Life on the Factory Floor (1962-1994)

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There is a saying in the engineering world that you can always tell if a man has ever worked on a press from the number of fingers he has missing…

It’s harsh, very harsh, working on the factory floor. These words ring out like a ballad refrain throughout Hughie Griffiths’ revealing, often shocking and always fascinating account of more than three decades’ service with an engineering company during turbulent times for British industry. The absence of politicking and the emphasis throughout on human values gives enormous weight to his calm assessment of the lot of the manual worker pitted against the uncaring system.

The incidents he relates are colourful and entertaining despite the surrounding grimness. You’ll meet the phantom cyclist, the RAF pilots lured off course by factory machinery, the director who sent out fake redundancy notices as a Christmas joke and the night manager with a weakness for chocolate. You’ll discover how to declare a factory’s asbestos levels ‘safe’ by taking the measurements in a different building, and how to wreck a ball- room with a cleaning machine. Along with demonstrating the toughness necessary to cope with the pressures of physical work and the daily injustices, the stream of anecdotes expresses the humour, camaraderie and compassion that exist on the factory floor.