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APPENDIX I
SCOTSWOMEN GO SOUTH TO WAR WORK
SECRET

The following Summary is based on the report of an M.O.I. Staff Speaker who recently visited Scottish women workers in Midland factories. Certain suggestions mentioned in this report are made by the Speaker herself.

The Journey

We left Glasgow by the night train on May 12th, travelling with girls from Aberdeen, Perth and Glasgow. On the journey they were excited, cold, apprehensive; they talked of where they would be billeted, of the work they expected, of the possibility of pictures and dances, of leave, of their mothers, and lastly, about their pay. (This may be because they had been assured that it would be good.) They were quickly influenced by “old hands” and were immediately impressed by two girls returning from a holiday in Kirkcaldy who joined us at Carstairs. In a few minutes they agreed that digs in town would be preferable to a hostel in the country; they squirmed at the recited dangers of work in the R.O.Fs.

Arrangements for the journey, for changing trains, for tea “en route”, and for reception on arrival, were well covered by kindly, unofficious Ministry of Labour Welfare Officials. I heard girls from Aberdeen thanking our guides for the care they had taken of them between trains in Glasgow; the girls in my carriage all agreed that everything possible had been done for us. Nevertheless, it was cold; there were delays at the station when everyone wondered what was going to happen next, and after a night without sleep we were all rather miserably silent.

First Impressions

I gathered from the girls' conversations, and from talks with them later, that they are very “much agin” this transference south. They ask why they should have to go, why there isn't work for them in Scotland, and why English girls are employed in Scottish factories. Frequently they said: “We might as well be under Hitler; we have no choice”, or “We are just slaves nowadays, the way they order us about”. They loathe leaving home; it is not an adventure but an imposition. They feel that being directed away from home puts all onus of the journey on the Government's shoulders, so any small slip-up is unfavourably noted.

Although they are issued with an excellent and comprehensive leaflet “Going Away to War Work?” it is a moot point how many read it. I did not meet many who had. Mainly they depend on the spoken word of their local Employment Exchanges.

The journey south and the first day in a “foreign country” make a lasting impression. It was surprising how many girls whom I met later talked of their journey and their first day. A night journey and a day spent in billeting is an unfortunate beginning. Often billets are not found till the afternoon; the girls start off in buses after breakfast and the last may not be settled in till four o'clock. I would suggest that a night in a residential hostel and a day to settle in would have more satisfactory results. Before leaving home girls should be given much more detailed information, and should be told to bring with them a cup for tea and a rug or coat for the journey.

Although, from my own experience, the journeys to Swinnerton and Birmingham are efficiently supervised, some girls in Coventry complain that they arrived there unheralded and had to wait hours for a meal or for transport. These complaints, if they reach home, may influence those about to be transferred. My impression is that the girls' attitude is conditioned by the events of the first 24 hours. It might help, therefore, if Ministry of Labour officials were to outline their difficulties, admitting past mistakes, and explain the organisation of the journey, to the girls before the transference takes place.

Billeting

From the 13th to the 22nd May, I visited hostels and digs where girls are billeted, factories where they were working, and clubs of which they are members. Billeting, shopping and club life form a background to war work in the Midlands. The billeting problem varies in different districts. In all areas available lodgings are classified by the Billeting Officer, who is either the Local Government official or a Factory Billeting Officer. There has apparently been some overlapping and misunderstanding between these officials, but at the moment factories are becoming increasingly dependent on the local official and co-operation is, therefore, developing.

In the Shirley district of Birmingham billeting is satisfactory. The Billeting Officers are on excellent terms with the landladies, and they visit digs every fortnight and change the girls if necessary. The girls say their digs are marvellous, and that they are taking their landladies for a holiday to Scotland.

In Erdington, another district of Birmingham, absorption point has almost been reached; Scotswomen have a bad name here. One landlady told me neither she not her neighbours would voluntarily accept Scots; “They are dirty,” she said, “they drink, they stay out late”. The girls, on the other hand, complain that their digs are dirty and too expensive, that they have to buy their own food which is badly cooked, and not what they were used to at home.

