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Woman Worker

JULY 1940

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. 4

Vol. XX

July 1940

CONTENTS
Keep Up Standards for Women’s Work..................................................................
Women in Service Industries in Maine..................................................................
Toward'Minimum Fair Wages......................................................................................

Page
3
4
5

Progress'Under the Federal Act—Minimum-Wage Progress in the States.
Women in Tampa Cigar Industry...............................................................................
Women in Unions..............................................................................................................

Women’s Auxiliaries—Progress in Wearing Apparel, Textiles, Other Manufac
tures, White-Collar Work, and Service Industries.
News Notes and Announcements...............................................................................
Women’s Centennial Congress—Recent Legislation—More Women Work in
South Bend—Indiana Women Lack Protection—Home Work in California—
Accomplishments of the W. P. A.—The District Needs a Labor Depart
ment—Industrial Hygiene in Montana—Jobs in Chemistry for Women.
Recent Publications........................................................................................................

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

10
11

^wmWLlW^'JUL 22 w
BUM.

Keep Up Standards For Women’s Work 1
Note.—The Women’s Bureau has called toget her a Labor Advisory Committee on standards
for women workers i n defense industries.
floor for wages and a ceiling for hours are
omen workers are, in the main, the
most severely affected by relaxed required on a Nation-wide scale by the Fair
labor standards. They have been in the * Labor Standards Act, administered by the
lower wage levels, often close to economic Wage and Hour Division. This machinery
disaster, among those most helped by safe is flexible enough to provide for emergencies.
guards. The President’s strong plea to Labor is in a better position than formerly
keep minimum wages and short hours of to assure the success of such safeguards.
work and to hold living costs at a reasonable
However, it still is well to realize the
level should lead to a wise use of human dangerous labor conditions in 1917, so that
energies as well as raw materials. The we shall not go back to them. For in that
Women’s Bureau was created following an period several States actually passed laws
emergency, to prevent the inefficient ex allowing the Governor or a board to weaken
ploiting of women workers that had taken their own State laws for labor. The Gov
place in 1917 and earlier. Today this ernor of New York vetoed such a bill.
Bureau is called on more and more to
Serious conditions were found in plants
advise as to standards for women’s work making explosives and munitions. In 1918
and to investigate existing conditions.
the Women’s Bureau (then the Woman in
Rapidly increased production now is Industry Service) made a survey of plants
essential, and facilities are at hand to carry in Niagara Falls, highly important in the
this out. Hours of work need not be manufacture of chemicals and gases used in
lengthened. The United States Employ explosives, storage batteries, and various
ment Service has 6,000,000 unemployed products necessary for the machine indus
workers in its active file. Many other tries. It was found that known precautions
workers also are available. Because of in such work had not been taken, and hence
improved machinery, industry can produce workers were seriously affected by the use of
much faster and with fewer man-hours than lead, arsenic, mercury, and other powerful
earlier. For example, in the textile industry poisons. They also were subject to irritat
from 1919 to 1939, production increased by ing dusts, dangerous explosives, and spurting
25 percent but man-hours declined by 20 liquids.
In a munitions-making center, Bridgeport,
percent. In rubber-tire plants, over a
recent 16-year period, production increased Conn., girls had hands maimed by breaking
by 39 percent but employment fell by 30 punches, fingers crushed in unguarded
percent. Other industries show a similar presses. In a 6-month period in 1916, 25
picture, and many have not been producing women in one plant made claims to the
to full plant capacity.
1 See the Woman Worker, January 1940. See also:
Organization to safeguard human needs in
Women’s Bureau (then the Woman in Industry Service):
industry is stronger both in the Government
Bul. 1. Proposed Employment of Women in Niagara
Falls. (In Monthly Labor Review, January 1919.)
and in the ranks of labor than in 1914-18.
Bureau of Labor Statistics:
For example, in the United States Depart
Bul. 219. May 1917. Industrial Poisons.
Bul. 221. April 1917. Reprints from Memorandum of
ment of Labor the Public Contracts Division
British Health of Munition Workers Committee.
exists to assure suitable labor conditions on
Monthly Review—May 1917; August 1917.
Report of the (British) War Cabinet Committee on Women
goods made for the Government. For in
in Industry. 1919.
dustries engaged in interstate business, a
Files of American Labor Legislation Review and The Survey.
238939—40

THE WOMAN WORKER

State compensation commission, and under
the law disability must have lasted more
than 10 days before a claim could be made.
The 1940 bill for Army supplies and
equipage includes the making of uniforms.
In the war of 1914-18 these often were

made in insanitary homes, until child labor
on them was forbidden in the contracts
in 1917.
Such conditions as these can be prevented
now. We must not go back to these earlier
dangers.

