Ulma Group
ULMA women in the 1960s
These natives of Oñati were three of the first women to work at ULMA in the 1960s. They were members and went to work every day at the offices located at Paseo Otadui. They stopped working at ULMA after they got married. In this interview they tell us what women were like in those days.
Apr 16, 2020
You are some of the first women who started working at ULMA. In those early days of the cooperative, what were your duties and responsibilities?
P.S.: I was in accounts. The tasks that the first women began to perform were very different from those of men. There was no overlap at all. At that time all women worked in the office and none in the workshop. It didn’t occur to us that things could be different.
A.L.: I did billing work. At that time ULMA began to rent JJEIP’s scaffolding with the right to purchase. It was a very innovative idea and the volume of business increased considerably. I spent the day producing invoices that then had to be taken to the bank.
J.E.: I did a little of everything but what I remember the most and what was most important was the preparation of the fortnightly envelopes to pay the staff. It was very strange - first I collected the time sheets for the entire group, we counted the hours, we calculated what should be paid to each person and then I went to the bank. At the bank they would prepare all the money for me to collect the next day, in cash and in exact amounts. The next day I collected the money and had to put the exact amount for each person in brown envelopes and distribute them. They treated me really well, I took their envelopes to them every fortnight, so why wouldn’t they treat me well? They were always very happy to see me appear with the envelopes...
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