Billeting in Coventry has understandably been difficult and the problem of settling down is intensified by the girls' reaction to the evidence of bombing. However, hostels are now available here near the factories and outside the town. Although there is no policy of transferring the girls from their lodgings, they may apply for a transfer.

Near the R.O.Fs. at Swinnerton, there are now seven “halls” to accommodate about 1200 workers each. These are run and staffed by the Workers' Travel Association most efficiently and with surprising detail. They include all the amenities from hot and cold water in the “two bed” rooms, to hair-dressing saloons, laundry facilities, a concert hall, a post office, a shop and a chapel. All the girls expressed their appreciation of hostel life; some, however, complained of the expense and difficulty of obtaining a midday meal at the factory canteen; others of their distance from town. A few grumbled about the food.

The girls in the R.O.Fs. can, if they prefer it, go to digs in Stoke. Although this involves a journey to work, many girls choose town life. There seems to be constant changing; the girls flow from digs to hostel and vice versa. This self-transference is useful, I think. From conversations with the girls it is obvious that they settle much better in quarters chosen by themselves; they are able to make their own conditions with the landladies; they develop a sense of responsibility and of independence which is worth encouraging.

Clubs for War Workers

As an agency for levelling up the inequalities and deficiencies of digs, and for providing a homely atmosphere, Clubs for War Workers are playing a vital part. Birmingham has splendidly co-operated in opening a number of beautifully equipped, efficiently run clubs with welcoming wardens in each, with canteens, lounges, concert halls, libraries, sewing rooms, and various club activities, all for an admission fee of 3d or 6d a week. I found Scots lassies playing, dancing, singing, and acting on Committees; they go along every evening after an 11 hour factory day.

Stoke has similar clubs, but in Coventry no building is available. Perhaps, therefore, the new hostels might open their administrative block of lounges, canteens, and libraries to the girls who stay in digs.

Knowledge of these clubs and their whereabouts is given in a leaflet, and sometimes Welfare Officers tell new girls about the clubs or distribute membership cards. Most girls, however, hear about them through a friend. This seems an inadequate method. These clubs are so good I feel that every effort should be made to put the newcomers in touch with them. I would suggest that all clubs have their “scouts” in each works, who, with the help of the Welfare Officer, would contact every newcomer from Scotland to introduce them to club life. It is difficult to realise how often girls feel lost, particularly during the first few days, and especially if, as so often happens, they are separated and put on a different shift from their co-travellers.

Shopping and Money Problems

No arrangements have yet been made for shopping. Most girls have Saturday afternoon off, which is sufficient if their shopping is mainly personnel. Others have, however, to buy all their own food, and, as many landladies are volunteering for war work, shopping problems are likely to increase. Girls who have to buy food naturally have not the same chances as local women of getting a neighbour to do it for them. Some foremen appear to be very willing to release a worker for an hour's shopping; but the dangers of favouritism are obvious. A definite ruling that those buying their own food should have an agreed time off, or an arrangement with local merchants seems to be necessary before the problem for Scots girls becomes a grievance.

Food in the Midlands, particularly in the hostels and works canteens, is surprisingly plentiful. Very few girls complained of their food, although a few remarked on the wastage on canteen plates, and noted that before a Ministry of Food inspection the debris was hastily removed. Food in digs seems to be one of the major reasons for dissatisfaction. In digs which girls have found for themselves there is a different attitude and an appreciation of rationing difficulties. A similar attitude might be created in hostels and canteens by the election of a canteen committee of the workers.

Another background problem for girls away from home is the relation of wages to necessary outlay. The Ministry of Labour have effectively covered the expenses of the first days by a travelling grant of 10/- and a settling in allowance of 24/6d. Wages vary; the first rate in Birmingham is 52/- and is somewhat higher in the R.O.Fs. When 25/- are deducted for food and accommodation, 5/- for canteen meals, and a varying amount for travelling to and from work, there is very little left to send home. Although girls can earn as much as £5:18:6 a week, few do so in the first few weeks, and it is then that their reaction is determined. No doubt it would alleviate this difficulty in some measure if girls were told before leaving not to expect a high wage.

Factory Welfare

Through the co-operation of factory managements and the welcome of their labour managers, I was able to see the girls at work, and to meet them in the canteens. At first the managements were somewhat reluctant to let me visit the girls until assured that I was not there to invite grievances but rather to tell them what a grand job they were doing.