Women in Service Industries in Maine
the earnings of workers in serv hours were worked. The following indi
ice and trade industries are low, this cates the wage situation of the women re
situation is the special concern of each State.
ported in Maine:
Percent with week's
These employees usually cannot be aided
earnings of—
Industry
Number
by the Wage and Hour Administration. In
Under $18 or
of
women
over
$12
Maine, at the request of the League of Stores: 1
Department; dry goods
10
21
___ 688
Women Voters and the Commissioner of
Limited price ___
____412
56
(s)
Labor and Industry, the Women’s Bureau
Apparel
______
___ 332
9
29
made a survey early in 1940 of employees
Office workers in foregoing.___ 295
11
27
in stores, beauty parlors, laundries and dry- Laundries; dry-cleaning plants__ 554
52
8
30
36
cleaning plants, and hotels and restaurants. Beauty shops ___ __ _.____276
50
0
The earnings and hours worked in 1 week, Hotels *_ _ _ ____________ ____ 119
Restaurants 3 (store and indeusually in October 1939, were copied from
pendent)___ _
_ _ _ ____ 111
2
61
pay-roll records generously made available
1 Regular workers only.
1 One-half of 1 percent.
by the employers in 433 establishments in
3 Only workers who received no supplement to wages. About
33 cities and towns. Information was ob three-fourths
were given meals, or meals and lodging, and had still
tained also for all persons employed by lower cash wages.
these firms in 1939, giving the number of
Earnings were somewhat higher in Port
weeks worked and the total earnings of each land than elsewhere in the State. They
employee.
were lower for women than for men, as is
The study as a whole covered over 4,600 usually the case in such studies; this is why
women. More than half (2,500) were in efforts to fix minimum wages have in most
stores, 1,200 in hotels and restaurants, 650 States been directed first to women’s wages.
in laundries and dry-cleaning plants, and In 60 percent of the restaurants, including
almost 300 in beauty shops. Of the more practically all store restaurants, tips were
than 2,000 men reported, almost half were not received or were very rare. The work
in hotels and restaurants.
ers bore the entire expense of furnishing and
Many of these women had very low earn laundering uniforms in more than half the
ings, measured by available standards. For hotels and restaurants that required their
example, the week’s pay of many women use. In store restaurants, uniforms gener
was below $12. In this respect the best ally were supplied and laundered by the
situations were in apparel and department employer.
stores, among office workers, and in beauty
In stores many women work only 1 or 2
shops, while laundries, limited-price stores, days in the week, or for only a few hours
and hotels and restaurants showed up less daily. In Maine these part-time workers
well. The minimum set by Federal law comprised nearly 50 percent of those in
for workers in industries doing an interstate limited-price stores and more than 20 per
business is 30 cents an hour; this would be cent of those in department and dry-goods
$12.60 for a week of 42 hours, more if longer stores and in apparel shops. A surprising

here

July 1940

WOMEN IN SERVICE INDUSTRIES IN MAINE

proportion of these women were given only
a few hours of work in the week, but even
for the hours they did work their earnings
were lower than those of other women.
Average hourly
earnings (cents)
Type of store

Regular
Part
emtime em
ployees ployees

Department; dry goods___________ 31. 3
Limited price___________________ 25. 2
Apparel________________________ 34.0

28. 3
22. 0
28.9

The Maine law that regulates women’s
hours of work allows their employment for
54 hours a week, which is extremely long by
present-day standards. Approximately half
of the States (4 of them in New England)
and the District of Columbia have a maxi
mum week of 48 hours or less; and no one
covered by the Fair Labor Standards Act
may work more than 42 hours unless paid
time and a half for the extra hours.
In several industries in Maine large pro
portions of women worked over 48 hours in
the pay-roll week taken: In department
and dry-goods stores 26 percent, in limitedprice stores 11 percent, in apparel stores 16
percent, in laundry and dry-cleaning plants
13 percent. Scheduled hours were over 48
for 26 percent in hotels, 53 percent in

independent restaurants, and 12 percent in
store restaurants. Men’s hours were even
longer.
The effect of seasonal activities in Maine
is evident from this survey. Resort hotels
were not scheduled, but other hotels are
affected by the summer trade, as are res
taurants, laundries, stores, and beauty
shops. Many women in these establish
ments had employment for less than six
months. A year’s work was available to
only 1 in 5 of the women in stores, 1 in 4 in
beauty shops, 1 in 2 in hotels and in the
various offices, and 2 in 5 in laundries.
Earnings of the women who worked all
year—49 to 52 weeks—indicate the maxi
mum that women in these industries have
to live on as follows:
Women working 49
to 52 weeks

Industry

General mercantile and apparel
shops..
------- -----------Limited-price stores________ ..
Laundries and dry-cleaning plants.
Hotels and restaurants 1__
Beauty shops___
._ _____
Office work
__ ___ _

Number

Percent with
earnings of—
Under $1,000
$600 or over

739
315
409
125
132
282

12
55
37
50
14
9

16
3
6
(2)
30
20

1 Workers receiving no wage supplements.
1 Only 7 women received as much as 3800.

Toward Minimum Fair Wages
Progress Under the Federal Act
Wage-Hour Act Upheld Again.

Administrative power to issue wage
Jy orders for specific industries has been
upheld by the United States Circuit Court
of Appeals in New Orleans. Appeal had
been made to the court by 16 cotton mills in
the South that the 32}£-cent textile wage
order be set aside. The court denied the
appeal. It upheld both the wage order and
the procedure set up by the Wage and Hour
Division for industry committees. This is
the first time that the power to issue orders
has been brought into question. Every
Federal District Court before which the
constitutionality of the act has been chal

lenged has sustained it as a valid regulation
of interstate commerce by Congress. The
act now has been held constitutional in nine
cases. Among the determinations of the
Wage and Hour Administration that also
have been upheld are its prohibition of
wage deductions for uninhabitable and
uninhabited company houses; its right to
examine records and to use them as evidence
without violating the Constitution; and its
definition of agricultural workers requiring
Puerto Rican sugar mills to pay the mini
mum. Groups of employees for whom the
act has been enforced without court contest
include home workers; workers for whole
salers selling goods in the stream of inter
state commerce though customers are in the

THE WOMAN WORKER

same State; workers making crates sold
locally for packing produce to be shipped
outside the State. The Administration has
prevented various types of wage-rate ma
nipulation to prevent payment of overtime,
and schemes to deduct employee “contribu
tions” to pay cost of factories; it has
secured reinstatement of workers discharged
for filing complaints.
New Orders for Three Industries.

