Full text of The Woman Worker : January 1941, Vol. XXI, No. 1
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V.'ii -Vid, I % Woman Worker JANUARY 1941 United States Department of Labor Women’s Bureau UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF LABOR Frances Perkins, Secretary WOMEN’S BUREAU Mary Anderson, Director THE WOMAN WORKER PUBLISHED EVERY 2 MONTHS No. 1 Vol. XXI January 1941 CONTENTS Page Women’s Chances for Defense Jobs________________________________________ 3 Conference on Training Women for Defense Needs____________________ 4 Processes Women Are Performing 6 in Defense Industries___________________ Minimum Wage in 1940_____________________________________________________ State Minimum Wage—Fair Labor Standards Administration. Extent and Location of Home Work_______________________________ 8 11 Women in Unions__________________________________________________________ Progress in Wearing Apparel, Textiles, Rubber, and Food Manufacturing, and White-Collar Work. 13 Conferences and News Notes______________________________________________ Seventh Conference on Labor Laws—Women’s Centennial Declares Purpose— Pan American Women Delegates Meet—Children’s Bureau Committees—Con necticut Household Employment—California Home Work on Garments— Training St. Louis Garment Workers—Compensation for Virginia Women— Woman British Official on Training. 14 Recent Publications______________________________________________________ 16 Notice to Subscribers—Subscriptions for 1941 now due Published under authority of Public Resolution No. 57, approved May 11, 1922 (42 Stat. 541), as amended by section 307, Public Act 212, 72d Congress, approved June 30, 1932. This publication approved by the Director, Bureau of the Budget For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, Washington, D. C., at 5 cents a copy or 25 cents a year Women’s Chances for Defense Jobs as to job chances for women quently for the Navy (for example, marine is much in demand, since many women surveyor, welding inspector, boiler inspector, seek effective ways to do their share in theglass blower). Examinations closed recently defense program. Dr. Harriet Elliott, in for stenographers, typists, bilingual stenog charge of the Division of Consumer Protec raphers, medical technicians, and punchtion of the National Defense Advisory Com card operators. If these or others are mission, advises those doing a job that con opened, the notices will tell of it. Examina tributes to the well-being of the people: “Go tions for junior graduate nurse and for artis on with what you are doing, only do it bet tic lithographer are now open until further ter than ever before.” notice. There also have been examinations requiring highly technical or professional Jobs Are Found Through Employment Offices. training of various kinds. The Department Defense jobs are filled by the Employ of Labor has advised, “Don’t come to Wash ment Service. Persons seeking placement ington unless the Civil Service Commission in the defense program should register with specifically asks you to. Most of these jobs the nearest one of the 1,500 full-time and are not in Washington, and just coming 3,000 part-time local employment offices. won’t land a job for you.” nformation I These deal with all types of work, including manufacturing, clerical, and professional em ployment. The major requirements have been those of a mechanical and technical nature in which men are more likely to have experience, but many of which may be done by women.1 Such offices can give informa tion as to workers needed in other localities as well. The kinds of workers needed by these offices also would indicate the types of training called for. Government Jobs. Some civil-service examinations are being given for Government work. Information as to these can be obtained from the bul letin boards in 5,000 larger post offices, where Civil Service Commission announce ments are posted telling the job require ments, pay, and how to make application. Many of these apply especially to men, fre1 See articles on processes women perform (p. 6) and on confer ence on training (p. 4). 277023—40 Special Skills Required. Very specific skills are required today, and persons, whether younger or older, who do not have such skills can find employment only by acquiring them. Training programs designed to give definite preparation in the kinds of work needed are discussed elsewhere in this issue of the Woman Worker, and should be investigated through authorities in the particular locality. There is little new opportunity for women without definite skills, nor for those who have not worked recently, nor for those with other experience who desire to “get into industry,” or to do some “defense” work. Management jobs, now as always, are relatively few for women and demand experience in industry, often in a particular industry. Camp hostess jobs are few—only about 100 in all, and 10,000 persons have applied for these. Age limits are 25 to 45 for junior hostess, 30 to 50 for senior. Applications are considered by the commanding general of each corps area. 3 4 THE WOMAN WORKER Conference on Training Women for Defense Needs A ctive participation of women in plans for /"^vocational training for defense needs, including appointment of women on national and local committees making such plans, was the chief objective of a joint session of the Women’s Bureau Advisory Committees held in November. Members urged that selec tions for training include suitable numbers of women, since skills in which women can excel will be demanded; and that the Women’s Bureau continue to investigate the situation, to promote women’s contribution to the defense program.1 Of special interest to the conference was the definition of semiskilled, as given by Channing R. Dooley, Director of TrainingWithin-Industry Section of the Advisory Commission to the Council of National Defense. The vague term semiskilled, ap plied so generally to women’s industrial occupations, was defined by Mr. Dooley as implying a high degree of skill but within a narrow field, as distinct from skilled workers competent in all requirements of the job. This branch of the Defense Council work advises plants as to training on the job for production workers who are already em ployed and are selected by the plant employ ment manager in consultation with the trade-school superintendent. In each dis trict a committee representing industry and labor advises as to the supply and type of labor needed. Types of Preemployment Training. The special defense training program, for which Congress has appropriated over 575,000,000, consists of preemployment instruction, and is directed by the Federal Board for Vocational Education, operating through local school authorities. A local committee, recommended to include mem bers from both labor and industry, ascer