It was inspiring and heartening to find industry becoming so model in its wooing of labour. In all the factories welfare and medical services are developing; conditions are being adapted to meet the problems of transferred labour. Factory sites are mainly on the outskirts of the town or in the country; the buildings are generally of one story extending over a large area. This actually occasions a difficulty for the first few days; the girls feel very lost if they have come from a small factory in Scotland. The workshops are large and air-conditioned and the doors are left open on warm days. From talks with the workers I heard that many recent improvements have been made; they instanced the addition of backs to their stools after the Queen's visit.

Every factory provides canteen meals and an issue of chocolate and cigarettes for its workers; some of them have clubs of their own to which admission is automatic, the membership fee being deducted from their wages. Several have sports grounds and a recreation room; an entertainment committee organises dances and concerts during the lunch hour and on Saturday evenings. An interesting communal factory life is undoubtedly developing and is encouraged by the Welfare Officers.

Welfare services in the factories are under the Labour Manager. The new designation for women supervisors is Welfare Officer. Sometimes they have two assistants - one for outside work for meeting trains and billeting; the other for contacts in the factories. The attitude to, and the scope of welfare duties, vary but most officials do relate the girls' contentment to maximum efficiency. There does not seem to be yet a very clearly defined welfare policy. Managements say it is difficult to get the right type of women for the job and some ask us to send down Scotswomen. In many of the factories contact is very close; the Welfare Office is in the workshop; Officers can often spot Scots girls at once. They invite girls to bring their difficulties to their office; they help to billet them; they see to medical examination, supervise the issue of travel vouchers and extra clothing coupons, and refer wage problems to the right authority. I met one Dunde[Text Missing]nian who had packed up to go home but had been persuaded by her Welfare Officer to stay. She was now earning £5 a week. Others seem very conscious of the necessity for linking up the girls' routine jobs with the final result. In one factory the Welfare Official shows the girls the planes on their test flight. In another a girl spoke of a ride on a tank which she had been promised.

Most factories medically inspect girls on arrival, and there is a surgical unit in all workshops in case of accidents, but except in the R.O.Fs. these are rare, though girls seem reluctant to take proper precaution to prevent these, and refuse to wear caps to protect their hair from the machinery.

The factory nurses sometimes extend their medical attention outside the works and some of them talked to me of visits to workers in their digs. Detailed arrangements in case of illness are outlined in a Ministry of Labour leaflet, but in practise the girls seem frequently to depend on a kindly landlady. Welfare Officers might usefully be told more about medical services available outside the factory, and the amount of sickness benefit payable.

The Welfare Officers were eager to discuss with me their Scots problems which are many. Girls frequently absent themselves and occasionally run back home. Some managements ask if we are sending down our best material. They plead for a medical examination before the girls leave home as some arrive pregnant or are medically unfit for industrial work. Several companies express their desire to pay 5/- for a medical inspection to ensure the transference of only suitable material.

They suggest also that an enquiry into the past career of a girl would be useful. One worker, recently dismissed from the A.T.S., caused difficulties both in her digs and at the factory; the question of her dismissal was complicated by the Essential Work Order, and pending the decision of the National Service Officer, this girl caused considerable trouble and affected others.

Some Problems and Attitudes

From talks with girls, by inviting questions and stimulating discussion, I contacted a representative cross-section of opinion among the workers. The reaction of the girls to their work and to factory problems is instructive. They make frequent objections to the type of work, particularly in the R.O.Fs. They talk of accidents, of “noises off” they detail “what happened to a girl several weeks ago”. They refer often to the danger “the rash” and to skin diseases. Deservedly these girls wear a badge “On Front Line Duty”.

In other factories women find their work monotonous or not what they expected. Girls who had been promised aircraft production work are naturally annoyed when they are put in machine shops. Some transferred women are working in canteens or hostels and a few as navvies.

With some girls the type of work they are doing is related to the question of pay. They say in both Coventry and Birmingham that they are not given enough to do, that their machines are idle. Those who earn the flat rate of wages complain about its inadequacy when they are away from home, and again and again they said: “It's not what we were led to expect”.

