Working on the Lines cont.

Work changed over the years – before the 1950s an individual woman might be responsible for packing whole boxes of chocolates, putting sweets into individual cups and then into the box according to a set pattern. Later, individual cups were replaced by vacuum formed trays (VFT). Women sat directly at the conveyor, placing only a couple of sweets into the trays as they went past.

The waste room, where women stripped waste sweets of their wrappers, was more relaxed and was often occupied by older workers. Most women worked on several different jobs and they had to adapt to being moved around.