Item AAAB3983 - Peggy Kennedy interview

SUPPLIED TITLE OF TAPE(S): Peggy Kennedy : women war workers -- Boeing Aircraft RECORDED: Langley (B.C.), 1979-06-05 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Peggy Kennedy was born in [Hyder?], Alaska, emigrating to BC and studying at the University of Victoria. After the war was in its third year, she began to work at Boeing Aircraft. She was first a stores clerk and then a secretary to the foreman. She became involved in the union (IAM) and protested the lack of rest periods, participating in a sit-down which led to a lockout. Women at Boeing worked in electrical sub-assembly but not as machinists. Sub-assembly involved putting together a part of an aircraft. Women were working both in the Sea Island plant and the sub-plant of Georgia Street, where Mrs. Kennedy worked. Men and women received equal benefits and were paid for the job but did not receive equal promotion. Many of the women in war production were very young, both single and married, and for many it was their first job. Many women left their children with relatives; childcare was a major problem.. She worked monthly swing shift at Boeing and came to know many of the workers because of her job. She became involved with IAM as a rank and file member and began to write for the newspaper. She became a steward, secretary for the union and editor of the paper. The issues which faced the workers were rest periods, raises, consultation on production, and the abolition of supervision. After the war, both men and women were laid off, despite union efforts to shift the plant to consumer production through lobbies to Victoria and rallies.