Number 2 Machine and I was on the same shift as him, so I came to know Nat very well. Whenever he had an opportunity he would come into my office for a chat and as one of his jobs was to cut a sample of the felt he had reeled off and bring it in for me to test, we had many long talks as I tested the felt and he waited for the result.
During the ten years I worked at Radcliffe Paper Mill we worked a three shift system. The morning shift started at 6 am till 1 pm, afternoons 1 pm till 9.30 pm and nights, 9.30 till 6.
The only previous experience I had of night-work was for a short period of my service in the Royal Air Force when we were in Vietnam. This in no way prepared me for the next 10 years. Those years proved to be of great importance in my life. I involved myself in trade union activity both in the Chapel and in the Branch which covered the area of Central Lancashire.
Before long I was recognised by both workers and management as a trade union activist who, because of my long membership of the Communist Party, saw it as my role to fight management on every issue that affected the workforce.
I was nominated to attend study classes organised by the Trade Union Movement in order that I would be more able to tackle the problems that arose both at work and in the wider movement.
Having been elected as a member of the Chapel Committee I went on a course for Shop Stewards run by the Trades Union Congress Education Department.
These courses prepared people for the task of representing their members in any disputes with management.
The history of trade union organisation at Radcliffe Paper Mill left a lot to be desired.
The first Father of the Chapel (FOC), was a man who any self-respecting trade unionist would think the most unlikely candidate for the job. With no experience of trade union activity he proved to be a disaster when he agreed with the management when they asked for a reduction in the weekly wage of £5.00 per man.
He did not last long as FOC.
Looking back at the history of Trade Union activity, (or the lack of it), at Radcliffe Paper Mill, it was the direct result of the paternalism that was rife in the Mill. From the management down to the lowest form of life in the mill, a paternalistic attitude prevailed. So what was most important to a large section of the workforce was not the larger, trade union family with its policy of uniting the employees in order to present a solid front in any dispute with the employer, but an attitude of, every man for himself and I will look after my own.
In order to ensure a continuation of employment for members of "the family", it was necessary to be in favour with the management. So there was a feeling which led to animosity amongst the workers, a sense of antagonism that made it very difficult to get unity on any matter that affected the majority.
As a result, the election of officers such as the FOC, Deputy FOC, and chapel committee was more often than not affected in accordance with the personal likes and dislikes of the members rather than the fitness for office of any individual.
I understand that the man mainly responsible for the workforce to be represented by a Trade Union at RPM was the Mill Manager, Bill Dagnall. On the understanding that it was easier and far more efficient to deal with an organised workforce rather than a piecemeal method dealing with individuals, he encouraged the men to join a union. His motive was far from being sympathetic towards the idea of trade unions representing the workforce. It was purely one of self-interest in that he understood that if he could negotiate with a single individual, who could be suborned.
After I had been at the Mill a very short time, it became obvious to Bill Dagnall and the Production Manager, Jim Morrison, that I was not the sort of "trade unionist" that they were used to dealing with. My trade unionism was steeped in the struggles of the Labour Movement. As far as I was concerned, the divide between management and the workers could not be healed.
On one occasion, Jim Morrison called me into the foreman's office, it must have been about a month after I started at the mill and had become involved in the Trade Union activity. "If I had known what you were like when you came for the job, I would never have taken you on," he said. My reply of course was that he could do nothing about it, and from then on I was considered by Morrison and Dagnall to be a disruptive influence in the mill.
It is important to bear in mind the attitude expressed by Jim Morrison in that short interview as it is an indication of what was to happen over the next ten years that I spent working at Radcliffe Paper Mill.
The total workforce consisted of two main sectors. The production workers, who worked on the machines producing the finished product, paper, board and felt. They were members of SOGAT. And the maintenance workers, who were members of the craft unions, engineers in AEU, electricians in ETU, and so on. In a situation like that, where the workers belong to different sections of the Trade Union Movement, it is essential that in order to present a united front to the employer, some form of joint organisation should exist. The usual method is for the shop-stewards to combine in a joint shop-stewards committee where common problems could be discussed and a common strategy agreed. Matters of concern only to an individual union will be considered by that union under its own constitution. Where matters cross the demarcation lines and affect the whole workforce, they would be taken up by the Joint Shop-Stewards Committee.
