Staffrider Vol.6 No.2 1985 - DISA

orkingomenMabel was a garment worker for twenty years — until shediscovered that the dresses she made in one day sold formore than a week's wages.I don't remember the year, but I left my two kids at homeand went to look for a job in Parktown.I left my children. I said to myself, 'These children can talk,they can say "I'm hungry" or "I want to pee". They areclever enough.' So I left them with my granny and went towork.I got a job as a domestic. I was there five years. The madamwas nice, the master was nice. I liked the work.But I left because of my grandmother. She became ill and Iwent to look after her. I took two weeks off. In the secondweek my granny passed away. There was nobody to lookafter my kids. I started to panic.I started to look for a job where I could come home everynight — factory work or something.I struggled to find work. So I took some of my savings andwent to an industrial school. You know, there's a school tolearn sewing on industrial machines. I learnt how to useoverlock, line stitch, buttonhole. I paid R25 per month forsix months, and I learnt how to sew.It was in the sixties — there were ten of us in the class. Wegot jobs in a clothing factory. I started with overlock,waistline, and sideseams.I worked for many years — in three different clothingfactories. I left my last job in 1980. This is what made meleave the job. They started to make funny ways of work —they were very strict with us. We had to make twenty-twodresses a day. They didn't care about the patterns. If it wasa difficult pattern we could only make three or four dressesa day. But they just wanted the work. If you couldn't makea large amount they would shout at you and threaten to fireyou. At that time I was earning R52,95 a week.One Tuesday we were doing tennis dresses. You know, atennis dress is a little thing like that. And those dresses costR59 and some coins!Anyway those dresses were wrong — the collar. They hadcome from another factory. The supervisor called me. Sheknew: Mabel is here, Mabel can fix it quickly. She piled allthe dresses in front of me.The thing that made me mad was this. That dress was R59and I was earning a lower wage than that dress! You know,if you were doing alterations they used to take off the pricetags.You mustn't see the price. But this time they forgot.I started to sew — two, three, four dresses. The supervisorasked me to hurry because they were waiting for the dresses.Oh I was cross. I said to the supervisor, 'Come here. Howmuch is this?' I took out my payslip and pointed out theamount I was earning. 'And how much is this?' I showedher the price-tag. Then I said, 'Do you want all these dressesthis week?' She said yes.I said, 'No, I'm leaving now.' I didn't say anything else. I justput my scissors, my tape — everything of mine — in a drawerand I went out. Until today.It's been two years since I last worked in a factory. I'm athome sewing and selling what I make. I won't work in afactory again.(Mabel was interviewed in November 1983.)A cashier in a parking garage.A worker in a leather factory.24 STAFFRIDER, VOL. 6 NO. 2, 1985