Wage Lists

This series consists of the published wage lists of the Bolton district. It also includes the published wage lists and agreements of other districts. Wage lists established a method of calculating the earnings of a pair of mules depending on output, spindleage, counts and speed. Lists could also contain comprehensive sets of allowances for such things as cleaning and doffing, and some like Bolton also laid down an appeals procedure to settle disputes. The Bolton list applied to the great majority of firms engaged in fine spinning; in the early twentieth century, about 20% of the spinning industry paid according to the Bolton list. Different areas calculated prices on different principles: in Bolton calculations were determined by the length of mule. In the late 1940s, the local wage lists were replaced by a uniform wage list, the Evershed List, applying to all mule spinners.