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Woman Worker

MARCH 1940

United States Department of Labor
I
Women’s Bureau

UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF LABOR
Frances Perkins, Secretary

WOMEN’S BUREAU
Mary Anderson, Director

THE WOMAN WORKER
PUBLISHED EVERY 2 MONTHS

Vol. XX

No. 2

March 1940

CONTENTS
Page

Season’s Earnings of Women in Canneries________________________________
Recent Trends in Women’s Wages and Employment_______________________
Women’s Labor Standards and Wars Abroad_____________________________
Toward Minimum Fair Wages____________________________________________

Progress Under the Fair Labor Standards Act—Conference of State Wage In
spectors—State Minimum-Wage Activities.
Women in Unions________________________________________________________
Progress in Textile Industries; Wearing-Apparel Industries; White-Collar Occu
pations; Service Industries.
Women in the 1940 Census of Population________________________________
News Notes and Announcements_________________________________________
The White House Conference on Children in a Democracy—Household Employ
ment Symposium—Recent Court Action.
Industrial Injuries to Women________________________ __________________
Hazards to Women in Five States—Injuries to Women in New York—The Age
Factor in Accident Experience.
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

3
4
6
7

11
12

...

Season’s Earnings of Women in Ca
lomen who can the vegetables and
fruits so widely used today often can
not expect to earn from such work more than
a cash supplement to other income. Owing
to the seasonal factor and the consequent
short period during which jobs are available,
the industry can furnish but few workers
with a year’s budget on a health and decency
basis, according to a survey recently made by
the Women’s Bureau. In 1938 women com
prised over 60 percent of the workers reported
canning tomatoes, green beans, and large
fruits, nearly 30 percent in pea canning, and
just under half in corn canning. Women’s
chief occupations in canneries are in the
preparation, the general factory, and the
canning departments.
Figures on length of the worker’s employ
ment and amount received for the season’s
work were compiled from the plants’ records
kept for Social Security purposes in 1937,
which is considered the best recent canning
year. The information secured is being
followed by further data for the 1939 season.
Of more than 170,000 employees reporting
weeks worked in 1937 in the canning and
dried-fruit-packing plants, 63 percent had
less than 8 weeks’ employment in any one
plant; less than 5 percent had worked
in the same plant as long as three-fourths of
the year. A sample testing in California
found that only 6 percent of the wage earn
ers had had work in more than one cannery.
Migrants may work in several seasonalproduct canneries in several communities,
this appearing to be more prevalent in Cali
fornia than elsewhere. However, with the
height of the season in all but peas and
asparagus coming in August, not many new
people will be taken on in a plant when this
peak is over.
The maximum number employed in one
week by the 567 plants in the 13 important
canning States included in the survey of
1938 was about 135,000. Just over a third

207676—40

of these were at work in California and well
over a tenth in Indiana. In Maryland,
Wisconsin, New York, and Indiana, threefifths or more of the plants visited are in
rural areas, that is, towns under 2,500. In
California and Illinois only a fourth of the
plants are in rural areas. Other States in
cluded are Iowa, Minnesota, New Jersey,
Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Wash
ington.
Sixty percent of the nearly 190,000 work
ers reported to the Social Security Board
had received less than #100 for their season’s
work. Average earnings of those who had
worked through the canning season of most
usual duration were as follows:
Week} worked

Percent of
workers

Under 4 weeks___________ _____ 32.5
4, under 8 weeks_______________ 30.5
.......... 15.4
8, under 12 weeks____

Average
earnings
for season

£20.10
75.20
149.20

The varying amounts received by workers
in different States, listed according to the
numbers employed in this industry, are indi
cated in the following average earnings for
the season:
State

California_____ ___________
Indiana__________________ _
Maryland___________
____
NewYork__ _ _ _ _________
Wisconsin___ ___
____ __
Washington... ________
Illinois_____ ____
_____
Minnesota__________________
New Jersey and Pennsylvania__
Iowa______________________
Ohio_______________ ._ _ _

Under 4
weeks
Wi.is

15.90
10.55
20.15
25.35
19.70
18.55
28.80
19.15
19. 25
18.25

4, under
8 weeks

£95.40
64.05
40.90
73.80
64.80
71.00
76. 80
78.45
59.40
62.55
61.85

Less than one-third of the plants reported
put up only one fresh vegetable, and none
of these was in operation more than 14 weeks.
The average for tomatoes and tomato prod
ucts (the largest pack) was only 8 weeks;
for peas or corn 5 weeks, with most plants
operating less than 6 weeks, and the peak or
near peak not over 4 weeks in Maryland,
3

THE WOMAN WORKER

Virginia, and California, 2 weeks in Ohio.
About 10 percent of the plants canned two
seasonal vegetables, and only a few canned
three or more. Usual combinations include
peas and green or lima beans; tomatoes and
corn or beans; green beans and corn. Though
large numbers were at work in two-vegetable
canneries for as much as 4 weeks in New
York, the pay roll was at peak for only
2 weeks, in California for only 1 week. The
length of the season in plants with more than
one product was as follows:
Type of plant

Average weeks and days on which
canning or packing was done
Weeks
Days

Canning 2 vegetables .. ________
Canning 3 or more vegetables.___
Combining seasonal vegetables and
fruits (California and New York).
Seasonal and nonseasonal products..

