The
factory was notorious for rumors, there seemed to be a new one every
week most of which I paid no attention to. However we all knew that the
elastics industry was in decline and it was only a matter of time. At
around 2002 we had a couple of months where we dropped down to a 4 day
week but that was forgotten about.
The
company had others factories abroad, one was in Mexico and another was
in Sri Lanka (I think they had others as well). On two occasions a large
group from these factories came to our factory and we had to show them
how to run the machines. I remember the Mexicans were ok but the Sri
Lankans were very annoying, they were constantly in your face and had
absolutely no concept of personal space. At one point the management had
them doing time and motion studies on us which none of us was happy
about.
Annoying
or not we all knew that we were being made to train the very people who
at some point in the future would be taking our jobs away from us. It’s
hard to imagine a company treating its employees any worse. Over 100
people would lose their jobs so a handful of owners could get rich.
The
whole thing made me reflect on the time I spent at the factory and how
things were. I’d always made an effort and had an exceptional record for
time keeping and punctuality. What difference did it make ??? at the
end of the day I got treated no better than those who couldn’t care
less, had 3 percent absence rates and came into work half hour late on
Monday morning stinking of alcohol on a regular basis. I was determined
that I was never going to be treated like that again.
March
2003 - We got the first official confirmation that the factory would be
closing down in the next couple of months. However we were told that
there would be room for some of us at another factory in Long Eaton. I
can’t say that I was interested and when others came back saying it was
an absolute dump I was interested even less.
I
had ideas in my head about going travelling at the time so I was just
going to stay at Charnwood until the end. It was only a 15 minute cycle
ride from home so at the very least it was convenient. Obviously there
was a mass exodus of people from the factory, some looking for new jobs
others relocating to Long Eaton.
By
May the closing date had been put back to August, then we were told we
would still be running as long as they still had some work. By this time
at least half of the workers had left and lots of the machinery was
just standing around idle waiting to be stripped out.
Strangely
enough that last half a year was actually the easiest time I had
working in the dyehouse. A lot of the idiots I didn’t like had gone, the
management didn’t bother me and all I had to do was just turn up and do
the job that was put in front of me. I didn’t even slack off and
continued working the machine right up until the last few days.
The
last friday in March 2004 the factory closed for good. I didn’t really
have much idea of what I was going to do at the time. Once I did leave I
never looked back, Charnwood elastics was a shockingly bad place to
work and I always regretted not getting out sooner.
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