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Part 1 Selection and recruitment
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Were your
skills recognised by British employers?
In the West Indies your trade is respected. When
I came to England my skills were not recognised.
It does not matter what skill you have. Even if
you were a teacher in the West Indies - here, it
is ignored. You are told to sweep the floor. They
see that you are black, therefore your job is to
sweep the floor. The people who had it harder -
most were the early settlers who came in the 50s
and 60s. |
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When I started my course
at Wulfrun College, I studied a combination of subjects
including English. When I started that course I
realised that I couldn't do the correspondence course
at B??? College in Sheffield. Sheffield seemed a
very distant place. Also they were telling me that
I had to go back to the West Indies in order to
the correspondence with them! I just wanted to learn
about cavity walls!
In the Caribbean we don't have cavity walls; we
have split level wall, but not the double cavity
wall to carry…?
So why do you think that you did not have the opportunity
to learn these skills or to finish engineering?
The reason is that one of my colleagues was studying
building, engineering and draughtsmanship and was
working with the boss. When he finished his course
he could not find work. He was told no one will
work with him because he is black, even though his
ability was as good as the tutor's. They advised
him (Watson) to return to his own country. When
he heard this, and that they had stopped him gaining
promotion, he decided to leave, even pack. Though
he was married to a white woman, when you come here
things were quite negative. |
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My father
said I can't afford for you to go to college - because
things weren't free as they are now. I can't afford
for you to go to college, because I've got five
other children to take care of. I am the only one
working. I can't afford it. Plus, I have to take
care of them. So college wasn't on.
So when I got my first job we went to the employment
bureau and she said to me 'your memory isn't good.
I don't know what we can give you to do'. And this
was one of the teacher's reports that my memory
wasn't good. Admittedly, I can't say my memory wasn't
good then - but I wouldn't be surprised of it wasn't
good because of all I have to think about after
school and before school.
I didn't take it as a burden. I did it joyfully.
But nevertheless I think. I think, it ended me somewhat
- as getting on with myself - you know - academically.
I found I had to go to work, and my father would
say, 'You won't get a job in a office. You won't
get a job here. You won't get a job there - because
you're black'. My father had that belief, so when
we went to the bureau and she said, 'Oh, your memory
is not good' - my father said, 'Anything'. |
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In those
days a lot of work was engineering and because of
this I was a bit choosey. It was easy to get work
down a coal pit, mining, but I didn't want this.
Jobs - you could get jobs, but they were menial.
You weren't able to get jobs according to you educational
ability. You just had to take what was given to
you. So that limited my scope. I felt engineering
did provide me some chances. I could read instruments.
I was quite numerate and literate. I did not have
problems measuring and gauging items which were
manufactured - so I did not have any problems. I
was quite happy to work in factories |
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Identify the factors that opened up or limited employment
for the interviewees
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