Stamped and pressed metal workers
The Stamped or Pressed Metal Wares Trade Board (Great Britain) was established in 1920 and regulated the wages of employees of companies which used machinery to stamp or press component parts or complete items out of sheets of metal. Birmingham was a significant centre for the industry in Britain and many of the documents included in this collection relate to companies in the city and surrounding area.
The trade board papers in the Trades Union Congress archive include 7 files relating to the Stamped or Pressed Metal Wares Trade BoardLink opens in a new window between 1920-1928. As part of the Modern Records Centre's 'Sweated trades' digitisation project, we have made a selection of these documents available online, including the items highlighted below. It is also possible to browse all of the digitised material relating to the Stamped or Pressed Metal Wares Trade BoardLink opens in a new window.
Illustration: New workshop of George Salter & Co. Ltd., West Bromwich. The photograph was included in The Journal of Industrial Welfare and Personnel ManagementLink opens in a new window, 1931.
Scope of the Trade Board:
Not all workers in Trade Board regulated industries were eligible for the minimum wage, employees who were regarded as doing peripheral jobs (such as messenger, delivery driver, etc.) could be excluded. In some cases the Trade Board was required to rule on 'questions of scope' - whether the work of certain employees came within the scope of the Board (and the minimum wage). Submissions to the Board on questions of scope can include information about manufacturing processes and types of work done by individual employees.
Proposed evidence to the Cave Committee, 1921Link opens in a new window
The Cave Committee was a government inquiry into the operation of the Trade Board system. This rough draft of the evidence of H. Dawson, representative of the National Brass and Metal Mechanics, includes information about the background to and scope of the Stamped or Pressed Metal Ware Trade Board. Letters by J.J. Mallon and Madeline J. Symons commenting on Dawson's proposed evidence are also included.
Queries about application of the Board to individual businesses, 1921Link opens in a new window
Includes extracts from correspondence with individual companies and workers, including Rainsford & Lynes Ltd., Birmingham; Wolseley Motors Ltd., Birmingham; Miss L.A. Hughes, employee of John Roberts, coachbuilder, Bangor; Bifurcated & Tubular Rivet Co. Ltd., Aylesbury; Butlers Ltd., Birmingham; John Smith Ltd., Birmingham; S.J. & E. Fellows Ltd., Wolverhampton; and A.G. Sutherland Ltd., Birmingham.
Outline of the types of work included and excluded from the scope of the Trade Board, from metal pencil cases to typewriters.
Includes extracts from correspondence relating to individual companies and workers, including Frank O. Gibbons, charge hand, Birmingham; Carr & Co. Ltd., Carlisle; and John Wilday & Sons, Birmingham.
Copy correspondence re question of scope: grading of Mrs Gardner, 1922Link opens in a new window
Mrs Gardner was employed at Serck Radiators, Greet, Birmingham.
The letters include some information about Audley's work as a thimble grater.
Copy correspondence re individual questions of scope, 1922-1923Link opens in a new window
Includes the case of Mrs Elsie Davenport, solderer at Harrison's brass foundry, Birmingham.
The Trade Board circular includes a summary of the types of products that were defined as "metal small wares", including different types of fittings, lids for jars, ash trays and other smoking paraphernalia, stationery items such as drawing pins, paper clips and pencil cases, cycle and motorcycle accessories such as bells, clips and brackets, stair rods, picture frames and a range of other small metal items.
Question of scope at M. Myers & Sons Ltd., Birmingham, 1925Link opens in a new window
Copy correspondence and report, including list of articles manufactured by the firm.
Copy correspondence about whether the work of the company (including production of back plates for cabinet handles by cold stamping or pressing, manufacture of door and window fittings, and production of parts for cycle bells and candlesticks) came within the scope of the Trade Board.
Short report regarding visits to two polishing shops, 1925Link opens in a new window
The Chairman and Deputy Chairman of the Trade Board visited two firms to look at the types of work classified as polishing and relieving.
Wages and working conditions:
'Day-work rates for females', 1918Link opens in a new window
Leaflet showing the wages agreed between the National Amalgamated Harness and Saddlery Furniture Trades and the Metal Workers' Association in 1918. It was sent with a summary of information about wagesLink opens in a new window supplied by a meeting of "Women Trade Unionists" employed in the Walsall Harness and Saddlery trade, 1921.
