Cartographier et se souvenir des lieux liés à l'industrie lainière : fermeture et continuité du travail de la laine dans toute la péninsule maritime.
Transcript for Olivia's audio
Audio Clip #1 “Even if I would have not come from that…”
I think if I would not have come form that educational background, I would not have know like how harmful the industry can be…um it’s just so much material that even to complete your projects ever term you have to lug so much around. Even at a couple of the jobs I had sewing for brands we would have problem with our scraps and so always have to deal with it but even that was just at a very very small scale. So it was always overwhelming the material waste that was happening at school and in jobs that I had. So I got a personal interest in recycling fabrics, and I remember in high-school I was excited about that before I went into formal university training… I had a project where I where I was working in the back of thrift store with donations that they couldn’t sell and making creative projects with them. It wasn’t paid or anything, it was just after school that I would go there and spend a couple hours every evening---well not every evening, but every couple.
Audio Clip #2 “I think that it is really integral to my process…”
I think that it is, really integral to my process and motivation, is utilizing what is already there, it gives me an artistic signature as well. It provides a lot of limitation and there are things that are inconvenient about it and makes it laborious and time consuming. I think when I was sixteen at the thrift store, I thought that I was really making a big difference, being that young, you start to feeling that the more you know, the more you don’t know. [Laughs] You really like think that you are making a dif---[laughs] not to say that I am not making any difference now, but I think the more that I learned after those years about the textile industry in general, I realized that one brand upcycling is not the difference that needs to be made, it’s everyone, and large scale fast fashion needs to be doing it as well. When I was younger, I thought that it made a difference more than it really did, but still as the years go on I still want to recycle, that’s for sure.
Audio Clip #3 “So after the grant…”
So after the grant ended I decided to work for another sewing company again, it’s just always sewing production but it’s still not so bad because it is in my field. I am always still grateful when I can have an income that is not from food service since that is what I did up to my degree. I always check myself to be “well, I guess I am grateful that I am still in my field”--- But then yeah, I have to kind of juggle between the work that is more consistent and more reliable, regular paychecks, sewing for other companies and my own work that I eventually want to post it and sell it and also just have the creative freedom and off times….. and production work really gets into your psyche, that focus on efficiency and speed, and um….it’s really refreshing when I get a moment to not focus on being productive… it’s rare--- but I think it is like…healthy as a human being? [Pauses thoughtfully] Yeah, and I think sewing is not--- there is a lot of new machinery and technology in the fashion industry that we have now, but ultimately when you are maneuvering fabric under a sewing machine, I think only humans can do that? Certain aspects can be assisted by machines, and we get that more and more. So, we always have to remember that with clothing consumption---- and it is a very tiring work, physically tiring as well. I am trying to find the balance.
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Audio Clip #4 “That um, should be in all industries, but I do notice it in fashion especially.”
That um, should be in all industries, but um I do notice it in fashion especially because there are a lot of elements of the fashion brand that aren’t … there is like the online, social media, influencers, marketing, so those sections are more well compensated than the actual sewers as a rule. When I recently changed jobs because of feeling very underpaid as a sewer, I discovered the structure of the company that I am with now seems to have a more even distribution of pay across the company and less hierarchical work environment. So I think it is just a distribution of wealth problem?
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Audio Clip #5 “As a person that sews for fashion companies in Canada, I feel underpaid but…”
As a person that sews for fashion companies in Canada, I feel underpaid but and uh holding the bulk of the work on our shoulders as the production people to produce the value for the company which is the product….but it pales in comparison to young female garment workers in Bangladesh, India or China making garments for huge fast fashion brands. Again it is a distribution of wealth because the CEO of Zara is a billionaire…. and Zara produces in really terrible underpaid working conditions and the people who produce the value for that billionaire are so underpaid. So it’s the same thing, an issue of distribution and like fairly distributing profits to the people who generate value. [exasperated laugh]
Transcript for Mary's audio
Audio Clip #6 “I did, but it was….I was tired, but I did because I wanted to….”