With the approval of rates for the ap
parel, wool, and hat industries, minimumwage rates above 30 cents now have been
fixed in nine industries. These provide
increases for about 525,500 workers who
formerly received less than the new mini
mum fixed. In addition a 40-cent minimum
has been recommended for the leather in
dustry, 36 cents an hour for employees of
most railroads, 33 cents for short lines; and
committees have been appointed for the
carpet and rug industry and for the making
of luggage and leather goods.
Minimum-wage rates of 32%, 35, 37%, and
40 cents an hour for 26 branches of the
wearing-apparel industry have been ap
proved and will become effective July 15.
Some 650,000 workers are engaged in the
industry as defined by the order, and it is
estimated that 200,000 of these will have
their wages raised. Women comprise at
least two-thirds of all workers on clothing
and probably a larger proportion of those
who will receive increases. The rate for
the apparel industry in Puerto Rico is to
remain at the statutory minimum of 30 cents.
The rate of 36 cents an hour recommended
by the wool industry committee has been
approved, effective June 17. The industry
employs about 140,000 persons, probably
some 60,000 of them women. Wage rates
may be raised for about 11,000 workers.
Several lines of hat manufacture are cov
ered by an order that goes into effect July 1.
This fixes a minimum of 35 cents for straw
and harvest hats made on the mainland and
30 cents for those made in Puerto Rico.
For the processing of hatters’ fur and the
making of other hats except men’s cloth

hats and millinery (covered by other orders)
the rate is 40 cents.
Attempt to Amend Wage-Hour Act.

Congress has made no amendment to the
Wage-Hour Act, though three major bills
were proposed and debated at length.
Efforts centered largely around exempting
agricultural and white-collar workers from
coverage of the act. At present the act
exempts some 256,000 workers from the
30-cent minimum provision and 969,000
workers from the 42-hour maximum. At
various times proposals were made to
exempt, either fully or partially, from the
act’s protection home workers in rural areas;
workers in dairy processing plants in limited
areas, livestock dressing and packing plants,
small banks, newspapers with circulation
under 5,000 (those under 3,000 already are
exempt), convict-grown cotton and cotton
seed; students gaining clinical or profes
sional experience in recognized schools;
service employees in offices and apartments.
One proposal sought to exempt agricultural
workers by defining them exactly as in the
Social Security Act, which would have taken
some 200,000 from the protection of the act;
another tried to provide flexibility of sal
aried workers’ hours by “leveling off” over
time over a 26-week period, similar to the
hour-averaging provision that caused such
confusion under the N. R. A. Representa
tive Mary T. Norton of New Jersey, Chair
man of the House Labor Committee, who
worked valiantly to keep the act from
serious weakening, stated that canners,
packers, and others engaged in processing
agricultural products were the principal
seekers of the exemption of workers in
processing industries outside the “area of
production.”
Seasonal Industries.

Twenty industrial operations have been
found by the Administrator of the act to be
seasonal because climatic conditions limit
the time in which raw materials are avail
able. Final determination has been made
in 18 of these cases. Among the latter are

July 1940

MINIMUM WAGE

stemming and redrying of green leaf tobacco
and stripping of cigar leaf tobacco, work done
by women to a large extent. Seasonal in
dustries may work their employees 12 hours
a day or 56 hours a week for 14 weeks in a
calendar year before the requirement of time
and a half pay for overtime applies.
Executives, Professionals, Salespeople.

Executive, administrative, and profes
sional employees, outside salespeople, and
employees in a local retail capacity are ex
cluded from the benefits of the act. The
Administrator has defined these types of
employees, but a resurvey of the definitions
is being made which may result in exempting
some 1% million white-collar workers now
considered covered by the law. Represen
tatives of the wholesale distributive and of
the manufacturing and extractive industries
have been heard. A survey of professionals
in the moving-picture industry is under way,
and the situation in other groups will be
investigated before further determinations
are made.
To be exempted under the present defini
tions of these three groups, the employee
must be “customarily and regularly” en
gaged in the exempt occupations and must
do “no substantial amount of work of the
same nature as that performed by nonexempt
employees of the employer.” To be ex
cluded as executive or administrative, the
salary must be at least 530 a week.
Proposals for change have sought to
eliminate the qualification that exempt
employees do no substantial amount of the
type of work done by nonexempt employees.
Some have sought to omit also the phrase
“customarily and regularly.” Other than
this, changes in the definition of professionals
have not been suggested. For outside sales
persons, effort was made to omit from the
present definition the stipulation that ex
empted salespersons should not include those
engaged in routine deliveries.
For executive workers, one definition pro
posed that this term cover employees
responsible for the method by which and the
time during which they execute their own

work, and for important policy determina
tions, and having special skills not technical
or manual. Another suggested separate
classifications for executive and adminis
trative workers, defining the latter so as to
exempt such workers from the act if they
received 525 or more a week. A third
proposal would take out from coverage of
the act, by including them as administra
tive workers, practically all who ordinarily
would be classed as clerical, regardless of
how low their salaries, providing only that
they be regularly employed on a straight
salary basis and given vacations and sick
leave with pay.
Retail Establishment Further Defined.

A new rule to determine whether an estab
lishment is a “retail establishment,” and as
such specifically exempt from the Fair Labor
Standards Act, has been issued. According
to this definition a retail establishment is one
in which 50 percent or more of the dollar
value of sales is retail sales, that is, sales to
individual consumers. Heretofore, if more
than a minor part of an establishment’s
business was wholesale, it has been treated
as a wholesale establishment.
Learners in Independent Telephone Exchanges.

A determination was issued early in April
allowing independent telephone exchanges
with 500 or more stations to employ a limited
number of learner operators for 320 hours
(about 8 weeks) at 25 cents an hour. This
was based on the one reason the act permits,
the finding of an insufficient number of
skilled workers in the community. Learn
ers allowed in relation to total operators are:
One learner with 8 or fewer operators; two
with 9 to 18 operators; three with 19 to 30
operators; four with 31 to 44 operators; and
one additional learner for each additional 15
operators.
Evidence at the hearing showed that of
12,000 independent exchanges in the coun
try, 9,900 have less than 500 stations and
therefore are entirely exempt from the act.
The determination applies only to 2,100
exchanges with about 12,500 operators. In

THE WOMAN WORKER

general, more than nine-tenths of all tele
phone operators are women.

Massachusetts—Beauty Shops.

The Massachusetts beauty-shop order be
came mandatory June 1.

Learners in Silk Throwing.