tains requirements of plants in the com1 See p. 6 for findings of Women’s Bureau on processes performed by women in defense industries. munity for labor on defense products, advises as to types of training needed, and cooperates with authorities of the voca tional school and of the employment service in selecting for training applicants for jobs who have the necessary aptitudes. A negligible number of women in perhaps 5 of the 600 courses have been among approximately 140,000 enrolled in these defense training classes. That opportuni ties for women in such courses should and will increase is the expressed opinion of the Board of Education of New York City. In a letter to the Federal Board for Vocational Education, read to the Conference by John C. Wright, vocational education authority of the United States Office of Education, James Marshall, president of the New York City Board of Education, strongly urges organization of courses to train women. He specially mentions industrial assembly and inspection, instrument manufacture, light punch-press operation, and work as nurses’ aides and as cooks—in all of which women have demonstrated ability. The defense training just described is not to be confused with the regular vocational school work directed by the same authority, the Federal Board for Vocational Education, and in which some 50,000 to 60,000 women are enrolled. These are largely in home economics and other occupations tradi tionally employing women, but there are a few places where women are being given specific training for employment in defense industries in the locality, as for example in the schools at Hartford, Conn., and Wil liamsport, Pa., which are responding closely to community labor needs in industries with defense contracts. Training programs have been conducted also by the N. Y. A.; also in the C. C. C. camps, where, it is estimated, 13,000 to 15,000 boys are offered opportunity to learn army cookery. Shortage of boys reported for N. Y. A. projects in some communities January 1941 TRAINING WOMEN FOR DEFENSE has led to further opportunities for girls. This agency works only with persons of 16 to 24 years of age. To insure freedom from industrial competition, products made are limited to those for the use of publicly supported agencies. Of some 94,000 girls on N. Y. A. projects, about 18,000 are in workshop projects. Most promising in giv ing skills for industrial jobs is the assembly of radios for the use of local police and fire forces. The sewing projects in the N. Y. A., and in the W. P. A. as well, may prepare for another type of defense need. For ex ample, workers will be in demand for such army supplies recently contracted for as service coats, mackinaws, and barrack bags. Among woven or knit textiles recently con tracted for are fabrics for shirting, and woolen uniforms, mercerized cotton socks, quarter-sleeve cotton undershirts, bed sheets, and mosquito netting. Persons Invited to Conference. 5 National Consumers’ League. National Council of Catholic Women. National Council of Jewish Women. National Federation of Business and Professional Women’s Clubs. National League of Women Voters. National Women’s Trade Union League. Women’s Service Club Representatives: American Federation of Soroptomist Clubs. International Association of Altrusa Clubs. International Quota Clubs. Pilot Club International. Zonta International. Work for Which Women Should be Trained. Among the necessary skills for which women should be trained are the interpre tation of shop blueprints, the reading of scales, micrometers, calipers, and other gages; and a knowledge of metals and their hardness, of the speeds and feeds of cutting tools, of shop mathematics, and of shop routine and practice. Among types of jobs that trained women can perform are: The Advisory Committees to the Wom en’s Bureau include representatives of labor groups directly connected with the defense program who have intimate knowledge of the processes in their industries and the needs of workers, and representatives of women’s organizations who seek more effective methods to secure further training and employment opportunities for women in their communities. The following were in vited to send members to the conference: The operation of punch presses and such machines as single, multiple, and radial drills; light lathes and chucking machines; boring, reaming, tapping, thread ing, grinding, and buffing machines; milling machines. Assembly and bench work, as for example on air plane instruments and small electric motors, which may require use of mechanical screwdrivers and hand tools, spot welding, soldering, cleaning with compressed air, burring, filing, operating arbor or rivet presses. Inspecting small parts, which often requires reading blueprints and mechanical drawings, use of precision gages, calipers, scales, and other measuring tools. Armature, stator, and coil winding. Labor Advisory Committee on Standards for the Employ ment of Women in the Defense Program: Optical lens grinding, polishing, blocking, cementing, inspecting. Stamping small parts from light sheet metal (du ralumin). Grinding and cleaning of tools. Clerical or routing operations requiring knowledge of factory procedures, terminology as to jobs, tools, machines, processes; for example, giving out tools, re cording and checking tool supplies. Assistants in draft ing rooms, which requires somewhat longer training. Health services, such as ward helpers in hospitals; laboratory assistants; nursing aides in homes; physio therapists’ aides; health clinic assistants; dental assist ants; occupational therapists. Food preparation and servicing, for example, at camp service clubs, hospitals, expanding factories. Radio receiving and transmission, for example, ground service in airplane dispatching. Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America. International Association of Machinists. International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers of America. National Women’s Trade Union League. Steel Workers Organizing Committee. Textile Workers Union of America. United Automobile Workers of America. United Rubber Workers of America. Advisory Committee to the Women’s Bureau: Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America. American Association of University Women. American Federation of Labor. General Federation of Women’s Clubs. National Board, Y. W. C. A. National Catholic Welfare Conference. Acetylene and electric welding. THE WOMAN WORKER 6 Processes Women Are Performing in Defense Industries1 s a beginning to an extensive investiga- changes in designs, materials, and engineer L tion of the possibilities of women’s ing practices have retarded standardization employment in the defense industries, and the making of interchangeable parts. agents of the Women’s Bureau visited last Therefore, a high degree of