Adaptive Cooperation: The High Tension Cable Co.

Telephone exchange switchgear has gone through major design changes in the last two decades from largely mechanical ‘step-by-step’ methods to fully electronic systems utilising micro-circuits. Between these two systems, as a transitional phase in switchgear design, electro-mechanical systems were developed and manufactured to Post Office specifications. This ‘crossbar’ system, involving extensive wiring assembly work often undertaken by women, began in the 1960s, reached a peak of demand in the early years of the 1970s, and rapidly declined with the heavy cuts in Post Office orders in the second half of the decade and a general move to electronic systems. This case history concerns the development of industrial relations in one of the two factories in the High Tension Cable Co.’s massive empire (an American multinational with a wholly owned UK subsidiary) where crossbar systems were manufactured. The plant, with around 500 manual workers, was based in the Lowlands of Scotland.