There was a time when electrician's pay ( Employed) was poor in comparison with some other trades .
I go back to being an apprentii .not that many Sparks had their own car back then , some yes . Self employment virtually unheard of in our trade .
Tools were expensive and Sparks usually only had the minimum required to do the their job.
So , this is pre-decimal currency & you can't compute backwards because of inflation etc . I remember a Stanley belt-clip rule would cost £5 when they were earning £20 / week .........so to tread on someone's rule blade and kink it was a hanging offence. Most blokes had a cheapo pressed steel case rule from Woolworths @ 2/6d .. 30p
But petrol was 4/6d gallon ( 25p but not today's 25p) 20 fags 3/6d ( 17p) A new Mini £400 I think.
The likes of carpenters had a low hourly rate but were begining to work on piece rate & earn decent money for fitting so much skirting or hang 300 doors a day .
Brickies hourly rate was much less than Sparks but they always worked piece rate as did plasterers.
The unions & the employers prevented Sparks from doing this , although unofficial Job 'n Knock was in force.
Labour was cheap , materials were dear , every sparks (almost) had an apprentice with him , I worked for a contractor with possibly , 200 emloyees . I remember it was said that there were at least 100 of their sparks at the Longbridge Car plant without anything else.
I remember three of their best guys leaving to work for the ATV Studios ( Midlands commercial TV) at twice the contracting rate.
When I went "On the Tools" there was a big increase in the JIB/ union hourly rate . But things changed .......... no more when ,say , six or seven sparks finished a contract ...would they send them to help on other jobs for a couple of weeks ,,,until their next contract kicked off ......redundant !.... no more ,,you can't go out to jobs on your own in case of accident ...forget that, off you go .......dramatic drop in apprentices .
Why is he going on about this you may ask ! I have no idea ...my mind was just drifting back to half remembered times ....to those Blue Remebered Hills ...(who said that ?) to simpler times when comics always had dogs running off with strings of sausages .......police couldn't solve crimes without enlisting the help of Paul Temple ..The Saint or the Famous Five and William Brown could not get home from school without investigating a muddy ditch ...emerge from a hedgerow to greet his fellow Outlaws and generally cause some minor mayhem in the village and leaving behind a trail of blustering retired Colonels .
And we did not contemplate the future sadnesses waiting to visit us.
I go back to being an apprentii .not that many Sparks had their own car back then , some yes . Self employment virtually unheard of in our trade .
Tools were expensive and Sparks usually only had the minimum required to do the their job.
So , this is pre-decimal currency & you can't compute backwards because of inflation etc . I remember a Stanley belt-clip rule would cost £5 when they were earning £20 / week .........so to tread on someone's rule blade and kink it was a hanging offence. Most blokes had a cheapo pressed steel case rule from Woolworths @ 2/6d .. 30p
But petrol was 4/6d gallon ( 25p but not today's 25p) 20 fags 3/6d ( 17p) A new Mini £400 I think.
The likes of carpenters had a low hourly rate but were begining to work on piece rate & earn decent money for fitting so much skirting or hang 300 doors a day .
Brickies hourly rate was much less than Sparks but they always worked piece rate as did plasterers.
The unions & the employers prevented Sparks from doing this , although unofficial Job 'n Knock was in force.
Labour was cheap , materials were dear , every sparks (almost) had an apprentice with him , I worked for a contractor with possibly , 200 emloyees . I remember it was said that there were at least 100 of their sparks at the Longbridge Car plant without anything else.
I remember three of their best guys leaving to work for the ATV Studios ( Midlands commercial TV) at twice the contracting rate.
When I went "On the Tools" there was a big increase in the JIB/ union hourly rate . But things changed .......... no more when ,say , six or seven sparks finished a contract ...would they send them to help on other jobs for a couple of weeks ,,,until their next contract kicked off ......redundant !.... no more ,,you can't go out to jobs on your own in case of accident ...forget that, off you go .......dramatic drop in apprentices .
Why is he going on about this you may ask ! I have no idea ...my mind was just drifting back to half remembered times ....to those Blue Remebered Hills ...(who said that ?) to simpler times when comics always had dogs running off with strings of sausages .......police couldn't solve crimes without enlisting the help of Paul Temple ..The Saint or the Famous Five and William Brown could not get home from school without investigating a muddy ditch ...emerge from a hedgerow to greet his fellow Outlaws and generally cause some minor mayhem in the village and leaving behind a trail of blustering retired Colonels .
And we did not contemplate the future sadnesses waiting to visit us.
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