Unfortunately, at Radcliffe Paper Mill when I started work there, the circumstances were such that the two sections of workers were, to say the least, not on very friendly terms. It is true of course, that this situation was not peculiar to RPM. In order to understand why the various sections of the Trade Union Movement were hostile towards each other, you have to go back to the early days of the industrial revolution. As the craft guilds developed into trade unions, the members jealously guarded their position within society. It took a long time before the unskilled workers were able to form their own organisations. The growth of mass, general unions e,g the Transport and General Workers Union and the General and Municipal Workers Union, signified a change in the way the working-class was able to advance its interests. But the division between skilled and unskilled was taken advantage of by the employer. The principle of "divide and conquer", was used in order to keep the different sections of the workforce at loggerheads to the benefit of the employer.
An example of how this affected the position at Radcliffe Paper Mill happened not long after I started work at the Mill.
The practice at that time was to shut down all the machines for two weeks so that production workers could get their holidays. During that period, the maintenance crews would strip the machines and carry out any servicing that may be required.
On arriving back from one holiday period we found the engineers and all maintenance staff outside mounting a picket. They were on strike. Of course, we did not know why they were out, but as a committed trade unionist, I would not cross the picket line. I approached one of the leaders of the strikers and told him I had no intention of crossing the line. His reply to me was, "You can do us more good inside by convincing the rest of the workers to support us." So, with the agreement of the strikers, I went into the mill.
The position I found on entering the machine-house was that Number 1 machine was in pieces, Number 2 needed some work done but it was possible to get it running, but this would need the help of the crew of the machine.
The two men who ran Number 2 were the machine-man, and the reeler-man. It was a situation that was just what the management wanted. The two operatives were persuaded to help a member of management to get the machine running, despite the fact that fellow trade unionists, who had taken industrial action and were outside the mill, needed their support. The fact that this work was done and the machine started to produce felt, was, in the eyes of a committed trade unionist, a betrayal of the engineers.
This was typical of the attitude taken by some leading members of the production workers. They did not see the craft workers as fellow trade unionists.
Negotiations with the employer around the question of wages and conditions of work, were not carried out on the basis of the whole workforce being represented. The craft unions negotiated for their members and the production workers union, (SOGAT) entered into separate arrangements with management.
It is obvious that this would cause friction between the two sectors. The craft workers, because of their skills were awarded better wages and conditions than the production workers. Also, the very fact that the craftsmen, because of their skills, had more industrial muscle, they could put greater pressure on management. The production workers, in the main, resented the fact that craft workers were in what was considered as a better position.
Attempts were made to establish a Joint Shop-Stewards Committee and for a short time we worked together on issues of mutual concern.
The praise for this progress must go to the Chief Shop Steward and his Deputy at the time, Joe Holland and Joe Sydall, respectively. Joe Holland worked in the maintenance department and Joe Sydall was a process worker and so a member of SOGAT. These two were dedicated trade unionists and the period of their holding office was probably the time when most progress was made from the trade union point of view. Joe Sydall was somewhat of a mystery and he suddenly disappeared and from that day on nobody knew where he went. Joe Holland on the other hand was a man of integrity who unfortunately had to retire early due to ill-health. After Joe Sydall left I was elected Deputy FOC to work alongside Joe Holland. Unfortunately, for reasons that will become apparent, I did not last long in that position.
The conditions of working in certain parts of the Mill were atrocious, I often thought that Charles Dickens would have found material for a book in some corners of the Mill.
One particular area was known as the choppers, where the rags that were used in the manufacture of felt were put through a huge machine that looked like a massive food-processor. The handling of the rags and the carpet dust that was added to the mixture, naturally caused a huge amount of dust to hang in the air. Everything and everyone was covered in the stuff. Ventilation was minimal to say the least. So the effect on the men working in this dust-laden atmosphere was horrendous. Plus the fact that there was nowhere they could retire to out of that horrible environment. The slightest method of protection, a mask, was not provided.