The learning period in the silk-throwing
branch of the textile industry has been in
creased from 6 to 12 weeks. The number of
learners allowed is changed also. Establish
ments with 30 or fewer workers in specified
occupations may employ 3 learners; those
with 31 or more workers may employ 5. In
most branches of the textile industry,
learners are limited to 3 percent of all
production workers. (See Woman Worker
for January 1940.)

Minimum-Wage Progress in the States
Colorado—Hotel and Restaurant Hearings.

Public hearings have been held in the
restaurant and hotel industries of Colorado,
and an order covering them has been issued.
In 1930 more than 5,000 women were em
ployed in these industries. In 1937 earnings
reported for all women so employed averaged
ft) and under #11 a week.
Connecticut—Order for Laundries.

A minimum rate of 32% cents an hour for
any number of hours up to the legal limit of
48 became effective June 3 for women and
minors in the laundry industry in Connecti
cut. Permission to work more than 48 hours
may be secured in emergencies; in such cases
time and a half, or 48% cents, is to be paid.
The new order was made necessary by the
repeal of the original minimum-wage law in
1939, when a new law covering men was
enacted. The majority of the board for this
industry felt that the wages of men did not
afford a real cause of complaint, though 15
percent of those in a sample survey received
less than 30 cents an hour, and it was decided
to make no recommendation with respect to
a minimum for men. Under the new rate
women working 33 or more hours a week
will receive more than under the old order,
which fixed a more complicated series of
rates. A board for the cleaning and dye
ing industry was scheduled to be called in
June.

New Hampshire—Order for Dry Cleaning.

A directory order for the dry-cleaning
industry in New Hampshire, effective May
20, places the minimum at 28 cents an hour,
the same as for laundries. No deduction
from the minimum may be made (except for
Social Security) and waiting time must be
paid for. Learners, defined as those with
no experience in the industry, are allowed
up to 10 percent of the working force and at
a 25-cent rate; application for each learner
is to be made to the Labor Commissioner.
Three months is the period permitted for
learning. In the survey prior to issuance of
this order, about a fourth of the adult
women (21 and over) received less than 28
cents; about 3 percent received less than 25
cents.
New Jersey—Making Orders Mandatory.

The New Jersey order governing the em
ployment of women and minors in cleaning
and dyeing was made mandatory May 6.
This order fixed basic rates of 26 to 33 cents
an hour, by geographic area. Hearings have
been held to consider making mandatory the
orders for apparel and light manufacturing.
New York—Minimum-Wage Developments.

The guaranteed weekly wage in New
York’s laundry order has been upheld in the
State Supreme Court of Erie County. The
judge expressed the opinion that in passing
a law for women’s wages “sufficient to
provide adequate maintenance and protect
their health” the legislature must have had
in mind that an hourly wage, regardless of
amount, does not accomplish that purpose
unless the employee is given enough hours of
work to produce a week’s living wage at the
hourly rate set.
The soundness of minimum-wage orders
is again shown in a recent survey of wages
in the New York cleaning and dyeing in
dustry. An upward movement of the entire
scale of hourly earnings from the lowest to

July 1940

MINIMUM WAGE

the highest raised the average earnings of
women and male minors from 33.1 cents
before the order went into effect to 37.9
cents soon after. Average week’s earnings
were increased from #14.81 to #15.33. At
the same time there was a marked decrease
in hours. Before the order almost half the
employees reported had worked 48 hours or
more, while after the order only 15 percent
had done so. Of 5,448 workers studied after
the order, 88 percent were receiving the
legal minimum or more.
A wage board for the hotel industry, the
sixth to be convened under the State mini
mum-wage law, was organized in May.
Ohio—Minimum-Wage Activities.

In the first quarter of 1940 nearly #28,000
was collected under the three wage orders in
effect in Ohio—those covering laundries,
dyeing and cleaning plants, and hotels and
restaurants. A wage board has been in
session for the beauty-culture industry.
Pennsylvania—Laundry Order.

A directory order for the laundry industry
in Pennsylvania, effective June 1, sets a
minimum of 27 cents an hour, without geo
graphic distinctions. The chief effect will
be in the rural districts, since wages in the
cities exceed this. The minimum applies to
the office force and store clerks as well as to
plant workers. Waiting time must be paid
at employee’s regular rates. With every
wage payment, employees are to be given
an explanatory statement of rates and earn
ings. Where uniforms are required, em
ployers are to supply them at a fair charge
and are to launder them free.
Rhode Island—Benefits of Apparel Order.

Women’s earnings and employment have
increased since a minimum rate was set for
the apparel industry in Rhode Island. Their
average (median) hourly earnings, which
were 33.7 cents in October 1936, 1 year be
fore the order went into effect, were 37.6
cents in December 1939, 2 years after the
order became effective. The order set a
basic rate of 35 cents an hour, but as applied

to productive piece workers it was sufficient
that three-fourths should receive at least
that amount, the remaining one-fourth to
receive not less than 30 cents.
The study shows that not only were
wages of the lowest-paid workers increased
by the order, but earnings of workers above
the minimum also increased. For example,
in 1936 only 21.3 percent of the women
earned 40 cents or more, but in 1939 as
many as 40.3 percent had such earnings.
Average weekly earnings had risen from
#13.10 to #14.70.
Total employment had increased by about
6 percent, and women comprised more than
three-fourths of the total in 1939 as they
did in 1936. Relatively fewer women
worked as much as 44 hours, and more
worked 40 but under 44 in 1939 than in
1936. At the time of inspection the great
majority of the firms were in compliance
with the order.
Men’s earnings also have increased since
the wage order became effective. Their
hourly earnings averaged 49.3 cents in 1936
and 58.3 cents in 1939.
Utah—Retail Trade; Restaurants.

