In November 1896, reporters of the Hamilton Herald newspaper got talking to one of the well known colliery officials in Blantyre and wrote briefly about a sweeping change taking place in the shift patterns of miners.
The observation was that Blantyre miners were now as accustomed to taking the Saturday as a holiday, just as much as the Sunday. Taking the full Saturday and Sunday off was becoming as established as it recently had been in nearby Burnbank and Hamilton. Though familiar to lots of workers today, a weekend off was a new concept for miners.
Officials in the colliery used this to serve their own purpose. If miners weren’t there, a Saturday afforded an opportunity to repair machinery without further downtime. If equipment broke during the week, it would be patched up for a proper repair on a Saturday.
For the miners, this meant more downtime above ground and a major improvement in work life balance. Men, finally had time to spend with families, children getting to spend more quality time with their father.
I would add with miners being paid so little, many men did still go to work on Saturdays to enhance their wages.
AI imagines this story, exclusively here for Blantyre Project, with an image never been seen before as a miner takes his children for a Saturday afternoon picnic.
