A Displaced Factory Worker in the Late 1970sI was in charge of

A Displaced Factory Worker in the Late 1970sI was in charge of the other employees in the textile factory during the 1970s, and this was a job that I treasured due to its flexible nature. Unlike in the past, our supervisor gave us all the time that we required, to take care of family matters and other personal issues, just to ensure that our work in the factory was the best. It was a job that not so many people would land into since the employees were required to have at least gone past their primary education. The salary was not much, but it was enough to cater for family and personal needs, and we, therefore, had no complaints about its quantity.Being raised to the position of being in charge of the other employees was a prestigious thing since the top employees like me in the entire factory were less than five. My hard work, however, led to my selection from a significant number of people in the factory. All the employees were provided with houses, and even though they were not the best, they were enough and comfortable to live in. We had to stay far from our families, just to focus on our work, and this encouraged us to work even harder. The textile factory, however, began retrenching its employees, due to the machinery that was being introduced during that period and consequently replacing human labor. Many people lost their jobs, and the small number that was left was also not spared, we had to do jobs that were way below our skills, such as manual seam reaping, printing, and hemming garments. Machines were, however, becoming more than the employees in the factory, and eventually, we all lost our jobs. The loss of our jobs was not a voluntary thing, but we had to stay strong and face the challenge as it was. At least, while working in the factories, we were given a place where we could sleep, given food, water, and the nurses ensured that our health was okay. On losing my job, I faced it rough and had to start all over again, with issues such as housing and family care. All of the responsibilities were on me, whilst I had nowhere to get the money that was required to satisfy the family needs. No one in the family understood that I lacked the means to live and look after them, as they continued being as demanding as before. For the people who knew well about me, I was faced with the challenge of explaining to them the reasons behind our retrenchment. The society upheld the working class and treated them with extra respect, but after losing my position, I knew how ordinary a human being I was. No one recognized me in the public; neither was I give the respect that I received previously since I did not have a title that people could use to refer to me. It was a complete turn of events since I had to start another life that I was not previously used to.During the 1960s, we pushed for human rights, whereby we came out successful and were given the freedom to enjoy our rights as employees. Discrimination on any grounds was illegal, and everyone was entitled to a salary that was similar to everyone else’s, as long as people executed the same type of duties. The problem, however, came in after the retrenchment, since all the employees lost all the rights that were entitled to them, which affected us both physically and emotionally. Job opportunities outside the factories were the rarest thing that any person would think of and resettling, therefore, became a huge problem. The kind of jobs that were available were the odd types of jobs, which required more effort but brought back little pay. Such jobs were not permanent, and this gave me even more pressure, without the knowledge of where I could get the same the next day. We lived in the day, in that I could only afford money for the day, and when it was over, I was back to the drawing board trying to figure out what I would do next. This kind of life saw my family go without food on several occasions, and since I did not have any other option, they had to bear with the situation. It was a difficult thing coming into terms with the fact that I could not get back the job that I once had, as well as the kind of life and freedoms that I enjoyed as a factory worker. It took me several months to come into terms with the situation, that I could not get back the good job that I once had, and that there were no better options. As a family, we decided to come up with something that would help us raise money for survival. We began with a mini bakery, whereby we would bake bread and sell it to the neighborhood, as this was the only option that I had been left with.