South Yorkshire Times, May 2nd , 1970
First phase expansion jobs at G.E.C. factory will be for women
Mexborough area’s female school leavers and unemployed have received a big jobs boost this week with the news that up to 300 women are needed to fill vacancies created by expansion at the G.E.C.s Swinton factory. But the good news for Mexborough’s unemployed is tinged with disappointment – for as yet the hoped-for jobs for men have not materialised.
G.E.C. announced earlier this year that jobs would be available due to the switching of production to Swinton from the Morphy-Richards plant at St. Mary Cray (Kent). But it was hoped at that time that some of the vacancies created, when the G.E.C. sister company closed their Kent works, would be for men.
A GEC spokesman told the “South Yorkshire Times” this week “the type of product we are to make comes under the heading of portable appliances and for this we need female labour.”
Switch-over
“I am not saying this means there will be no jobs for men but at the present time and with this particular phase of the switch-over, we want women to fil the vacancies.”
A total of 300 women will be needed over the next three to five months to take over the work from the Kent factory, which employs 1,200 staff. A gradual phasing down of production at St. Mary Cray is now taking place.
Unemployment figures for the Mexborough area at present are still high with 957 men, 69 boys, 176 women, and 34 girls out of work. The 1,240 total is slightly worse than last month when 1,212 were out of work
In the Goldthorpe area there are 525 men, 23 boys, 107 women and 12 girls unemployed. The overall total of 667 is also up on last month’s figures.
Mr. Ken Pate, Manager of Mexborough Employment Exchange told the “South Yorkshire Times” yesterday: “I am not disappointed with this news, as we will have little difficulty in filling these vacancies. The position as far as jobs for women is concerned is now satisfactory, but if we were to get a similar block of work offered to men, we would be a lot better off. Of course, we are hoping the G.E.C. may still have vacancies for men in the near future because we just don’t have jobs for them at the present time.”
Building trade
Mr. Pate pointed out that the area had been hit by a slump in the building trade, which had kept the unemployed figures at 6% – far worse than the national average. He said “There are 234 building trade workers on our books at Mexborough, and 103 at Goldthorpe. This is our main problem and it is not likely to be alleviated until the trade picks up on a national level.”
An advertisement for the Swinton jobs will appear in next week’s issue of the “South Yorkshire Times” after which applications can be made for the vacancies at the G.E.C. factory.