(~s)
People use ~ to refer to the the person in charge of the workers at a place of work such as a factory. (BRIT INFORMAL)
The ~ said he’d been fined for not doing the contract on time.
= boss
N-COUNT; N-VOC: usu the N in sing; N-VOC
GAFFER
Meaning of GAFFER in English
Collins COBUILD. Толковый словарь английского языка для изучающих язык Коллинз COBUILD (международная база данных языков Бирмингемского университета) . 2012