A mandatory order went into effect June 3
in Utah setting minimum rates in retail
stores of #10 to #15 for a standard week of
40 to 48 hours. The rate is #15 in Salt Lake
City, #14 in Ogden, with lower rates for
other places. Part-time employees, those
working less than 40 hours, are to be paid
an amount proportionate to the minimum
for the standard week, but in no case for
less than 4 hours a day. The rate for learn
ers for the first 3 months of employment is
#2 less, and for the second 3 months #1 less,
than the basic minimum.
The State authorities report that “the
majority of the retail stores in Salt Lake
City, and all those in the rest of the State,
appear to be willing to support the order.”
However, a minority group of employers
filed a petition for a rehearing on the order.
On May 18 the Industrial Commission de
nied this petition, because (1) The commis
sion did not act without or in excess of its

THE WOMAN WORKER

powers, and (2) the order was not procured
by fraud—the only grounds, under the law,
on which a rehearing may be granted.
Minimum rates of #10 to #14 for a 48-hour
week, by locality, have been set for women
and minors in restaurants. Learners, de
fined as employees with less than 3 months
of recognized experience, may be paid #1 a
week less than the established minimum.
The furnishing of meals is to be a matter of
mutual agreement between employer and
employee. Other provisions of the order
cover record keeping, part-time workers, the
split shift, rest periods, vacations, wage de
ductions, uniforms, and so forth. The order
is mandatory and goes into effect August 5.
Studies of women’s earnings made late in
1939 give some picture of the improvement

in wages that may be expected to result
from the retail-trade and restaurant orders.
One survey covered 428 women in stores and
in service employment in 17 small towns, in
most of which the minimum of #10 will
apply. Almost 30 percent of the women in
stores and 80 percent of those in restaurants
had received less than this. A survey of
earnings in restaurants covered 721 women
in Salt Lake City and 136 in Ogden. In
Salt Lake City 75 percent earned less than
#14 and in Ogden 80 percent earned less than
#13, 24 percent and 31 percent, respectively,
receiving less than #10, the lowest minimum
for any locality.
Hearings have been held on recommenda
tions for the laundry and public-housekeep
ing industries.

Women in Tampa Cigar Industry
OW earnings for both employers and 1939 must be judged by earnings in specific
j workers, together with much unem occupations. The largest group of workers
ployment and underemployment, characwere cigar makers, and half of these were
terize the Tampa cigar industry, according women. Next in importance as womanto a study made last summer by the Bureau employing occupations were strippers and
of Economic and Business Research of the banders, with very few men. Average
University of Florida. The shifting of some earnings of all workers in these occupations
of the younger workers to other industries were as follows:
is proposed, and suggestions are made for
Cigar making_______________ #13.86
Stripping___________________
9. 06
training them for building up new lines of
Banding____________________ 11.07
business. Tampa factories have lagged be
That women’s earnings have declined in
hind others in the introduction of modern
machinery and methods, and the practice of recent years is indicated by earlier studies
spreading work has been carried too far. of Florida industries made by the Women’s
Both these conditions need to be changed Bureau. While these figures are for the
gradually, with older workers being given State as a whole, Tampa is the most impor
tant cigar center. In 1928, white women in
preference in assignment to new processes.
The study covers 19 hand cigar factories, cigar factories averaged #16.65 a week; a
in which the more than 3,100 women much smaller number of Negro women,
workers comprised 51 percent of all the em #7.10. In 1937, women averaged #13.35 in
ployees. Census figures indicate a rapid cigar factories, men #18.20. In each of
development in all Tampa cigar factories in these years the industry gave employment
the two decades 1910-30, with total employ to more women than did any other line of
ment doubled and that of women increased work studied, and in each year these earn
ings were exceeded only by those of store
nearly four times.
Earnings of women in the 19 plants in employees.

July 1940

THE WOMAN WORKER

Women in Unions
Women’s Auxiliaries.

auxiliaries to national and in
ternational unions, women, even when
not gainful workers, have an opportunity to
aid the labor movement. All that is required
is relationship to a union member. Such or
ganizations have long been active. Re
cently there has been a national federation
formed, under the auspices of the Union
Label Trades Department. The tie-up with
the union-label movement is a logical one.
Women are to a very considerable extent the
purchasing agents for their families. For
this reason it is important that they should
be familiar with the labels and be educated
to watch for them when buying for the fam
ily. Even baked goods may carry such a
label, if made in union shops under sanitary
conditions. Some 15,000,000,000 of these
labels have been issued by the bakers’ union
in the past 5 years. Interest in these activ
ities is being stimulated by an essay contest
sponsored by the union-label department.
The subjects included are:
hrough

Why I Buy Union Label Goods.
Why I Use Union Services.
Why I Am a Labor Unionist.
Why I Joined a Women’s Auxiliary.

Progress in Wearing Apparel.

A review of recent contracts covering at
least 5,000 in clothing factories and more
than 1,000 in hat factories shows that many
wage increases have been secured. In the
case of two first contracts, negotiations on
wage rates were to follow signing of the
agreement. One contract covering 3,000
corset workers in New York City gives the
union the right to inspect records to see
whether work has been sent out of town
when New York workers are idle. This
practice was forbidden in the former con
tract, but violations were hard to prove.
In this same agreement all packers, boxers,
and folders are brought into the union.

Workers in an unorganized plant in
Indiana approached the union for assistance
in securing their legal rights under the Fair
Labor Standards Act. As a result #700 in
back wages was collected, the shop was
organized, and a closed-shop contract was
signed.
A firm in New Jersey went out of busi
ness, leaving 80 workers unemployed and
#2,000 in back wages unpaid. The union
brought in a new factory under union con
ditions to employ the stranded workers, and
will help to collect the back wages due.
A local union in New York is paying to
members unemployment benefits totaling
an average of #1,000 a week. Workers eligi
ble are those who earned less than #300 in the
recent season.
In a St. Louis plant, recently, executives
and over 120 workers celebrated 25 years of
continuous union-management relations.
Progress in Textiles.