Minimum rates of wages fixed for male and female workers, 1920Link opens in a new window
Summary of the Trade Board rates.
Notice of the proposal. This would have been pinned up in workshops for employees to read.
Order confirming minimum rates of wages for female workers, 1923Link opens in a new window
Summary of the Trade Board rates.
Summary of the Trade Board rates.
Objections:
Each change to the recommended minimum wage was publicised by the issuing of printed notices by the Trade Board. Individuals and organisations then had a set period of time during which they could submit formal written objections to the proposed changes. Inevitably, when wage rates increased most objections were sent in by employers; when rates were reduced most objections were sent by trade unions or workers.
Objections to reduction in proposed minimum wage rates, 1921Link opens in a new window
Copies of letters from James Cartland & Son Ltd. of Birmingham, W.H.& G. Walker & Co. of Birmingham, F. Whiston & Co. of Crewe, Hammond Turner & Son Ltd. of Birmingham, British Thomson-Houston Co. Ltd. of Rugby, the Birmingham branch of the National Federation of Women Workers, and members of the National Union of General Workers, Women Workers' Section, employed in Birmingham at Millers, Kynocks Ltd. and Lucas Ltd.
Objection to proposed minimum wage rates, 1921Link opens in a new window
Copy of a letter sent by Wilmot Manufacturing Co., Birmingham. The author objects to the Trade Board wages complicating negotiations between trade unions and the employers' federation.
Objection to proposed minimum wage rates for children, 1923Link opens in a new window
Copy of a letter from Tiptaft Ltd. of Birmingham. The author particularly objects to "absurdly high" and "idiotic" rates for girls aged under 15.
Objections to proposed minimum rates of wages, 1924Link opens in a new window
Copy correspondence between the British Thomson-Houston Co. Ltd., Rugby, and the Office of Trade Boards about the method of calculating wages (hourly v. weekly); and letter from Thomas E. Timmins, "interested worker" of Birmingham, referring to the "pittance" given to workers on short time.
Objection calling for the suspension of the Trade Board, 1925Link opens in a new window
Copy of a letter from J. Bailey & Co., Walsall, entering a "strong protest" against the proposed minimum wages and calling for "manufacturers [to] be given a free hand with regard to their labour" as they are "collectively fighting against foreign competition".
Objection to proposed minimum wage rates, 1925Link opens in a new window
Copy of a letter from W.E. Cooke of Crown Works, Bordesley, Birmingham. He refers to the problems of his business due to "Continental competition".
Objection to proposed minimum wage rates, 1926Link opens in a new window
Copy of a letter from T.N. Waldron Ltd., Avon Works, Stratford on Avon. The author calls for "special rates" for "small county towns" like Stratford, due to lower cost of living and workers being "not so quick as those in the large industrial areas".
Summary of 92 objections to the proposed minimum wage rates, 1926Link opens in a new window
59 of the 92 objections followed a standard form and argued that "the industry cannot bear further burdens" and "the creation of grade rates is unnecessary".
Learners, juvenile workers and training:
Employment of juveniles in the stamped or pressed metal wares trade, 1922Link opens in a new window
Ministry of Labour draft memorandum, with covering letter. It was written following a meeting with a deputation from the Juvenile Employment Committee of the Birmingham Central Care Committee, who had called for better training and "a more systematic method of entry into the industry". The section on training includes references to "restlessness ... due in part to the simplification of processes, the consequent lack of incentive to the juveniles to learn the trade and the general monotony of the work".
Exempted workers:
Trade Boards could issue permits of exemption which allowed employers to pay less than the minimum wage. Permits were given to workers who were regarded as having a physical or psychological disability which affected their work. Applications (usually submitted without the employees' names) include short medical profiles of the individuals.
The Stamped or Pressed Metal Wares Trade Board papers include a series of applications for permits of exemption and statements of permits granted. These include cases relating to workers who were described as having a range of physical and psychological symptoms, including "advanced age", "deformed" hands or feet, deafness, rickets, "spinal complaint", being "mentally undeveloped" and having "lack of intelligence".
An index to these documentsLink opens in a new window is available.
Inspection and enforcement:
Table listing the names and addresses of companies, whether or not they were posting up notices and keeping wage and time records, and the amount of arrears owed if workers had been underpaid.
Short report of legal proceedings against individual employer:
W.H. Thomas & Sons, Birmingham, 1926Link opens in a new window