Teesside Iron and Steel Memories Interview: Melvyn Bartliff

Background & early work:
Born 10/7/1939 in North Ormesby
Brought up in a 2up/2down terrace house in N Ormesby, a very close knit community
Everybody knew each other
Nobody locked doors, it was a very safe area
The rent-man let himself in, collected money & locked up on his way out
Children played in the street until dark (or hungry!)
Everyone worked at the steelworks or in the neighbouring factories
School at Highfleet Infants, Sweet Street Juniors & Lawson Sec Modern, all in N Ormesby
Enjoyed bird-watching & keen on agriculture, but was always going to work in the steelworks
Long family links - grand-father, father, uncles & cousins all in the works
Joined at 15yrs old on a 5yr apprenticeship as a furnace bricklayer until he was 20
Job was to lay firebrick linings in all molten metal vessels (furnaces, ladles etc)
Ladles were lined cold, but furnaces were often lined hot (cooled, but still hot)
This required specialist clothes - wooden spats on the feet
Sweat towels around the mouth to stop lungs scorching
Dash into the furnace, lay 3 or 4 bricks & dash out again
Needed salt tablets & lots of fluids
Only did this job when qualified, not as an apprentice
All apprentices worked for an experienced bricklayer who had had a bad accident and seriously injured his hands
He taught the basics of the trade
Started on day shift, then at 17yr moved to 6-2 & 2-10 shifts until 18yr, then on to nights
Shift-work took some getting used to!
Most of the young men followed their fathers in to the steelworks
MB stayed in the same job for 25 years, doing the whole range of bricklaying tasks
Major jobs were furnace re-lines which were done cold & could take several weeks
In between these, other jobs would be fitted in (including maintenance tasks on buildings etc)
Travelled to work by trolley bus ('the trackless') from N Ormesby to Eston, but his Dad used to walk to work
Worked with his Dad, a shift foreman, on the same shift for quite some time
Dad's cousin was also a shift foreman and his grand-father had been manager of the department (before MB's time)
Dad, 6 uncles & 7 or 8 cousins were all in the same dept. of about 50 bricklayers & 150 labourers, the biggest dept. in the Works
Some very hard men there, hard drinkers as the work was so tough
MB never drank - only water or soft drinks
Needed lots of water & salt tablets when doing the hot flue linings
One of the worst jobs was repairing a hole in the roof of a furnace
Had to climb on top of the hot furnace and patch the hole while the gases were blowing through
Very tough work, but paid well - double time bonus

Working relationships & social aspects:
Got on well with management (partly because family were foremen)
MB was offered a foreman role but declined
Management all came through the ranks so knew the 'tricks of the trade'
During early days on his dad's 2-10 shift, the men would work hard until 7pm, the go to the pub outside the gates, 'The Ruin'. Dad sent MB to tell them he'd be on his rounds at 8pm, so all were back working in time
There was a general acceptance of a 'fair day's work'
Everyone was in the union, the National Association of Building Trade Workers, and union dues were deducted from salary
All workers 'clocked-on', and there was a series of warnings applied for lateness
5 mins late meant loss of an hour's pay
More than that lost 2 hours
A series of warnings for repeat lateness, culminating in sacking
Bricklayers had to work during the annual works' shut-down and take holidays at other times at management instruction
Could be April or October, with no choice available
Worked 44 hr week on shifts with different days off each week
When first started, he worked 6 x 6-2 shifts, then 6 x 2-10, then 6 nights & this was really hard
Then changed to 2 x 6-2, 2 x 2-10, 2 nights & 2 days off, though 1 day off was effectively lost after night shift
Left only 1 day to socialise
There was a works' social club (Cargo Fleet Working Men's Club) but many men preferred their own local pubs in N Ormesby
MB played in the works' football team, as long as shift patterns allowed
They also had good cricket teams and works' brass band
MB went to the pub (even though he didn't drink), cinema etc
Canteen facilities were poor & most men took their own 'bait'
They ate in the 'Cabin', a big communal rest room
A 'cabin-man' was employed & he filled mugs of tea for break times
An old coal-burning stove was used to warm up pies etc
No hot water, only cold
50 or 60 men would use the Cabin at a time
The women at home always had meals on the table for men coming in from shifts
Life oriented around shift times
Very few people were out of work then - only those who did not want work
Several women worked in the mills then, as crane drivers and making fish plates for rails
Health & Safety was very basic, but there were not many accidents - the men generally made a good job of whatever they did
An ambulance station was available for minor cuts etc
Very happy at work - remembers as a child how everybody knew him through his father & grand-father at the works
Money was good, especially with bonuses - didn't worry about the unhealthy work then
Lots of smoke & pollution everywhere - red dust all over
Stayed 25yrs until the works closed, then went to agricultural college at Guisborough