Summer of 1918

The summer of 1918 was a special summer in Dale. For the very first time, after 39 years of operation the workers got their first paid holiday week!

Until this time, a regular working week in the factories were 60 – 65 working hours starting 6AM and end of work was 7PM, including a few breaks throughout the working day. Work was six days a week all year round inside the spinnery, weaving factory or dyeing facility where workwear fabric and other textiles were made. Any leaves or short holidays which were granted were without pay. In 1918 the very first real salary agreement was made between the administration and the newly established unions; the working week was reduced to 54 hours a week and one paid week of holidays was allowed per year for all employees. This was a breakthrough for worker’s rights and a welcome improvement for workers who did a hard job in the factory.

Now, exactly 100 years later, it is easy to say that this is a right which should have been in place long time earlier, but reality was that this was not that common. Industry was not that developed, and since most workers used to be farmers, fishermen or in other ways self-employed in one or another trade, these workers saw the factory as a good place to make a stable income regardless of crops or seasons.

Dale Factories have always been known to offer workers a good work environment, taking the workers’ rights and welfare as well as social responsibility seriously. This has resulted in a stable and loyal work force which built the company to become an international giant. A person working in Dale rarely changed jobs and even today a worker normally remains in the company until retirement. Whenever people have left, they have always remembered the incomparable unity between workers living in the same close community and working in the same company. Even though we are in a different era today where the company is focusing on flame retardant fabrics and other protective fabrics, the company has loyal employees who stay onboard for decades.

Throughout more than hundred years thousands of persons have been working in the mills and spent millions of working hours in production.

This is what has brought Daletec to where it is today and for that the owners and administration is very grateful. Thank you all for contributing to the success throughout the years.