Staples, M J [Adams Family Saga 04] On Mother Brown's Doorstep by Mary Jane Staples

Author:Mary Jane Staples
Language: eng
Format: mobi
ISBN: 9781446488270
Publisher: Transworld
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

‘IT AIN’T WHAT I’d like, guv,’ said Bert Roper, the man who looked after the maintenance and the security of the factory Sammy was renting in Islington until his new one was built in Shoreditch. Bert and his wife Gertie, supervisor of the sixty machinists, were in the factory office with Sammy and his brother Tommy, the manager. All three sons of Chinese Lady had something to offer the kind of world she believed in. They had manliness and a liking for hard work. Chinese Lady was proud of what they’d achieved, but never said so. They’d only get above themselves, and that was another thing she believed in, a man not getting above himself. She’d often had to tell Boots he knew too much for his own good. Still, he had very distinguished looks. And Sammy with his blue eyes that always looked as if he had an electric motor behind them, was sort of arresting. As for Tommy, well, he was as handsome as his late father, Daniel Adams, and that was saying something.

At this moment, Tommy and Sammy were up against the prospects of a strike in the manufacturing side of the rag trade. All the trade union workers were threatening to come out, whether they could afford to or not, and few could. But bosses were trying to make a case for cutting wages, which were already sinfully low. Even non-union workers in some of the sweatshops were thinking of supporting the strike. Trade union agents were haranguing them. They’d been at the seamstresses in Sammy’s factory.

‘It’s ’ard on Bert, yer see, Mister Sammy,’ said Gertie, ‘’im ’aving been a docker an’ still ’aving dockers for ’is mates. And it ain’t too easy for me an’ the girls.’

‘I’m takin’ your point, Gertie,’ said Sammy. ‘What you and Bert are sayin’ is that he’s goin’ to come out.’

‘I ain’t said that yet, guv,’ said Bert. He and Gertie were as loyal to Sammy as any two workers could have been, and even a bit more. Bert had given up his docker’s card to look after the factory, and he knew it was as steady and well-paid a job as any East End man could have wished. ‘We all know this fact’ry ain’t a union shop, so I don’t ’ave any legal standin’ if I come out on strike, which would mean you’d ’ave the right to sack me. But I’m a union man at ’eart, and you’re the only bloke I’d work for without a union card. In me ’eart, guv, I’m wantin’ to support the strikers.’

‘And not wantin’ yer mates to turn their backs on yer,’ said Gertie.

‘I can ’andle me own discussions, Gertie,’ said Bert.

‘Not without me you can’t, said Gertie. ‘I’m yer wife, for better or worse. If you’ve got problems, they’re my problems too. Mister Sammy, Bert’s an upset man about all this.’

‘So am I,’ said Sammy, thinking of the new contract. ‘I don’t know anything more upsettin’ than ruination.’

‘Bert’s got to make a gesture,’ said Tommy, ‘against low wages being cut to starvation level.

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