skill and con fall about 40 plants having defense con stant adaptability are required; machines, tracts for products on which women could dies, shop equipment, and lay-out have not be employed. These plants, chiefly in the yet reached an assembly-line set-up, and industrial Northeast with a few in Ohio, the jobs are not of the repetitive type so include machine-tool manufacture; electri largely employing women. In plants making engines and parts the cal-supply plants; ammunition and firearms factories; plants fabricating iron, steel, major job for women is inspecting small brass, and aluminum products; and aircraft parts, and this generally is more than a plants making engines, instruments, and simple visual task, since blueprints are used parts, and assembling planes. Women are and all parts are inspected to fine degrees of at work on many processes and could be tolerance. Some women are at work clean employed even more widely. ing metal parts by dipping them in vats containing a soda solution to remove grease; Airplane Factories. others etch identification numbers on small Airplane manufacture usually spreads parts with an electric needle, in a few cases itself over several specialized types of using a pantograph, in others operating a establishment. The making of the fuse multiple electric needle—15 needles with a lage, wings, ailerons, rudders, engine mounts, foot control. In a body plant very small elevators, and stabilizers, and the final as numbers of women were found in the paint sembly of the planes, are carried on in the shop where doping of wings is carried on, but this is done to only a limited extent; body plants. Development of jobs for women has been and in the upholstery department, but delayed by the oversupply of male labor bombing planes have no upholstery. In inspecting pipes, tubes, and small parts and the lack of opportunity for women’s training. Women are said to comprise a for engines, women use scales, length gages, large share of the personnel in some Euro snap gages, ring gages, plug gages, go-no-go pean plants. A recent report states that gages, and so forth. Gears are inspected four-fifths of the force in some French visually with gages; spark plugs checked for factories were women, and they produced leakages with the use of electric indicators; fighter planes in their entirety. Women are weight and diameter of pistons checked with quick and skillful, and the industry pro close tolerances; all parts purchased or made vided lighter tools for them and arranged elsewhere are closely inspected with hard that the heavier lifting in assembling ness-testing devices, verniers, Rockwell and Schore testing indicators; stiffness of springs machines could be done by electric belts. In the United States openings for women is tested with a special indicator; some of the have been limited, the chief requirement parts to be inspected are projected by being for skilled all-round mechanics, shadowgraph to insure more accurate work. and tolerances for error being small. This Plants Making Instruments. condition is due to the fact that rapid The instrument field for aircraft is a rela 1 See reprints from Woman Worker for September and Novem tively new and developing one. The air ber 1940, and mimeograph: Increase in Woman Employment, plane of today has many instruments and 1914-18, and Occupations of Women in Defense Industries. A January 1941 PROCESSES PERFORMED BY WOMEN meters. There are fuel and oil gages, rate-of-climb indicators, turn and bank indicators, speed indicators, clocks, com passes, altimeters, air and oil temperature indicators, tachometers, voltmeters, syn chronizers, automatic gyroscope pilots, and others. Instrument workers must have ability for careful work on small parts and appreciation of fine mathematical tolerances. At present many of them have been watch makers. Women’s training and participa tion could be extended. Most of the women now in instrument factories are on bench work, assembling parts with riveting presses, arbor presses, automatic screwdrivers, soldering, electric spot welding of wires, and other light jobs involving the winding and cutting of wires. Some of this work is fine and requires close attention as well as finger dexterity. In one plant women operate small automatic screw machines of turret-lathe type, which are set up and adjusted by men. A number of women operate small sensitive drills of the bench type, some do multiple-jig drilling on metal and bakelite parts, and some do countersinking on small parts. Other ma chine jobs are tapping and grinding pivot points. Radium painting of dials for instru ments is the occupation of a small group, protected by glass-shielded exhaust boxes. In plating departments women hang parts on racks and remove them after the plating operation is completed, a job formerly done by men. Women are employed quite extensively on inspection of incoming, in-process, and com pleted parts. This requires checking with blueprints, and using micrometers, calipers, microscopes, and a variety of small gages. Other jobs are the hand polishing and finish ing of some parts with fine emery paper, cloths, and abrasives; and packing small parts and instruments. Winding armatures and coil winding are principal occupations of women in one plant, a type of work familiar to women in electrical manufacturing. A few women production clerks route orders and keep stock records. Women also work 7 in small numbers in the drafting room, doing some scale drawing, tracing, and serving as general assistants, but draftsmen are men with engineering training. Electrical-Products Plants. In electrical-supply manufacturing, women have long worked on various light assembly and inspection jobs. Winding coils and armatures is important in these plants. Also, there seems less opposition in elec trical than in some of the metal plants to the idea of trying out women on new jobs when defense contracts are in full swing, and the general feeling seems to be that women’s employment both as machine oper ators and as inspectors will be extended. Women could be employed much more extensively on many light machines, bench lathes, repetitive milling-machine opera tions, welding, tool cribs, and as drafting helpers. More women could be employed on drill presses and on some of the heavier assembly jobs in which the work is not too strenuous for them; on arbor-press assembly, operating riveting machines, and doing light wet grinding. Men were found testing the resistance of springs with indicators and this seems a woman’s job possibility. Machine-Tool Factories. A few women are in machine-tool fac tories, and more can be employed. Women are doing bench work, inspecting, light ma chine work, wrapping and winding coils, and packing. In one plant women are driving and controlling overhead cranes, and are found more efficient than men. Gun