Recent new or renewed contracts in the
textile field cover at least 12,500 workers.
The frequent use of the phrases “automatic
renewal” and “standard terms” indicates
that stability and continuity of practice is
being achieved. Large sums have been
added to workers’ pay through negotiated
increases. In Philadelphia increases in 15
mills added about #200,000 a year to the
purchasing power of the workers.
One contract provides a minimum of 45
cents an hour for unskilled labor and 70
cents for spinners and doffers, with the right
to open the wage question on 30 days’
written notice. It also has the following
provisions: An 8-hour day, with time and a
half for overtime or for holidays or scheduled
days off; a week’s vacation with pay; at
least 4 hours’ work or 2 hours’ pay if asked
to report; seniority rights; grievance and
arbitration machinery; no loss of seniority
by workers leaving the plant for illness,
accident, or maternity.

THE WOMAN WORKER

Progress in Other Manufactures.

The largest peanut concern in the world,
situated in Virginia, has about 1,000 workers,
two-thirds of them Negroes. Their third
agreement has recently been signed, estab
lishing an hourly minimum of 33 cents, and
giving 10- or 11-percent raises to a vast
majority of the workers, 5-percent increases
to the others. About 550,000 will be added
to the pay roll. Other terms include a 40hour week, seniority, arbitration machinery,
and improved sanitary conditions.
In a rubber factory in Massachusetts em
ploying 900 workers, wage increases aggre
gating approximately $20,000 a year were
secured; the minimum rate is increased by 5
cents an hour for men and 2 cents for
women. Time and a half for overtime and
double time for holidays is provided. An
improvement in the contract allows 1
week’s vacation after 1 year’s service, and
2 weeks after 5 years. The company
agrees not to renew any contract with a
firm involved in a strike with the union of
rubber workers.
Workers on pocketbooks have renewed
their contracts for 1 year with 5 firms in
New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Each con
tract provides for a 40-hour week, a mini
mum of $14 a week, and a closed shop.
About 300 workers are covered.
Progress Among White-Collar Workers.

A strike of newspaper workers in Chicago
has been ended after 17 months. It is
agreed that 115 union members are to be
returned to their posts, and 52 others are to
receive about $24,000 in severance pay.
An agreement with a St. Paul newspaper is
the first in that area to cover all employees,
including accounting and building main
tenance departments. Pay increases are
secured for editorial, circulation, and ac
counting department workers. Severance
allowance is increased to a standard of 1
week’s pay for each 30 weeks of service up
to a maximum of 26 weeks.
Employees of independent grocery stores
in Chicago have received wage raises that

will total about $500,000 a year. All sales
persons will receive an increase of $1 a
week, bringing the minimum to $21 for men
and $19 for women. This is in sharp con
trast to wage figures for retail food stores in
Illinois reported recently by the State De
partment of Labor, in which not the mini
mum but the average was $21.11 for men
and $14.32 for women. A vacation with
pay of 1 week will be given after 1 year, 2
weeks after 3 years.
Not all union work consists of negotiating
agreements. A nurses’ union in New York
recently secured the following adjustments
for its members: Compensation and free
medical care in 76 cases of primary infection
of tuberculosis; a vacation for a nurse who
had had none for 2 years; an advance post
ing of vacation schedules; improvements in
dining rooms after complaints were received
of poor food, improper diets, lack of cups,
teaspoons, and napkins.
The teachers’ union in an Indiana city
has helped to secure an increase of $150 in
the maximums on the salary schedule. The
maximums become as follows: Two years’
training, $1,800; three years’, $2,000; four
years’, $2,400; and five years’ $2,700. The
local union is working on a plan to provide
sabbatical leave and exchange of teachers.
New York teachers and parents, after a
4-month campaign, have had the 4-day ban
on substitutes rescinded. To save money,
it had been ruled that 4 days must elapse
between the first absence of a teacher and
the calling of a substitute. During the 4
days the absent teacher’s classes had to be
handled by his colleagues.
Following a strike, 115 office workers in
New York City returned to work with wage
raises, a union shop, paid vacations and
sick leave, and arbitration machinery.
Workers paid less than $16 received an
increase of $1.25, this raising the minimum
to $15.25; other workers got a raise of $1.
Progress in Service Industries.

The agreement covering 25,000 laundry
workers in the New York City area, signed

WOMEN IN UNIONS

July 1940

late in 1939, provided for a 5-day week
after a period of adjustment. The new
schedule went into effect April 6, and since
that date no laundry may be picked up or
delivered on Saturday.
No contract enforces itself, and a com
pliance department has been active in the
laundry field. In one month 50 cases were
handled, involving such problems as over
time pay for holidays, seniority, discharge

for union activity, and so on. In one case
rates were reduced following the introduc
tion of new machinery in the shirt-pressing
unit. At hearings, certain clauses of the
agreement were brought up which allow
employers to make any changes that may
be required in the interests of efficiency.
However, in all such cases, employees
affected by the change must have their
former earnings guaranteed to them.

News Notes and Announcements
Woman’s Centennial Congress

Recent Legislation

Legislatures in Kentucky, Mississippi,
of women will be held in
New York in the last week of Novem New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island,
and
ber to commemorate the “Woman’s Cen
Virginia had adjourned before The
tury,” 1840-1940, and to plan wisely and Woman Worker went to press; that of
well for the century to come. Delegates New Jersey had recessed. Still meeting or
from all parts of this country will “look shortly expected to convene or reconvene
backward at achievements won; look out were regular sessions in Alabama, Louisiana,
ward at discriminations still existing; and and South Carolina, and special sessions in
look forward to the emphases imperative California, Maine, and Illinois. Special
for the advancement of mankind.” The sessions in California and Illinois were
announcement of the congress emphasizes limited to consideration of subjects for
the following historical event that led which called.
Approved after the May Woman Worker
women to combine for social welfare:
went
to press were the following two bills:
One hundred years ago the first World’s Anti-Slavery

congress

Convention was held in London. Antislavery organi
zations in every country were urged to send delegates.
Organizations in the United States elected eight
women, who carried the same credentials as the men.
The convention refused to admit these women, explain
ing that “God’s clear intention” would be violated if
“promiscuous female representation be allowed.”
These women, seated behind a curtained bar and
incensed by the action taken, made plans to call a
woman’s convention in the United States, upon their
return, to consider how women might act collectively
to remove the injustices done them.