I did, but it was… I was tired, but I did because I wanted to…. But yeah part of it was the reason that I didn’t mind a job like that, and the reason I sought out a job like that was, because it wasn’t very intellectually taxing. So for example when I was working at the call center, I was very tired because people were interacting with you all day and you have to write emails. Working at the factory it’s quite repetitive usually, and physically it might be taxing, but it didn’t drain me so much of my energy to work on my own projects. I mean it did but not to the extent that costumer service would have. So I did but obviously it is nice to have more time to do that.
Audio Clip #7 “I don’t think it was being around fabrics so much, as it was just the fact that…”
I don’t mind manual labour, um and it wasn’t the worst manual labour, and it was very chill, I think that is why I stayed there honestly. It didn’t have much to do with the textiles, to be honest. It was more that once I had learned the job I had a lot of independence, I was able to go in and nobody was like watching me or anything, and I could listen to music and podcasts and just do my job and then leave. In terms of doing my projects on the side I found that to be really good that I never had to stress about what I had to do at work and I never had to think about it when I left. It was just like, “go in an do it” and I can go home and work on my stuff and not be stressed about work. I think that was more it… And also, their other company had unionized so we had some of the benefits of that, that other jobs might not have had, we had health benefits and so that was another reason to stay, a lot of other jobs which were similar wouldn’t have had dental insurance or whatever…which was nice.
Audio Clip #8 “I don’t think I would have stayed at that job if, they had told me that I could only “
I don’t think I would have stayed at that job if, they had told me that I could only take 2 weeks vacation, and I ended up taking more, it wasn’t paid vacation but it was like, I didn’t stress about having to take time off at Christmas, because I already took 2 weeks off in the summer. I just don’t want to have to stress about that if I am working a job that I am not getting paid a lot, I want to be able to do that. They were very understanding of that, so yeah I think a lot of it was the culture, it was pretty laid-back. They were pretty nice, which actually makes a big difference in terms of getting employees to stay…
Audio Clip #9 “It’s not relating often times to your pay, it’s not like you are getting a huge salary…“
It’s not like it is often relating often times to your pay, it’s not like you are getting a huge salary to be relied on, usually you are getting paid quite poorly with no benefits. It doesn't make sense to be relied on that much. It’s definitely how I felt at the first company I worked at, where there was always huge pressure on timelines, there was not very many employees and we were always getting pushed to do more. And I was like “I’m just a student and this is weird that I have to be relied on to make these big goals”. It doesn’t necessarily translate… um yeah.
Audio clip #10 “Sewing is a skilled trade, but I feel like it is not treated that way, um so…”
I don’t know it could also be about like, it’s the trade in that more women are doing it so maybe that contributes to it, I don’t know. I guess…a lot of it just comes down to be paid more, because you have to work less if you are making more money, which just makes your life better. [laughs] So, I don’t know, if they want more people. But I think the issue potentially is that they don’t need to do that because there is enough people that are willing to work for cheap, there are also places where you can go in other countries to get really cheap labour. So for an example the printer that I worked at that company they have the same printer operating in other countries like India, where they have a team of 10 people working on that printer instead of just one person and they run it 24 hours a day and make a lot of money. The can only reason they do it because they pay people really low wages. As long as that is happening I don’t know how the Canadian thing will work. Um… I think the owner of the business has to care enough… I think it has to come from a place where they like, they are wanting to do something bigger than running a company where they are wanting something conceptually or they care about it a lot for some reason. Like they want to bring back the industry in Canada or something? But if it is just about operating a business they I feel like people will inevitably make choices like not paying people well, taking advantage of people in new situations, who like just moved to Canada and like the things that are not great when it is just about money.
Audio Clip #11 “But it is also hard, I think people do go in with the best intentions, like the company…
That I worked at before was trying to something sustainable and make change. But even when you have that concept you’re still having to deal with the day to day, you need to hire people and make money….um so I don’t know if it can be solved…I don’t know, it’s tricky…the idea that can change be made within a company when it’s still having to operate in the bigger system of capitalism. Obviously there is a spectrum of companies that are good to work for and companies that are shitty to work for, I guess you can just make peoples lives better by not being a dick…[laughing]