and Ammunition Plants. In the shell divisions women are employed largely as inspectors and as tenders of ma chines that draw the cups for the shells. Inspection is visual, with occasional use of gages, and work on drawing machines is simple, so little training is required. Wom en assemble some types of shells, and spray guns with lacquer. Women are em ployed on punch-press operations and as sembly on other nondefense products. THE WOMAN WORKER 8 A striking instance of the employment of women because of skills developed in other work is that of a plant where the delicate operations required in making time fuses were done by women who had worked on fine embroidery. Male watchmakers had not proved successful at this work. Other Metal and Electrical-Supply Plants. A miscellaneous group of plants making sewing machines, needles, electric motors, electric fans, vacuum cleaners, storage bat teries, magnetos, springs, machinery parts, fuses, air manifolds, pumps, and so forth were visited. Machines successfully oper ated by women are drill presses of all kinds—sensitive, jig, and counter sink ing-tapping machines, small and medium sized punch presses, riveting presses, ma chines moulding bakelite parts, specialized machines for the milling, punching, grinding, polishing, and packing of needles, wire winding machines, and other small machines of a specialized type. Women perform a variety of bench-work operations, preparing work for processes, cleaning, assembling with the use of hand tools and automatic screwdrivers, hand filing, burring, and light grinding. Large proportions are inspecting and a few acting as drafting assistants and production clerks. An official of one of these plants that did not employ women felt that they might be used successfully on many drilling, grinding, tapping, assembly, and inspection operations. Minimum Wage in 1940 Note.—The Women’s Bureau minimum-wage conference, usually held in November, has been called for January 17 and 18, 1941. the Friday and Saturday before President Roosevelt’s inaugura tion, January 20. State Minimum Wage 100,000 women and minors were covered by 8 new State orders in 1940. These were for restaurants and for hotels in New York; laundries in Penn sylvania; public housekeeping (hotels, res taurants, and allied industries) in Colorado; retail trade and restaurants in Utah; dry cleaning in New Hampshire; and fish pack ing in Maine. In addition, Connecticut re vised its orders for laundries and dry cleaning. (See earlier issues of Woman Worker.) early apparel factories and retail stores were in compliance, in Illinois 95 percent of the candy factories. In Pennsylvania, after a period of education by inspectors, about 90 percent of the laundries were in com pliance. Effects of Wage Orders. The extent to which low-paid workers have their wages raised is indicated by the following statement showing the propor tion of women and minors receiving less than the minimum set before and after certain orders were put into effect: Compliance. Reports issued in the year show com pliance to be very general. In New York 69 percent of the restaurants, 77 percent of the candy factories, and 97 percent of the beauty parlors were found to be obeying the orders. Compliance in beauty shops increased from 88 to 97 percent in the year following the mandatory order. In Rhode Island about 95 percent of the wearing Percent Before After District of Columbia: All industries___ New York: Laundries1______________ Confectionery___________ Rhode Island: Retail trade__________ Wearing apparel 1______ 63 46 31 22 58 23 13 2 2 23 1 Less than the highest minimum set for any group. Sworn pay rolls of New York candy manufacturers again prove that the mini mum fixed under a wage order does not January 1941 MINIMUM WAGE IN 1940 become the maximum paid. These pay rolls cover a week in December 1937 and one in November 1939, a year before and a year after the order fixed a 35-cent mini mum. The proportion of women who re ceived 40 cents and over increased from 39 to 50 percent. From September 1 to April 1, the order guarantees #10 a week for 3 days or less of work. The proportion receiving #15 or more increased from 57 to 66 percent. As a reward for cooperation, the confectionery employers were able to stabilize the workweek, with fewer women and minors working less than 40 or more than 48 hours. In New York beauty parlors, after the mandatory order had been in effect for a year, 41 percent of the workers were receiv ing more than the required minimum. Wage-Board Activities. Wage boards have been appointed and have been in session for clerical and res taurant occupations in Massachusetts, for restaurants in Illinois, for beauty culture in Ohio, Connecticut, and New Jersey, and for hotels in Utah. Enforcement. When firms are found to be paying less than the minimum wage, the enforcing agency attempts to collect all amounts due. If an order is mandatory, court action may be brought if necessary. Statistics on such collections were received in 1940 from Cali fornia, Kentucky, New Jersey, and Ohio. In these States, for periods varying from 6 months to a year (the most recent avail able), a total of over #272,000 was restored to underpaid women and minors. Washington—Beauty Culture. The Washington beauty-culture order, providing a #15 weekly minimum, has been revised to fix one of #18.50 for instructors. This went into effect December 1. Special Studies. Surveys were made of dry-cleaning plants in New Hampshire, clerical workers in Massachusetts, small telephone exchanges 9 in Washington, restaurants in Illinois, and restaurants and stores in certain cities in Utah.1 In Connecticut, laundries were re surveyed following amendment of the mini mum-wage law, and wage and hour informa tion is being collected from retail stores. Illinois—Restaurants. The study of 15,000 women and minors in Illinois restaurants, not previously re ported in the Woman Worker, showed half of them receiving less than #10.05 a week, #12.83 if value of meals and lodging is included (lodging for only 32 employees). Eighty-six percent of them received in cash less than a living wage; this was true of 97 percent of the waitresses and 90 percent of the counter girls. This was based on an estimate that #15.82 is required to main tain a woman living alone in Chicago, work ing in a restaurant and receiving 12 of her 21 meals. In Chicago, where earnings were a little higher than elsewhere in the State, half the women and minors surveyed earned less than #13.58, including estimated value of meals. Wages ranged from less than #3 to more than #25 and low wages often were associated with long hours. Only one-half of the waitresses received tips, and they averaged only #3.34 a week (according to statements of employees), which bears out the fact that tips do not constitute a reliable source of waitresses’ incomes. Fair Labor Standards Administration The hourly earnings of women increased in 1940 under the minimums required by the Fair Labor Standards Act and the special orders it authorizes. This is indi cated by all available evidences, which show that employment also has increased. The Supreme Court further strengthened the right of the Wage-Hour Division to make routine inspections as it had been doing, and refused to review a decision upholding the right of the Division to subpoena pay-roll records. The court has consented to review two cases involving the constitutionality of the law. 1 See Woman Worker for May and July 1940. THE WOMAN WORKER 10 Wage Orders Issued. Overtime Begins at Forty. Besides the 30-cent hourly minimum now in effect, the Wage-Hour Administration has fixed a higher minimum for 12 industries, raising wages for an estimated 550,000 workers, many of them women (since women’s wages often are the lowest). Application of the act to home workers also has been established. Of the 12 orders, those fixing the 10 minimums listed below were issued in 1940. Prior to this, 32% cents had been fixed for cotton, silk, and rayon textiles and for seamless hosiery, and 40 cents for full-fashioned hosiery. The final stage in the regulation of work ing time was reached in October, when 40 hours became the normal week beyond which time and one-half must be paid to the workers under the act. It was estimated that about 2,650,000 wage earners were working more than 40 hours but that the change would affect less than 2,000,000, since large numbers already received the required overtime rates, many through union contracts. This probably affected fewer women than men, since women’s hours generally average less than men’s in the industries covered by the act. Industry Minimum (cents anhour) Apparel___________________________ 32)4 to 40 Shoes_____________________________ 35 Woolen textiles_____________________ 36 Knitted underwear__________________ 32)4 Knitted outerwear__________________ 35 Millinery__________________________ 40 Hats______________________________ 35 to 40 Pulp and primary paper______________ 40 Leather___________________________ 40 Luggage and leather goods____________ 35 In addition to this list, needleworkers in Puerto Rico are to receive a minimum of 20 to 22% cents an hour if factory workers, 12% to 20 cents if home workers, depending on product. These rates became effective De cember 2. Recommendations and New Committees. Suggested rates for five more industries were being considered late in the year: Railroad employment, carpets, embroi deries, converted paper products, and port able lamps, the four manufactures, with many women workers, employing about 255,000. Committee for the jewelry indus try has been appointed recently. For the 200,000 workers making boxes, bags, and other paper containers, special kinds of paper, tags, labels, and so on, approximately half of whom are women, three rates have been recommended, by type of product—36, 38, and 40 cents. It is thought that some 25,000 wage earners will receive increases if these rates meet with approval. Learners. General regulations for the employment of learners were revised during the year and new or revised ones issued for specific indus tries. Special provisions are in effect in the following: Textiles (cotton, silk, and rayon), gloves, hats, millinery, knitted wear, hosiery, other apparel, woolen textiles, artificial flowers, silk throwing, and independent telephone exchanges. General regulations enable management in other industries to employ learners as needed. Learners in ci gar making were prohibited as unnecessary. Special regulations recently issued and not yet given in the Woman Worker pro vide that in the woolen industry the learn ing periods for two lists of skilled occupations are 320 hours (about 8 weeks) and 240 hours (about 6 weeks). The learning rate is 30 cents plus whatever may be earned in excess of this at regular piece rates. In general, learners may number 3 percent of production workers, allowing at least 2. In the making of artificial flowers, the rate for learners is set at 26% for millinery and clothing, otherwise at 22% cents. The learning period is about 4 weeks and the proportion of learners may vary with the number of flower makers employed. New regulations for the knitted-wear industry increase the learning period from about 8 to about 12 weeks. They provide also that employers need not seek skilled January 1941 MINIMUM WAGE IN 1940 labor in neighboring communities before being permitted to employ learners. Limi tation of learners to 5 percent of all workers is the usual provision. Industrial Training Programs. Employee attendance on training pro grams to achieve higher skills will not be 11 considered working time to be paid for, provided that (1) attendance is voluntary; (2) employees do no productive work dur ing training periods; (3) training courses are given outside of regular working hours; (4) the program is to train the employee to a new, different, or additional skill, not to make the worker more efficient in the present job. Extent and Location of Home Work home workers, most of whom an analysis of the data for firms requesting are women, probably have been more handbooks for home workers from the profoundly affected by the Fair Labor Wage and Hour Division for a period of Standards Act than any other group of about a year and a quarter, ending in May workers. The legal application of the act 1940. These report maximum number of requires payment of the minimum to home home workers for whom handbooks were workers, though no prohibition of home asked by the firms. The following sum work is made. Practically every former mary is based on the maximum number of study of home work revealed large numbers home workers estimated by the requesting receiving piece rates too low to afford them employers, and includes only firms making 10 cents an hour, hence the effect of intro such estimates. The actual number of ducing a 25-cent minimum (October 24, home workers is not known, since there is 1938) was spectacular. The average sum no check on the number of handbooks restored to all workers has been $25.52, asked for that actually were used, nor on to home workers almost twice that, $46.01. whether or not the individual did home Only slightly over 1 percent of the cases work for more than one employer. litigated in the first 2 years of the act’s In this first 15-month period of applica operation involved home workers; but such tion of the Wage-Hour Act to home workers, workers comprised 13 percent of all persons 1,330 firms in 38 States requested hand who received back wages, and nearly a books for a maximum number of home fourth of all underpayments restored to workers estimated by them at 42,144? workers went to them. A recent case of To a large extent the firms gave out work restitution is that of some 300 home workers to home workers within the State. Of the on hairpins, wffio were paid more than 737 firms in States other than New York, $100,000 in back wages. Altogether, the only 20 in 7 States gave home work out latest information shows that about $616,000 side the State, as did only about 8 percent has been ordered paid to some 13,500 home of the New York firms. The existence workers making knitted wear, gloves, paper of interstate home work means, of course, products, lace, embroidery, novelties, and that at any time its extent may increase, so forth. Not all companies using home but it still remains chiefly an intrastate work violated the act, and evidence shows matter. that home-work employers adjusted to the law without serious economic dislocation. 