J and M Wilson
1999/150 J and M Wilson interviewed at their home by Dr Heather Holmes on 13 October 1999
000 Starting in Nelsons
014 Occupation of Mrs Wilson before she entered Nelsons; reasons for move to Nelsons; transport to work
056 Getting a job in Nelsons; advertisement; invoice typing
046 Training; strike of 1959; assistance of staff during strike; making up orders for dispatch; lessons learned during strike
103 Difficulties of invoicing; problems with Mackie Readers
114 Work during strike; collecting books for orders; picketing during strike; activities of men
135 Reaction of people on strike to people in office; work in collecting books
145 Students working during strike; cats in wareroom
160 Ronnie Nelson’s liking for cats; location of typing pool; Ronnie Nelson walking around factory; reaction of workers to seeing Ronnie Nelson; liking of trains; Ronnie Nelson and the strike
194 Cats in the factory
203 Good place to work
204 No mice; cat feeding during trades fortnight
213 Nelson’s relations with workers
216 Smoking; behaviour codes; smoking in the toilets
234 Activities at teabreaks
236 Size of typing pool; names of workers; marriages; work routine; weekly work pattern; role of individuals; books sent to locations throughout the world; dislike of jobs; difficulties of working with foreign invoices; checking invoices; accuracy of work
295 Night out
297 Dislike of certain jobs; work procedures; work practices; changing mistakes; checking process
320 Power samus; work of power samus department
328 Typing; standard prices; housekeeping money; prices
345 Typing work; observations on sales
354 Selling practices
363 Changes in invoicing work; work in stockbrokers and work procedures
378 Reputation of invoicing staff; length of service of workers
384 Marital status of workers in invoice department; reasons for leaving Nelsons
397 Takeover of Nelsons; atmosphere at work
402 Takeovers; redundancies; closure of departments
412 Move of editorial; names of editorial department
418 Thomson and redundancy; redundancy payment; level of payment
424 Jackie Wilson’s move to Morrison and Gibb; work history; work in John Menzies; getting a job in Nelsons
449 Size of packing area; packing materials and practices
456 Location of house; packaging materials used to line kitchen walls
468 Wareroom; roles; work tasks; organisation of wareroom
482 Layout of books
486 Classics; giving away of books
491 Looking out books; age and marital status of girls
495 Training
497 Packaging; filling boxes; scrap paper; techniques for filling boxes; complaints
510 Variation in standards of packers
515 Special invoice jobs to good typists
514 Special packaging for books for Africa; packing into pallets
521 Methods of lifting; packing railway containers
524 Distribution by railway; packing railway carriages
536 Distribution of book orders by lorry; loading methods; loading pallets; pallet sizes and loading methods
548 Shipping of books; invoices for books being shipped; shipping notes
552 Shipping; shipping arrangements
556 Arrangement of labour for invoicing; comparison of foreign and export work
569 Invoices; appearance; working with invoices; format of invoices
601 Work organisation of invoices; urgent work; making up invoices
636 Post section; books to England; names of booksellers
651 Office locations throughout world
658 Location of offices; size of orders; trade representatives; envelopes; work routine for filling in envelopes
695 Mail room; days of family bereavement
709 Addressing supervisors; relations with supervisor in invoicing
730 Addressing supervisors in wareroom; management structure of wareroom
741 Smoking; smoking rules
754 Hiding; places for hiding
762 Work ethic; attitude to work
764 Attitude towards work; expectations of work
774 Laughs; jokes about sexual orientation of workers
784 Good working atmosphere
791 Blue coat; joke for buying a new fur coat
815 Discussion of photographs; holidays
834 Joking amongst staff over delivery of a new fur coat
853 Sorting up house; work in Nature Conservancy
866 Embroidery work; discussion of work after Nelsons
883 Socialising; residential patterns of ex-Nelson friends
897 Socialising with department; types of social activities
903 Work with Nature Conservancy; socialising in Nature Conservancy; nature and length of friendships
921 Christmas dance and attendance
924 Overtime; days; Saturday working; negotiation of wage rates before start of employment
945 Ronnie Nelson; relations with workers
956 Nelson workers going to Collins of Glasgow
END