Working on the Line

Seagram Bottling Line, LaSalle, Quebec; circa 1948.

"You just came in and got in your place and started taking the bottles off of the line one at a time and putting it on the wooden horse. One time you might be putting a label on, the next a skirt [neck label], or another time you'd be putting a seal on the top or a star for "5 Star", or the ribbons for "V.O." and you did everything individually. You always did one thing. Maybe one time you'd be on labels, the next ribbons. You'd regulate around each job and each section regulated around what [product] they did. Down below they did examining. You did the same job all day, and then maybe the next day you wouldn't be finished that run so you had to finish it and then they'd start whatever brand was next."

Trudy Schneider, Waterloo bottling line worker, 1950 to 1973.