1 The District of Columbia is listed as a State throughout this ndustrial I Number of Home Workers. General indication of the extent of indus trial home work in this country is found in discussion. For 10 of these States fewer than 40 home workers were estimated; for 12 States fewer than 50. Since this analysis was prepared, the Wage-Hour Division has reported for an added period of nearly 4 months, as of September 21, 1940, a maximum number of 45,470 home workers asked for by 1,477 firms. 12 THE WOMAN WORKER Furthermore, home work is overwhelm ingly a problem of the northeastern part of the country, where there are 1,050 (79 percent) of the entire 1,330 firms that estimated the number needed in their appli cations for home workers’ handbooks. Of all these firms giving out home work, about 45 percent are in New York, about 63 per cent in New York and New Jersey. Location of Home Workers. Half of the estimated 42,144 home workers were for New York firms, 98 percent of which firms employed only within the State. Other North Atlantic States increased the total to 74 percent, and the addition of New England brought it to 81 percent of the estimated number. Three groups of States—6 New England, 8 Middle Western, 11 Southern—requested books for fairly equal numbers, 3,200 to 3,600. This concentration of home workers in New York and neighboring States and in industrial New England is not surprising. Also important are Illinois and certain other States in the midwestern group; such cloth ing centers as California, Texas, and Mary land; and the mountain regions of Kentucky, West Virginia, Tennessee, Georgia, North Carolina, and Virginia. Perhaps some what less to be expected are the 95 asked for by Maine firms (shoes); 72 by Vermont (sewing and knit goods); 469 by Iowa (but tons and photography); 56 by Colorado (novelties); and so forth. A recent Illinois report shows that less than 2 percent of the home workers in homes inspected were physically handicapped, and about 70 percent were less than 45 years of age. For the most part they were house wives who could not leave home but needed to supplement the family income; many also had to receive relief funds. Chief Home-Work Products. Home work on more than 70 types of products can be singled out. However, a third of the estimated home workers— 14,000 of the 42,000—were to be employed on leather gloves and various types of knitwear. The leather-glove work was done almost entirely in New York. About 7,600 of the 14,000 were to do work on knitwear, some of which consisted largely in finishings on garments not made in homes. For the various types of knitted wear, 86 percent of the home workers asked for were in New York and New Jersey, with an almost equal division between the 2 States. Another 11 percent were in Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Ohio. However, some work was to be done on knitwear in homes in 12 States. Most of the home workers asked for to knit women’s sportswear were in New Jer sey, with some in New York and Pennsyl vania; of those to put the finishing touches on infants’ knitwear, in New York, New Jersey, Maryland, and Pennsylvania; of the other workers on knitted wear, in New York and New Jersey, with appreciable numbers also in Pennsylvania and Ohio. According to another type of analysis, over 60 percent of the home workers were to work on some 35 products included under the general terms of sewing, knitting, cloth ing, textile products, lace, art needlework, and various trimmings. Somewhat less than a third of these home workers were to work on knit goods of various types. For 7 of the 35 products fewer than 60 home workers were estimated. Those for work on textile products were as follows: Number Percent Textile and allied products.. 26,094 100.0 7, 664 Knitwear . Embroidered goods. 5,984 4, 060 Trimmings. Other textile products (including 8,386 hosiery) 29.4 22.9 15.6 32.1 Workers on major home-work products other than sewing, knitting, and textiles in cluded 6,367 for leather gloves; over 1,000 each for jewelry and buttons; over 800 for cards and for powder puffs; over 500 each for athletic goods and novelties; over 400 each for dolls and toys, shoes (infants’ and so forth), and handbags; and over 300 each for paper products and shoe trimmings. January 1941 THE WOMAN WORKER 13 Women in Unions Progress in Wearing Apparel. A New York City local of workers on neckwear and other accessories has been in vestigating conditions in a relatively new industry, the making of shoulder pads to be sold to the makers of dresses and coats. They find bitter competition between inside shops and jobbers who give out work to home workers or to contractors furnishing material to home workers. Thus inside workers are forced to accept home-work rates of pay. Some 3,000 workers are in the industry, with 6 to 10 home workers to every inside worker. The home-work problem will be taken up with the State Department of Labor. One of the largest firms in the in dustry has already signed with the local. The time-motion study in St. Louis, given three nights a week beginning last January, graduated its first class in October. Two women students are returning to their regular shops to help systematize produc tion methods. A third is helping to regular ize the curtain industry in St. Louis. A men’s clothing union in New York City conducts a number of correspondence courses for its members on union problems, eco nomics of the clothing industry, and cultural subjects. The objective is to enroll 3,000 students. Workers on bathrobes in Maine have secured a general raise of from 10 to 25 per cent for all operators and pressers. A renewed agreement with a Chicago raincoat firm guarantees 36% weeks of work during the year, secured by a deposit of 15 percent of each week’s pay roll. Progress in Textiles. What is considered a model contract in the hosiery field covers 1,000 workers with a Minnesota firm. It calls for unionmanagement cooperation in increasing the efficiency of the plant, enabling it to main tain its competitive