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	bohica
	 coventry  | 
	 
	1 of 6 
	Tue 10th Nov 2020  12:53am  
	 
	I came across reference to this strike yesterday but with very little detail other than it possibly started at AWA Baginton and spread very rapidly. I'm guessing from the reference that it was in the inter-war years but I don't know this for sure.
Deep in the recesses of my mind, I seem to remember a college lecturer referring to it in the early 70s warning us to not get involved in the general unrest of the day. IIRC, he said that as the apprentices were walking out the gate their 'cards' were being made up for them.
Can anyone shed any light on this at all, or point me in the right direction for research?
TIA 
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| Memories and Nostalgia - Coventry Apprentices Strike | |
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	mcsporran
	 Coventry & Cebu  | 
	 
	2 of 6 
	Tue 10th Nov 2020  1:18am  
	 
	This document may explain.
 
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| Memories and Nostalgia - Coventry Apprentices Strike | |
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	bohica
	 coventry Thread starter 
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	3 of 6 
	Tue 10th Nov 2020  2:24pm  
	 
	Thank you, mcsporran   
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| Memories and Nostalgia - Coventry Apprentices Strike | |
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	Mr Blue Sky
	 Abingdon, Oxfordshire  | 
	 
	4 of 6 
	Tue 10th Nov 2020  11:12pm  
	 
	I was in the Coventry Apprentices Strike in 1960 and was carrying a placard with 'WE'RE NOT MONKEYS, WHY PAY US PEANUTS?'. Walking down Corporation Street, some old ladies waiting for a bus shouted at us "Get back to work", which made us laugh.  
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| Memories and Nostalgia - Coventry Apprentices Strike | |
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	bohica
	 coventry Thread starter 
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	5 of 6 
	Wed 11th Nov 2020  1:48am  
	 
	Thank you, Mr Blue Sky.   
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| Memories and Nostalgia - Coventry Apprentices Strike | |
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	Mr Blue Sky
	 Abingdon, Oxfordshire  | 
	 
	6 of 6 
	Wed 11th Nov 2020  11:51pm  
	 
	The apprentices and trainees alike were cheap labour and in most cases were paid a fraction of a person over 21 years old for doing the same job. I started work at 8.00am and left at 6.00pm, and if you were 4 minutes late clocking in you were docked 15 minutes pay, also the same at lunchtime. Unlike today, if you didn't turn up, no pay. Strikes at one factory would affect other factories in the car industry as they supplied  parts to each other and most strikes were unofficial, otherwise the union would have to pay strike pay. My father worked at the Standard at Canley for over twenty years as an auto electrician and he was always being off work due to strikes at various suppliers. 
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| Memories and Nostalgia - Coventry Apprentices Strike | |
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