|
...
Woman 4--educator (English as Second Language) and narrator
Woman 5--garment worker, Alberta-born
SCENE ONE
Actors stand facing audience, in front of stools.
Four are in a row in middle, in two pairs. The fifth is Down Right (Woman 4--Educator). All except Woman 4 wear aprons.
Silence. Then bell--all except Educator whirl around, sit on stool, heads down, back to audience. Educator goes over to her stool and sits, facing audience. Machine sounds up.
Projected on large screen behind actors--photos of GWG factory, early days. Photos of early Edmonton. Projected photos continue to change throughout the presentation, showing GWG workers at the machines, at lunch, at company picnics, union activities, etc.
Actors turn around quickly to face audience only when speaking.
Woman 1: I walk to there. When I get there, punch the timecard, punch these papers, punch those papers, then I go closer to sew station to wait for bell.
Woman 2: Of course you couldn't go up until the bell went and you got to your machines and you got your work. A bundle girl would bring the work. We would get quite upset if the bundle girl didn't bring the work on time because you just wanted to work.
Woman 1: I sew clothes, sew till coffee time and then I stop, go to washroom 15 minutes. Go back to work then until 12 p.m. Eat lunch. Afternoon 3 p.m. again is coffee time. Drink something, go to washroom. Then work again. 4:30 work is done.
Woman 2: You went by the bells.
Woman 5: My first day at work was a revelation. All I could see was a sea of sewing machines. At each one a bent-over operator was working as if her life depended on it. All the operators were women. No one was saying anything.
Woman 4: Mass assembly operations are mind numbing. You cannot afford to think of anything but one, get it done right get it done fast, two don't hurt yourself. And you cannot afford to let your mind wander. And so the mind loses its ability to think.
Woman 1: The first day, standing there, the feet were all swollen. I didn't know how--after work--didn't know how to walk.
Woman 3: Everything was dark, the floor was dark, the walls were dark, there was no daylight, artificial light. You didn't get out of your chair.
Woman 5: And I remember being hot in there, there was no air-conditioning I know that. I hated it, it was an awful place. I just couldn't be shut up like that, it was like being in jail almost. Because I was sitting at a, at a, at a machine.
Woman 2: I remember it being stuffy. You would see layers of dust every day, layers of--well not dust, but you know the dust from the sewing ... Fuzz, yeah that's it. And it would cover everything. Even your clothes.
In next section, as each woman faces audience to speak, she remains facing audience.
Woman 1: Why I went there to work? Because I had to make a living. I had a husband, daughter coming to Canada, I need to cam money. When I first came here I didn't know many things so I went there to learn.
Woman 3: Why did I go into sewing factory? I immigrated. I felt I was second-class citizen, not much money, language problem. Not much luck. The working environment, the work is very suited for women to work. Of course if your education was higher this isn't very good. But in terms of us, not much skill then....
NOTE: All illustrations and photos
have been removed from this article.
More articles from Labour/Le Travail
Alastair J. Ross, United We Stand: A History of Britain's Trade Unions..., March 22, 2007
Looking for additional articles?
Search our database of over 3 million articles.
Looking for more in-depth information on this industry?
Search our complete database of Industry & Market reports by text, subject, publication
name or publication date.
About Goliath
Whether you're looking for sales prospects, competitive information, company
analysis or best practices in managing your organization,
Goliath can help you meet your business needs.
Our extensive business information databases empower business
professionals with both the breadth and depth of credible,
authoritative information they need to support their business
goals. Whether it be strategic planning, sales prospecting,
company research or defining management best practices -
Goliath is your leading source for accurate information.
|