position and at the same time providing job security. The union is to be responsible for training new employees and will designate persons in each depart ment for this work. In a bag firm employing 5,800 workers in 21 plants, workers in two States have secured an agreement giving the union sole collective bargaining rights and allowing a week’s vacation with pay to all. The con tract will be extended to other units in the chain of plants as soon as the union repre sents a majority of the workers. Wages, hours, and other working conditions are to be negotiated plant by plant. Progress in Rubber. An increase of 21 percent in membership was announced by the rubber workers’ union that held its fifth annual convention in September. In 1929 nearly one-fourth of all wage earners in this industry were women, the proportion being smallest in tire and tube making and largest in footwear. From 1937 to 1939, production in the indus try increased, though employment fell by 16,000. Some 90 rubber-goods plants were recently reported under contract or at least as 100 percent organized. In about 20 of these from which information was available on sex of workers, approximately 5,900 women were employed. Wage increases averaging 7% cents an hour for women, higher for men, were gained in a recent agreement in New Jersey. Workers are to receive their first paid vacations. Progress in Food Manufacturing. Food workers, often low paid, report gains. Agreements in a large chocolate plant in Pennsylvania and in a Missouri candy factory have brought wage increases. Pecan shellers in Texas are renewing an agreement that in three years has about quadrupled their earnings. THE WOMAN WORKER 14 Progress for White-Collar Workers. An arbitration award gave a New York office workers’ union a 10-percent wage increase, 40-hour week with time and a half for overtime, vacations with pay, sick leave, seniority, and a preferential shop. The award,to run for 1 year, provides for renewal. Contracts have been signed with two 5-and-10 chains in an Illinois city. Hours are reduced from 48 to 45% and minimum rates raised from 510 to 512.50 for beginners and from 512.50 to 516.50 after 1 year’s experience. Workers in a department store in Indiana have signed a contract providing a 52-hour week with time and a half for overtime and double time on holidays. This is important in a State that places no legal restriction on hours. After 1 year’s service employees are to have 1 week’s vacation with pay. Conferences and News Notes Seventh Conference on Labor Laws Woman’s Centennial Declares Purpose labor standards was stressed as basic in upholding democ racy, by officials and representatives of organized labor present at the annual con ference called by the Secretary of Labor. It was pointed out that the success of a national defense program rests on the effi ciency, health, and well-being of labor. Backed by years of experience of their members in the administration of the laws, the conference committees presented highly practical programs. Among important rec ommendations were: That women will take an increasingly active part in strengthening the democratic way of life was the keynote of the Woman’s Centennial Congress held in New York in November. (See Woman Worker, July 1940.) A “Declaration of Purpose” for the coming century, signed by hundreds of the leading American women who were pres ent includes the following: aintaining Extension of State minimum-wage orders, with uniform approach by Federal and State agencies. Further application to industrial home workers of labor standards, both Federal and State. Opposition to the “equal rights amendment,” since it would undermine State minimum-wage and other labor standards for women. Further regulation of child labor in street and entertain ment trades and industrialized agriculture; passage of Federal amendment. Federal aid to States for the promotion of industrial hygiene activities in State labor departments. Extension of coverage of workmen’s compensation laws to include all industrial establishments and all indus trial diseases, and to provide compulsory insurance in every case. Increased use of the State and Federal conciliation services, and the avoidance of antistrike laws which would introduce ill will and weaken morale. Liberalization of the unemployment compensation pro gram by extension of benefits both to workers now covered and to those at present not covered. Requesting appointment of a committee to study Fed eral grants-in-aid for State factory inspection. We . . . declare it to be our purpose to . . . use our freedom to work for the progressive securing of freedom, social justice, and peace for all people. We purpose to do our part ... in our communities and in our Nation, in discovering new skills and methods for making democratic principles op erative .... We will strive to participate more effectively in the direction and control of the economic life of our Nation, to the end that all people shall have the basic necessities of life and equal opportunity for individual development. We will be vigilant to guard the economic freedom of women [married or single]. We must . . . strengthen the ethical and religious values which characterize our times. We advocate no fixed pattern of progress to be followed, but shall advance step by step, using in each decade the means appropriate to our objective. We shall work as individuals and through the organi zations of women .... We shall work side by side with men, for it will be from the common endeavor of all men and women of good will that the goal will be reached. Further recommendations were made by five special committees: Economic and Social Welfare; Government and Politics; Education of Women; World Peace Through World Organization; and Ethical and Reli gious Values. January 1941 NEWS NOTES 15 Pan American Women Delegates Meet Connecticut Household Employment The spirit of unity among the delegates from 14 countries attending the first annual session of the Inter-American Commission of Women, held in Washington, was the chief feature of the conference, according to the chairman, Senora Ana Rosa de Martinez Guerrero of Argentina. A constitution and bylaws were adopted, subject to approval by the Pan American Union, to be recom mended to the next conference in Bogota, Colombia, in 1943. This women’s group was made permanent at the 1938 conference in Lima, with a continuing committee in Washington to coordinate women’s activi ties. (See Woman Worker, March 1939, November 1940.) Reports on women’s status in the various countries were made to the sessions. A policy was adopted under which each delegate will work independently (but adhere to general principles of the con ference) in her own country for reforms most needed there. Resolutions adopted, all unanimously, include: Conferences on household employment