The Sewing Machinist

Abstract

It is impossible to make statements with any precision about the number of people who earn their living in Britain by operating sewing machines. Government, employers and trade unions keep manpower data in terms of product rather than process. Machines in use may be up to 50 years old so that manufacturers records are not helpful. Thus we know how many people are engaged in making shoes, clothing and so on but surprisingly little about the numbers of specialist machine operators within such occupations. The best estimate seems to be over 15,000 sewing machinists in the shoe industry and more than twice this number making clothes, furniture, handbags, gloves, curtains, etc. more than 50,000 in total. Almost all of them are female, and the numbers have decreased slightly over the past 20 years as productivity has increased. By tradition dating from ‘sweat shop’ times, they work very hard. A time-study engineer with experience of many occupations will tend to ‘rate’ sewing machinists very highly. The energy expenditure is not high since the job is essentially sedentary and perhaps the main occupational hazard is a tendency to plumpness. It is possible to have accidents by catching the fingers in the balance wheel and pulley, hair in the thread take-up lever and fingers under the needle, but such incidents are rare and they are painful rather than seriously dangerous so that there is automatic avoidance reinforcement. It is reasonably well paid, usually by piece-work. Operators are invariably in large groups within which there is extensive communication and interaction, some because of interdependence of jobs, some because of common social interests. These interests tend to change with age. The very young unmarrieds are different from the young marrieds who are different again from the older married, widowed and spinsters. Girls take up the job on leaving school because the work is done in that particular area. It is common in the prosperous medium-sized towns in the Midlands such as Leicester, Northampton and Nottingham, in London and Lancashire and Yorkshire.