“The National Women’s Trade Union
League, founded in 1903, has been the labor
wing of this movement” says the Life and
Labor Bulletin. It has fought for rights
for women in industry and encouraged indus
trial women to exercise the privileges of
citizenship.

Kentucky.

An act relating to employer-employee
relationships and including a provision for a
6-day week for all employees (with certain
exemptions, including all persons working
not over 40 hours a week) unless time and
a half is paid on the seventh day.
Rhode Island.

An act empowering the State Department
of Labor to assist and cooperate in the
enforcement of the Federal Fair Labor
Standards Act.

The following bills were introduced but
not acted on:
Mississippi.

A bill providing maximum weekly hours
for retail trade in certain municipalities ac
cording to wage groups—44 hours for persons

THE WOMAN WORKER

receiving $10 a week or less, to 60 hours for
those receiving over $30 a week.
South Carolina.

A bill to provide a minimum wage of 30
cents an hour and maximum hours of 8 a
day, 40 a week, unless time and a half is
paid for overtime. Special certificates may
be issued for the employment of learners,
apprentices, and handicapped workers at
less than the minimum wage. Agricultural
and domestic service are exempt.

More Women Work in South Bend
Increasing economic pressures are pushing
more women into the labor market, and
young women are remaining longer at work
than formerly, according to indications from
additional figures tabulated in the sample
census of South Bend. In 1939 women in
the labor force 1 comprised 31.1 percent of
the woman population; in 1930 the gainfully
occupied women were 28.6 percent of the
woman population. This is not surprising
in view of the Women’s Bureau findings in
depressed years as to unemployment in that
city. For example, the Bureau found that
more than a third of some 2,700 households
surveyed in the depression had less than
their usual number of wage earners; in more
than a fourth of those that normally had
2 to 6 wage earners they had been reduced
to 1 or none. Under these circumstances, it
is natural that the women of the family
should try increasingly to add to its income.
In the sample census of 1939 the increase
in women in the labor force had been con
siderably greater than their increase in the
population, though they had advanced,
while men had declined slightly, in the
general population. Especially significant
are the differences between the sexes as
regards age of the workers, and the changes
from 1930 to 1939 at the various employ
ment ages. Over one-third of the males of
14 to 19 years and practically all men from
20 to 59 years were in the labor force. A
somewhat smaller proportion of girls of 14
to 19 than of boys were in the labor force;
1 For definition, see Woman Worker for May, p. S.

the maximum was reached in the 20-to-24year group, 58.2 percent of whom were
employed. At later ages, the proportions of
women in the labor force became less than
among younger women, though relatively
more older women were workers in 1939
than in 1930. This indicates a tendency for
young women to remain at work longer than
formerly, as well as for the older women to
return to the labor market because of family
financial need.

Indiana Women Lack Protection
Indiana women in intrastate industries
have no protection against long hours and
low wages. The ones most affected are in
laundries, restaurants, taverns, small com
mercial establishments that pay low salaries
and commissions, and curb service that pays
no wages at all but expects young women to
depend on tips. An effort was made in the
last legislative session (1939) to pass a
State wage-hour law, but without success.

Home Work in California
A decision by the Appellate Division of
the Superior Court has sustained enforce
ment of the new home-work law in Cali
fornia. This resulted from the effort of
certain clothing firms to obtain an injunc
tion against the Division of Industrial
Welfare. The injunction was denied. This
law, which became effective last September,
gave the Division of Industrial Welfare in
creased power of regulation.
Time studies are now being made to deter
mine what piece rates will insure to a normal,
experienced worker 33cents an hour.
The division has succeeded in raising
many of the very low prevailing rates.
These activities follow logically from the
power given by the new law “* * * to
determine whether the wages and conditions
of employment of industrial home workers
in the industry are injurious to their health
and welfare or whether the wages and
conditions of employment of the industrial
home workers have the effect of rendering
unduly difficult the maintenance of existing
labor standards * *
There has been

July 1940

NEWS NOTES

a decided upswing in applications for em
ployers’ licenses and home-workers’ permits,
but the division hopes soon to hold hearings
and issue orders forbidding additional types
of home work, a power also given them by
the new law.

activities. It is expected that the program
will be in demand especially by farm and
industrial groups and by employees of
other W. P. A. projects.

Accomplishments of the W. P. A.

This was the conclusion of Mrs. Roosevelt
after making a tour of the labor agencies in
the District of Columbia in the spring.
She discovered: That the District has no
safety code to protect workers in private
employment, and that the frequency of
accidents is greater than in comparable
employment elsewhere; that there is no
agency that collects labor statistics; and
that 5,000 to 10,000 women workers are not
covered by the present 8-hour law, which
was passed in 1914 before there were so
many large apartment buildings and beauty
shops.

A recent report of work done by the Divi
sion of Professional and Service Projects of
the W. P. A. gives an imposing picture of
service to many communities and to millions
of men, women, and children. Besides pro
vision of food and clothing, these include
educational activities, preparation of books
for the blind, and other library facilities, and
so forth. This is the division in which
practically all women are found, and certain
of its projects give employment almost
exclusively to women. During the week
of May 20, open house was held in all pro
fessional and service projects throughout
the country. Since the beginning of the
program more than 218,000,000 garments
and more than 43,000,000 quarts of canned
food have been produced. More than
17,000,000 visits to families have been made
by housekeeping aides. At a recent date
lunches were being served in more than
11,000 schools, 1,500 nursery schools were
operated, nearly 10,000 libraries operated
or assisted. More than 68,000,000 books
have been renovated and nearly 4,000,000
pages transcribed in Braille.
Services giving employment to both
men and women include health and educa
tional activities. In a 2-week period in
January 1940 more than 1,000,000 persons
were enrolled in adult education classes;
nearly 225,000 were receiving music or
art instruction. Nearly 243,000 medical
or dental examinations and treatments in
clinics, schools, or homes were reported in
this same period.
The workers’ service program has been set
up recently as one of the special community
service projects. The plan of this is to
furnish, on request, teachers in various lines,
leaders for forums and discussion groups,
and for music, drama, and other leisure-time

The District Needs a Labor Department

Industrial Hygiene in Montana
There was established recently in the
Montana State Health Department a divi
sion of industrial hygiene, which will be
concerned with the health of the industrial
population of the State. The 32,000 em
ployed women reported in 1930 were chiefly
in white-collar and service jobs, with about
400 in factories.