problems were held in November in Hartford and New Haven, Conn., a Women’s Bureau representative participating in each. Need was stressed for better labor standards and improved employer-employee relations, to induce more young women to take the ex cellent 12-week household-training course offered in both Hartford and New Haven by the Connecticut Professional and Service Division of the W. P. A., of which Miss Mary M. Hughart is the director. These training centers are outstanding among the more or less similar projects now operated by the W. P. A. in about 30 States. The State Public Employment Service sponsors the Connecticut centers, with a lay committee of prominent women as the co operating sponsor. At the outset the women assumed responsibility for supplying the training house and equipment, securing the latter free through the cooperation of local business men. The committee is now help ing to run the center and to extend commun ity interest in the local efforts to solve household-employment problems for the sake of both workers and housewives. For this purpose a larger council has been developed in the two cities. Some housewives on the committee take the trainees into their homes, on a part-time basis at an apprenticeship wage, for further close supervision after 7 weeks of drill at the center. Even at the center a practical set-up is maintained, through renting rooms to outsiders who serve as experimental clients for the trainees. Call to all delegates to work without respite for the indissoluble union of the Americas in pre serving democracy. Endorsement of the good-neighbor policy. Recommendation that competent women dele gates be appointed to all Pan American con ferences. Recommendation that governments improve the penal systems for women in juvenile courts and reformatories. Surveys to be made of women’s industrial employ ment and sex differentials in wages. Surveys of maternal welfare, child-welfare centers, protection and special training for children. Children’s Bureau Committees Recommendations for a program of maternal care, child health, and community child-welfare services which will help to solve problems growing out of the defense program were agreed upon at a joint session of advisory committees meeting at the Chil dren’s Bureau. It was pointed out that problems of maternal and child health become acute because of rapid population increase in areas adjoining camps and in those with expanding defense industries. California Home Work on Garments Hearings were held in December on the desirability of forbidding industrial home work in the California garment industry, a step favored by employers. Training St. Louis Garment Workers In 1938 a study by the employment service of St. Louis showed that at least 1,200 trained power-machine operators were needed each year for existing demand (not THE WOMAN WORKER 16 considering new firms or expansion of old ones) in the making of garments, curtains, slip covers, automobile seat covers, and bags, and in mending departments of laundries. The Garment Trades Training School was opened early in 1940, with 35 carefully selected girl students, through the coopera tion of union, employers, vocational school, and employment service members. By October about 50 girls had been trained and placed. Compensation for Virginia Women For a 2-year period ending September 30, 1940, nearly 73,000 women applied for un employment compensation in Virginia. These were 30 percent of all applicants. The first 9 months of 1940 brought the appli cations of more than half of the women and 47 percent of the men reported for the 2 years. Just over half the women applying for benefits were under 30 years of age, more than three-fourths were under 40. Nearly a third were Negroes. Woman British Official on Training Appointment of a woman as consultant to the Minister of Labor on the Training of Women is characterized as a milestone in the history of Great Britain. She is Miss Caroline Haslett, president of the Women’s Engineering Society. Seeing that mechani zation was spreading rapidly, she founded in the early 1920’s the Electrical Association for Women, bringing electrical education to thousands of home makers. Recent Publications Women’s Bureau Printed Bulletins1 Women’s Wages and Hours in Nebraska. 178. SO pp. Other Department of Labor Publications 1 Bul. 10 cents. Employment in Service and Trade Industries in Maine. Bul. 180. 27 pp. 10 cents. Women’s Bureau—Mimeographed Material1 Processes on Which Women Are Now at Work in Defense Industries. October 1940. 5 pp. Women Available for Defense Work. Prepared October 1940. 8 pp. Women’s Vocational Training Needs in the De fense Industries and Services. November 7, 1940. Recent Progress in State Labor Legislation. Division of Labor Standards. 1940. Bul. 42. The Pay Envelope. A series of 10 recordings of radio programs. Consists of dramatic episodes about the Middletons, America’s middle income family. These records are available to noncommercial organ izations for use on the special play-back mechanisms in local broadcasting studios; they cannot be played on ordinary phonographs. To be secured from Divi sion of Labor Standards. A small transportation charge to borrower. Other Recent Publications 7 pp. Report of Women’s Bureau Conference, Nov. 7, on Vocational Training of Women Under the Defense Program. 6 pp. Household Employment: 1. Reading List, Supple ment to Bul. 154, 11 pp.; 2. Outline For Study Groups, 56 pp. Women’s Bureau—Exhibit1 Available for loan from the Women’s Bureau is an attractive table display, in which color, light, and action illustrate how satis factory employer-employee relationships in the home promote family welfare. The only cost to the bor rower is payment for transportation. The weight is 243 pounds, the size 4 by 3 by 2 feet. A unit that can be used separately, weighing only 50 pounds, consists of a series of small automatically moving panels. Household Employment. By Mary B. Gilson. A vivid picture of the significant experiences of a woman who has done pioneer work in industrial relations, always thinking through to the more con structive economic policies and avoiding mere factory “welfare work.” Harper and Brothers, 1940, 299 pp. plus index. S3. Should Married Women Work? By Ruth Shallcross. An important contribution to the current discussion. Upholds the right of married women to jobs. Summarizes a study by the National Federa tion of Business and Professional Women’s Clubs. Public Affairs Committee, Inc., New York City. Public Affairs Pamphlets No. 49. 1940. 31 pp. 10 cents. What’s Past Is Prologue. 1 Bulletins may be ordered from the Superintendent of Docu ments, Washington, D. C. Mimeographed reports and the house hold employment exhibit are obtainable only from the Women’s Bureau. U. S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE: 1940