Oral History collection: Joe Stanton (born 7 Dec. 1932, Marsh Street, Port Talbot, crane driver, Port Talbot Steelworks) interviewed by Bleddyn Penny about life in Port Talbot and working life in the steelworks

[00:00:01] Personal Details: Joe Stanton (JS), b Sandfields, Port Talbot, 7/12/32. [00:02:40] Industry: Mining: "doubler" shifts Saturdays, to change shifts. [00:02:52] Industry: Glynavon Colliery, Goetre, closes c 1965. [00:04:02] Education: JS passes 11+, but leavers school at 14. [00:05:01] Transport: British Rail: medical pre-joining, at Swindon. [00:05:04] Transport: British Rail sent workers where needed - "didn't have a choice". [00:05:13] Industry: JS starts at Abbey Steelworks July 1955. [00:05:21] Wages: BR: fireman "best wage" £7-8pw, at Abbey, as labourer, c £12pw to start. [00:06:15] Industry: "Pool" of labourers at Abbey, 8am-4.30pm, where needed. [00:07:21] Industry: Slab yard: "utility man", bottom job. [00:07:42] Industry: No formal training, learn on job. [00:08:01] Employment: 1950s: plenty of jobs in Port Talbot. [00:08:19] Employment: Steelworks best job for those without qualifications: advancement. [00:08:41] Industry: Labouring routines and tasks in "Pool". [00:09:41] Industry: Automation: cranes lifting slabs, replaced two "hot slingers", putting JS back in Pool. [00:11:40] Industry: 1957: Abbey Works crane driving training - random, minimal. [00:12:40] Wages: 1957: "spare driver" £13-14pw; permanent crane driver £16-20pw or more; pickling/cold mill £17-18pw. [00:13:20] Industry: Uncertain career progress of crane drivers, seniority system, accepted at time. [00:14:55] Industry: No transfers allowed between different sections for crane drivers. [00:15:34] Health: Pickling "unpleasant": JS lost all teeth within 2 years, sulphuric acid, no protection. [00:15:58] Industry: Crane practices, pickling. [00:16:41] Industry: Sulphuric acid dangers, safety warnings. [00:18:08] Industry: Continental rota system of 8 hour shifts. [00:19:15] Industrial Amenities: Canteens, showers, too far to use. [00:20:41] Industry: Fight to allow transfers between sections. [00:22:30] Wages: Differentials: same job, different sections, different wages. [00:22:52] Wages: Pickling had worst wages and conditions. [00:23:09] Industry: Change in promotion procedures. [00:24:00] Wages: Annealing line: £2-3pw more than pickling, better conditions. [00:24:30] Industry: Clean air! Cold. [00:24:49] Industry: Career progression, crane driver. [00:25:41] Industry: Promotion opportunities as crane driver limited. [00:26:07] Industry: Green Book changed procedures. [00:26:53] Industry: Green Book: Time & Motion. [00:27:41] Industry: Little managerial supervision. [00:28:09] Industry: Crane driver tasks, annealing bay. [00:29:23] Industry: Promotions limited to within each mill, all trades. [00:30:05] Industry: Little lateral flexibility allowed in labour force. [00:31:18] Industry: Industrial accidents: gaps in crane rail tracks. [00:31:35] Industry: Description of accident: "dogs" to pick up steel, no aftermath. [00:34:17] Industry: Equipment failures "fairly common", particularly dogs. [00:35:26] Industry: Management failings re safety, tardy actions. [00:36:13] Industry: Safety: no protective clothing, bar gloves, until last three years - then helmets. Couldn't even get the gloves. [00:37:22] Industry: Air conditioning in crane cabs: 90F in cabs, 100F when furnaces open. [00:38:44] Health: Health: lost teeth, gums black, before 30 years age. [00:40:00] Health: Health: shift work disruptive, sleep loss. [00:41:04] Personal Details: JS retired at age 60, 1992, voluntary (attempted redundancy in 1990). [00:43:26] Industry: Opinions of management. [00:43:49] Industry: Changes in procedure - shifts, teams, post-1992. [00:45:19] Industry: Morale: camaraderie, routines. [00:46:11] Industry: More spare time in annealing than in pickling work. [00:46:55] Port Talbot: Sandfields memories. [00:48:14] Port Talbot: New Sandfields estate c 1950, to house steelworkers. [00:48:48] Port Talbot: Good sense of community, 1940s, close knit families. [00:49:39] Housing: 17 in terraced house postwar. [00:49:56] Housing: £1/10/0d pw rent, terrace house, Sandfields, c 1946. [00:52:48] Housing: Old Sandfields: bathroom in 1948. [00:53:29] Housing: No electricity, part-gas (only 1 upstairs, 2 downstairs rooms). [00:54:09] Ethnicity: One "coloured" family in Sandfields, 1940s, and one single man. [00:55:47] Industry: Mines & tinworks employed most in 1940s (Burrows, Mansell). [00:56:13] Industry: Margam Steelworks: workers went to Abbey Works. [00:60:29] Transport: JS first car in 1962, first working man locally to own one. [00:61:01] Sport: Football: played until aged 28 for Margam Utd, then refereeing for 30 years, local league & Welsh & FA Cups. [00:64:09] Leisure: Works sport & leisure. [00:67:11] Unions: Bisacta[?]; British Iron & Steel Trades Association[?]. [00:67:50] Unions: JS attended union meetings only for specific issues - conditions, etc. [00:68:40] Unions: Attendances at meetings poor - no quorums. [00:69:25] Unions: Opinions of union hierarchy. [00:70:37] Unions: Inter-union relations, works committee. [00:71:01] Unions: Craft v production workers - perks. [00:72:47] Unions: No support for bricklayers strike. [00:73:34] Unions: 1980 strike, all out. [00:75:13] Unions: Continual strikes, layoffs. [00:76:13] Unions: Opinions and memories of 1984 miners strike, and Scargill. [00:77:42] Unions: 1980 steel strike: opinions - jobs, not money. [00:79:05] Industry: Port Talbot lost c9000 steel workers. [00:80:22] Industry: JS philosophy: anti-picketing & coercion. [00:81:37] Industry: Thatcher's use of McGregor in coal & steel industries. [00:82:10] Industry: Some practices in industry needed changing. [00:83:01] Industry: Govt failure to replace mining industry with alternatives. [00:85:28] Employment: No jobs for redundant men. [00:85:00] Industry: Changes with SCoW to British Steel, nationalised. [00:86:55] Industry: Hopes (too high) and realities of nationalisation in 1960s. [00:87:39] Industry: 1988 privatisation