The attitude of their fellow-workers and particularly of local girls, is frequently hostile. The English say “We don't want you here; you have come to do us out of our jobs.” At Swinnerton there seems to be real ill-feeling between the Pottery girls and the Scots; if the Inspector is English, “she takes it out of the Scots workers”. In one hall an advertised “Scottish Night” had the word “Scottish” deleted and an uncomplimentary term substituted. At another factory I found three newly arriveds weeping outside the canteen, having been told by other workers that all the tables were booked.

In contrast to this, several Birmingham factories have welcomed Scotland, and at least one in Coventry has inscribed “Bonnie Dundee” on its walls.

Most of the girls are nonchalent about absenteeism - they remain grudging and querulous until assured of the necessity of their work. From the questions most frequently put to me at meetings they are very doubtful of that necessity. They ask: “When will we be sent home?” “Are we going home in July?” (This rumour was current in Swinnerton). They asked, too, “Why aren't there more factories in Scotland?” “Why do we have to come down here?” “Why are English girls employed in Scotland?” Galashiels girls feel very bitter about this as they can instance English women doing their jobs in the Cala Mills. Other questions put to me were related to pay, to the type of work, to holiday transfer vouchers, and a few raised the question of post-war work and asked whether they would be on the dole after the war.

Although the discontented are in a minority, they are noisy and influential, and there seems here to be rather fertile ground for Communist propaganda. When I spoke to as audience of about 600 Scots girls their enthusiastic applause for a reference to Russia was noticeable; many of them were wearing the hammer and sickle badge. When a War Workers' Brains Trust was asked: “Are we a true democracy?” the workers cheered the member who held the belief that we must be Communist after the war.

After ten days of contacting girls in hostels, works and clubs, I went to see hundreds of them depart for Whit week-end in Scotland. They were willingly submitting themselves to a crowded, uncomfortable, unorganised journey. One girl at the station, on hearing that girls were still coming down weekly, said: “Poor kids; I hate to hear of them coming.” This girl was enjoying her job, was receiving good pay, was happily billeted. She was appreciative of the travel vouchers that had been issued, expressed her gratitude for the co-operation of the foremen in letting many of them work extra time the previous week so that they might go by the night train. Her remark, therefore, is all the more significant. It is being away from home, feeling homesick without an inspiring motive, that conditions the attitude of Scotswomen in the Midlands.

Some Suggestions

I would suggest that talks at Training Centres and Employment Exchanges might develop a sense of adventure. All talks to the girls, whether formal or informal, before leaving home should contain factual, detailed, and accurate information and should tend to under-estimate rather than over-estimate conditions in the South.

I should like to comment here on the amazing amount of welfare work, in the sense of being concerned in all that relates to the well-being of the girls, that has been done and is still being done by the very capable Welfare Officer for the Midlands, Mrs. Cavanagh. I feel, however, that something more could be done to alleviate the feeling of being in “furrin parts”. My suggestions are that there should be more contact between Scots workers and newcomers; the clubs “scouts” could perhaps contact their fellow countrywomen; in the factories Welfare Committees might have a Scots representative responsible for settling in “newly arriveds”. Somewhere, too, information might be made available of the whereabouts of other Scotswomen. It was touching to witness a reunion at the Scots Night when girls who had been down for months suddenly spotted a “kent” face. This gathering, which was organised by the National Council of Girls Clubs, was a great success. National gatherings outside the works are useful but anything with a national bias is to be avoided in the factories. There, and in the hostels and clubs, it might be useful to stage a kind of international debate - Scotland versus England. The local Padre at Swinnerton discussed this with me, and if it were possible to pay a return visit to the Midlands we could stage a series of these in different centres and possibly help to solve the racial problems. This short contact has been welcomed by the girls, and managements have asked why we did not do it before. If it were possible to arrange a regular contact, perhaps every three months, the girls would come to recognise a link with home especially those to whom I had talked before their transfer at Labour Exchanges. Factories could perhaps co-operate in providing “Scots Corners” either in their canteens or in a room set aside for this purpose, if we let them know in advance of our coming.

HOME INTELLIGENCE DIVISION

9th July, 1942.