Joe Holland and Joe Syddall decided that something must be done to end this noxious system that was obviously doing great harm to the workers in that area of the Mill. An appointment was arranged with Bill Dagnall the Mill Manager. When he asked what the problem was he was told in no uncertain terms that the men were no longer prepared to put up with such medieval working conditions as existed on the choppers. The two Shop Stewards were emphatic in their condemnation of the situation. Dagnall's reply was that they had worked under those conditions for years without complaint and he saw no reason for change. Up until that moment the Shop Stewards had stood in front of the Manager's desk with both hands in their pockets. On realising that he was not even contemplating discussing the matter, four hands were withdrawn from pockets and a cloud of dust garnered from the choppers descended over the Manager and his desk, along with the words, "If our members can work in it so can you."
The second strike I was involved in came about as a result of a management decision to have some board produced at another mill whilst the board machine at RPM was not being run at the week-end. Thus the crews on No. 1 machine were not getting the overtime that was necessary for them to earn a decent wage. As the system of payment at Radcliffe Paper Mill was a form of piece-work based on the tonnage produced, the crews on the board machine were incensed as they realised that they were losing money.
The information about the board being produced at another mill was reported to us at RPM by a driver who had seen rolls of board, stamped with the Radcliffe Paper Mill stamp, being loaded onto a lorry at a mill in Scotland.
Within a very short space of time the crew on No. 1 machine called for strike action. With the agreement of the FOC, the machines were shut down and a meeting called in the Packing-Room to discuss the situation.
At the bottom end of the Packing-Room was a loading bay where the wagons were loaded. This was an ideal place for a mass meeting of the men as the space where the lorries parked provide room for the meeting and the raised area around the loading-bay acted as a platform from which the meeting could be addressed. The men assembled in the loading-bay and the Chapel officials took their place on the 'platform' to address the meeting. A telephone call had been made to the union office in Bolton informing the full-time officials of the situation and calling on them to immediately attend the meeting for discussion with the members on how to resolve the dispute.
As the men were gathering for the meeting one of the men saw the Mill Manager, (Bill Dagnall), approaching the meeting obviously intending to intrude on a union meeting. He was told in no uncertain terms to remove himself from the vicinity of the meeting and he retreated with his tail between his legs. The men were so furious at the fact that work that should have been done at RPM, had been farmed out to another mill so reducing the earning potential of RPM personnel, that they would have no truck with senior management trying to influence a union meeting.
When the union officials arrived to speak to the men it was immediately apparent that they had spoken to management before attending the meeting. This further angered the men as they saw this as an attempt by the officials to settle the conflict behind their backs without first trying to find out from the members what the truth of the situation was and how we wanted it settled.
The Branch Secretary addressed the meeting trying to get the men to go back to work and give him a mandate to have discussions with management in order to come to a satisfactory way of ending the dispute. He was howled down. The men were furious at this, understanding that as long as we stayed out on strike we could put pressure on the management to come to an agreement that would satisfy our demands. When the Secretary had finished I got up to speak and proposed that the strike should continue and that we instructed the Branch secretary to go into discussion with management on the understanding that we would remain on strike until we were satisfied that our demands had been met.
When the proposition was put to the vote it was overwhelmingly supported, the vote to stay out was carried with such a massive majority on a show of hands that a count was unnecessary.
At a meeting of the Chapel committee,when it appeared that the strike was not going to be resolved quickly, I proposed that, as I had a touring caravan that could be used as strike headquarters, I should tow it into the Mill car-park for use by the men. The caravan provided the pickets with somewhere to rest and have a hot meal.
It was seen as a centre for the strikers to discuss how the campaign was going and obviously was seen by management as a hot-bed of "revolutionary" activity. Whether what happened next was as a result of some "skullduggery" by management or was just some right-wing, anti-trade unionist venting his hatred of union activity I will never know but one day, on arriving at the caravan for my shift on the picket line, I found one of the caravan windows smashed. Fortunately, as soon as the engineers heard what had happened, a crew appeared with all the necessary equipment and material and in a very short time we had a new window installed. Needless to say, this made us all the more determined to win the struggle.