Jobs in Chemistry for Women
An interesting picture of the opportunities
for women chemists is presented by a report
received recently on the work of such women
in Cincinnati.1 The Cincinnati section of
the American Chemical Society lists 10
women in a total of 300 members. Four of
these teach in colleges, and 1 in a high school;
2 are librarians; the others are a graduate
assistant, an industrial engineer, and a
worker in medical research. Of special
interest also is the work of 2 other women,
biochemists, one of whom supervises the
production of serums, toxins, antitoxins,
and the like, and the other does research
1 Prepared by Muriel E. Coffin, assistant librarian of the Proctor
& Gamble Co.

THE WOMAN WORKER

on cancer and teaches in the cancer clinic.
The indications are that the greatest num
bers of women chemists in Cincinnati find
work in hospitals. These report a total of 44
in their clinical laboratories and 16 in the
research laboratories. At present, only 8
women chemists are reported in industry in
the city, 4 as librarians. Some women
have left the field of chemistry proper to
teach foods in high schools or go into
nursing.

Recent Publications
Women’s Bureau—Printed Bulletins 1
State Minimum-Wage Laws and Orders: 1939.

Supplement to Bui. 167.

1940.

IS pp.

5 cents.

Employment Opportunities and Earnings of
Women Workers in the United States. Re

print from Labor Information Bulletin, February
1940. 2 pp.
Progress

State Minimum-Wage Legislation,

1939. 13 pp. (Prepared by Women’s Bureau.
Published in Monthly Labor Review, Bureau of
Labor Statistics, February 1940. Reprint obtain
able from Women’s Bureau.)

Women’s Bureau—Mimeographed Material1
Employment Conditions

1939.

24 pp.

Status of Women in the United States, January 1,

1938. 9 pp.
Regional Conference of State Minimum-Wage
Inspectors (Connecticut, District of Columbia,

Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Pennsyl
vania, Rhode Island), New York City, February
2 and 3, 1940. 13 pp.
Digest of Suggested Standards of Procedure
Under State Minimum-Wage Laws. 3 pp.
The Women’s Bureau Looks at Young Women
and Their Jobs. Address by Mary Anderson

before the Regional Conference on Girls’ Projects
of the National Youth Administration, Denver,
Colo., November 30, 1939. 11 pp.
Domestic Workers and Legislation. Revised
April 1940. 6 pp.
Official Action as to Employment of Married
Women. April 1940. 5 pp.
Gainful Employment of Married Women. April

16 pp.

1 Bulletins may be ordered from the Superintendent of Docu
ments, Government Printing Office, Washington, D. C., at prices
listed. A discount of 25 percent on orders of 100 or more copies is
allowed. Mimeographed reports are obtainable only from the
Women’s Bureau.

Study of Consumer Purchases, Urban Series,

1935-36. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Vol. I, Family Income: East Central Region (9
cities), Bui. 644. New England (5 cities), Bui.
645.
Vol. II, Family Expenditures: West CentralRocky Mountain Region (6 urban communities),
Bui. 646. Southeastern Region (3 cities), Bui.
647.
Money Disbursements of Wage Earners and
Clerical Workers, 1934-36. Bureau of Labor

Statistics.

Pacific Region (5 cities), Bui. 639.

Occupational Poisoning in the Viscose Rayon
Industry. By Alice Hamilton, M. D. Bui. 34.

Division of Labor Standards.
in a Democracy. General report adopted
by the White House Conference on Children in a
Democracy, January 19, 1940. Children’s Bureau.
Trend of Child Labor, 1937 to 1939. Children’s
Bureau.
Junior Placement. A survey of junior-placement
offices in public employment centers and in publicschool systems of the United States. 1940. Publ.
No. 256. Children’s Bureau.

Children

Child-Health Conferences As Training Centers
For Medical Students. March 1940. Children’s

Bureau.

Citrus Fruit Packing,

Employment in Service and Trade Industries in
Maine, 1939. Preliminary Report. 35 pp.
Major Legal Distinctions Between Sexes, by
State. Condensed from Survey of the Legal

1940.

Other Department of Labor Bulletins 1

Other Recent Publications

By Jean Collier Brown. Oc
cupational Monograph No. 14. Science Research
Associates, Chicago. 1940. 48 pp.
There are not enough capable trained workers
available for household work, and yet there are
thousands of the untrained who cannot find jobs.
This points the way to the need of training facilities.
This type of work has not the same continuous ten
sion as keeping up with machines in mills and fac
tories. Yet it has disadvantages in long hours, low
wages, and harsh working conditions, all of which
could and should be corrected,
“The young person entering the field of household
employment today—with a clear understanding of
all its imperfections and disadvantages, yet seeing
its future possibilities for satisfactory employment—
has a great opportunity to make a significant con
tribution to social progress.”
Safety Fashions For Women In Industry. Na
tional Safety Council, Inc., Chicago, 1939. 24 pp.
“* * * it has become the fashion in our modern
world to dress and act so that accidents cannot
harm us.” Among the points stressed in this at
tractively illustrated bulletin are the wearing of low
heels and snug-fitting garments, protection of eyes
and hair, learning proper methods of handling ma
terial to avoid strains and sprains.

Household Workers.

U. S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE: 1940

Full text of The Woman Worker : July 1940, Vol. XX, No. 4

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