Tram Conductor's Uniform

Description:Transport Workers in South-West Birmingham

This tram conductor’s uniform represents the human dimension of a mechanised response to suburban needs. A vast army of drivers, conductors, mechanics, cleaners and clerks underpinned <a href="http://www.search.suburbanbirmingham.org.uk/engine/resource/default.asp?resource=1837">Birmingham City Transport</a> (BCT).^{<small>1</small>} As well as being a vital component in the development of the City and its suburbs, BCT was also a significant employer; not least in south-west Birmingham which in 1950 was served by four depots.^{<small>2</small>} Previously regarded as an employer of choice and a safe haven during economic distress, BCT lost some of its appeal in the post-war period and suffered recruitment problems, unsettled industrial relations, and racial intolerance.

In the tramway era, distinctive vehicles running on fixed infrastructure bestowed on tram crews something of the cachet of the locomotive driver, generally regarded as the elite of <a href="http://www.search.suburbanbirmingham.org.uk/engine/resource/default.asp?resource=1851">working class occupations</a>. The rigours of the timetable and the focus of crews on particular depots imparted discipline and camaraderie, characteristics that later applied to trolleybus and bus crews. Social and welfare facilities were developed to mitigate the worst aspects of shift working and, through inter-depot competition, to strengthen working relationships and a sense of commitment to BCT. In the absence of universal welfare provision, BCT’s staff facilities helped to attract recruits, including Harold Rowley who was based at the Selly Oak Depot.^{<small>3</small>}

Women were invaluable to BCT, although their employment was sometimes controversial.^{<small>4</small>} Recruited during World War One to ensure essential transport services continued female employees were, however, displaced by returning male workers. Women were again prevailed upon during World War Two but, circumstances in 1946 had altered from 1919 and female employees continued to enjoy employment opportunities with BCT, albeit on inferior terms and duties. Birmingham’s factories remained at high production levels, switching from war operations to export driven consumer production. Almost full employment in the city generated additional demand for public transport, both to serve the factories and to indulge an evening entertainment boom in pubs, dance halls and cinemas. BCT’s ability to support this demand was hindered by its inability to match the wage levels and regular hours now offered by factories. Furthermore, the split shift patterns common with BCT no longer seemed so attractive. This recruitment hiatus offered women continued opportunities, if they could tolerate the inequalities. One such recruit was Pauline Morgan, an Irish conductress who lived in Balsall Heath.^{<small>5</small>} Morgan also illustrates BCT’s increasing reliance on immigrant workers in the post-war period. It became the largest British bus employer of Irish workers.^{<small>6</small>} Direct recruitment in Ireland by Birmingham employers had begun in 1941, to strengthen war production in factories like ICI Witton and Austin at Longbridge, and this policy was maintained by BCT after the war with its recruitment base in Dublin (see <a href="Recruitment" target="_blank">http://www.search.suburbanbirmingham.org.uk/engine/resource/default.asp?resource=1819">Recruitment in Eire</a>).^{<small>7</small>}

The company's dependence on immigrant labour was augmented by African Caribbean and Asian crews, including Raja Mohammed Shafi who, in 1954, became BCT’s first non-white conductor.^{<small>8</small>} His appointment marked the end of a <a href="http://www.search.suburbanbirmingham.org.uk/engine/resource/default.asp?resource=1831">colour bar</a> that had prevented Black and Asian people working in passenger-facing roles with BCT.^{<small>9</small>} Shafi and other colleagues would continue to encounter prejudice with an often hostile ‘canteen culture’ prevailing. However, BCT had finally taken the essential first step towards breaking down false barriers between people; something lacking in cities such as Bristol even a decade later.^{<small>10</small>}


<font color="#666633"><small>¹ Originally known as the Tramways Department, it became the Tramways and Omnibus Department in 1927 and Birmingham City Transport in 1937.
² Cotteridge, Harborne, Selly oak, Trafalgar Road (Moseley Road).
³ Birmingham Tramways Gazette (October 1929), p.3 [BA&H: L47.62106] Later called the Transport Gazette, this was BCT’s staff magazine and gives an overview of social activities.
⁴ In common with other employers, BCT paid women reduced rates when compared to men and restricted work entitlements to periods of severe shortages of male workers. It was not until the 1970s and the need to support One Person Operation that women regularly drove buses in peace-time, often converting from conductress duties.
⁵ News Chronicle, ‘The Morgans are a fine example’, 02/03/1954 [BA&H: Birmingham News cuttings / ‘Ethnic communities 1954-1968’].
⁶ J. Moran, Irish Birmingham. A History (2010), p.164
⁷ J. Moran, p.163; Transport Committee Minutes, vol.25, resolution 4772, and report of General Manager, Recruitment in Eire (1951-1952)
⁸ Birmingham Gazette (24 March 1954)
⁹ S. Dar, ‘Birmingham Buses and the Colour Bar’ (2007), www.connectinghistories.org.uk (viewed 28/03/2011). For further information about opposition to the colour bar in Birmingham, see ‘A Man’s a Man’, www.connectinghistories.org.uk/exhibitions (viewed 28 March 2011), and F. Tait, ‘Henry Gunter: campaigner for equality’ in Making Connections: Birmingham’s Black International History edited by I. Grosvenor, R. McLean and S. Roberts (2002)
¹⁰ D.J. Bubier, ‘Discrimination – the 1963 colour bar dispute at Bristol’ in The Newsletter of the Omnibus Society’s Provincial Historical Research Group 116 (July–August 2005), p.3. For further information about the Bristol colour bar, see M. Dresser, Black and White on the Buses (1986)</small></font>