Chuluunbat
Basic information
Interviewee ID: 990126
Name: Chuluunbat
Parent's name: Anard
Ovog: Chimed
Sex: f
Year of Birth: 1945
Ethnicity: Halh
Additional Information
Education: secondary
Notes on education: büren dund
Work: retired / factory worker
Belief: Buddhist
Born in: Sant margad sum, Zavhan aimag
Lives in: Songinohairhan sum (or part of UB), Ulaanbaatar aimag
Mother's profession: herder
Father's profession: herder
Themes for this interview are:
(Please click on a theme to see more interviews on that topic)
work
industrialization
authority
new technologies
family
Alternative keywords suggested by readers for this interview are: (Please click on a keyword to see more interviews, if any, on that topic)
woolen textile factory
worker
industrialization
qualification enhancement
salary - incentives
boss-worker relations
information culture in factories
privatization
To read a full interview with Chuluunbat please click on the Interview ID below.
Summary of Interview 081228A with Chuluunbat
Chuluunbat was born in 1945 in Santmargats sum of Zavhan aimag. In 1948 she moved to Ulaanbaatar city and went to school in 1952. After completion of the tenth grade in 1963, she voluntarily went to work in a woolen textile factory and worked as a yarn spinner at the spinning machinery.
The wool textile factory was built in 1959 with the assistance of the Chinese. I was one of the first workers there. Initially, about 200 people had been trained for 2-3 months assisting the Chinese instructors. At that time mostly girls and young women who had completed the 8, 10th grades or who came from the countryside used to become workers. A few men used to work as plumbers or repairmen. Later the factory had workers who went to vocational schools and engineers who graduated abroad and other technical workers. The workers were sent to Russia to be trained a lot. Our factory was responsible for washing and processing the wool, combing and spinning and making cloth. The factory had expanded gradually and the workers began to work in three shifts. After the Chinese spinning machines large spinning machines were brought with the assistance of the British and the Russians. Besides making woolen blankets and military coats the spun yarn was given to the carpet and the textile factories. The plant had textile, shoe, carpet, and leather and hide factories and these factories were divided into woolen textile and the leather and hide two other corporations. All the production was done by conveyors. Mostly we worked throughout the day and night and with competition to fulfill the plan. At that time the winners of the socialist labor competition were published in the press. We had two Heroes of Labor – Gunjinlham and Tserenjargal.
There was a consequent structure of the workers that went from head of the plant, workshop boss, workshop engineer, technologist, materials specialist, quality inspector and the workers. The supervisors dealt with the workers on equal conditions and organized a council on what was lacking etc. in the morning before going to work.
In the workers’ cultural palace that was built in 1950s amateurs put on plays, organized New Year’s and dance parties.
At that time babies were delivered in great numbers. We gave birth each year and went to work 45 days later. My mom helped me to bring up my children. I only had regard for my work and I became the 5, 6, 7, 8th five-year plan shock worker, the state factory champion and the industrial sector champion. Along with all the work I did, I also took part in party conferences and trade union meetings.
In the beginning of the 1990s the textile factory was downsized, and we went to work at the yarn plant that was newly built by the Russians. All of a sudden, the textile factory machinery had been dismantled, and we were told that we were to be shifted to the yarn factory. We even cried when we came to the yarn factory. Though few workers remained at the textile factory to make cloth, most of them became jobless at that time and still today their life is not so good.
When I retired in 1989, a two-room apartment was given to me as an award. It was an important event in my life. Before that we used to live in a four-wall ger with my six children.