11
15

49
67

19
32

101
131

Oral reports from plant officers show
that housewives in towns and villages or
farmers’ wives and daughters usually con
stitute the chief woman labor supply. Some
workers are brought out from the city by
the canning company, which houses them in
shelters during the season. In New York
this includes women, chiefly of Italian fam
ilies, brought from Buffalo, Rochester, and
Syracuse; in Maryland women from Balti
more and the South. Another type of mi
grant has worked on earlier crops elsewhere
in the State. Only 16 percent of all plants
reported employing migrant women, the
larger number of these being in California.
Girl students constitute a small proportion
of the canning force in all States, and a few
plants reported women casual laborers,
chiefly those available as domestics.

Recent Trends in Women’s Wages and Employment1
definite improvements in women’s Women’s Earnings.
employment and earnings are indi
Women’s average hourly earnings had in
cated in figures that have just become avail

creased
in 17 of the 24 industries. Further
able. These compare September 1939 with more, women averaged more to live on in
the same month in 1938 in identical plants the week in 16 of the 24; this was due in
representing 22 major manufacturing and 2 most cases to a combination of an increased
service industries in the 12 most important hourly wage and somewhat longer hours of
industrial States.
work, though in a few industries hours were
shorter and earnings higher, than a year
Women’s Employment.
before, and in a few the hourly averages had
Women’s employment had increased in
declined and the week’s rise was due only to
19 of the 24 industries; where there were lengthened hours.
declines they were slight, except that of 5.5
Where there were declines they usually
percent in the women’s coat and suit and were small, though the average hourly earn
6.8 percent in the dyeing and cleaning ings had fallen over 4 percent in hosiery and
industries. Increases were marked in the in the making of women’s coats and suits,
following:
ery

Percent
increase

Woolen and worsted___________________ —
Paper boxes----------------------------Auto tires and tubes---------------------------------Cotton goods..----------------Knit underwear--------------------------------------Hardware_______________________ ____ —
Electrical machinery--------------------------------Radios and phonographs---------------------------

6
11
12
12
12
22
32
50

1 Source: Pay-roll records mailed by employers to the Bureau of
Labor Statistics for week of September IS. Included are 365,576
women employed in 22 industries representing nearly two-thirds of
all women in manufacturing, and 24,880 women in laundries and
cleaning and dyeing plants. The 12 States included employ about
three-fourths of all women in manufacturing—California, Connecti
cut, Illinois, Indiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, New
Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania. Mimeo
graphed tables showing more complete data for September 1939
can be obtained from the Women’s Bureau. Earlier data appeared
in the Woman Worker, March and September 1938, May and
September 1939.

March 1940

TRENDS IN WAGES AND EMPLOYMENT

and the drop in week’s earnings was serious
in the following: Hosiery, 7 percent; cotton
dresses, 9 percent; undergarments, 11 per
cent; other dresses, 14 percent; women’s
coats and suits, 24 percent. The more im
portant gains in women’s average earnings
are shown in the following:
Percent increase1
Hourly Week’i
earnings earnings

Cigars_____________________________ 4
Confectionery_______________________ 6
Cotton goods________________________ 1
Dyeing and cleaning_________________ 6
Electrical machinery__________________2
Glass and pottery____________________ 3
Men’s cotton clothing_________________ 5
Paper boxes.________________________ 3
Radios and phonographs---------------------(2)
Rubber boots and shoes_______________ 5
Woolen and worsted__________________ 7

9
4
6
7
16
9
2
6
6
4
10

1 Those listed where increase was 4 percent or more for either
week or hour.
3 Slight decline.

Many women still received less than an
adequate living wage in September 1939,
according to the minimum-wage budgets
compiled in nine States, the lowest of which
found #17.99 to be necessary for a woman’s
healthy living. But many women received
considerably less than this, according to the
wages reported last September, their aver
ages being under #15 in 9 of the 24 industries,
as follows:
Women’s cotton dresses__________________ 211.47
Men’s cotton clothing____________________ 12. 34
Silk and rayon__________________________ 12. 74
Boots and shoes (leather)_________________ 13.12
Knit underwear_________________________ 13. 28
Women’s undergarments__________________ 13. 35
Cotton goods----------------------------------------- 13. 70
Cigars_________________________________ 13. 75
Laundries______________________________ 14. 36

Only in hardware and auto tire and tube
factories did women’s earnings average as
much as #22.32, the amount found necessary
for adequate living in the highest among the
nine minimum-wage budgets compiled.
Earnings of Women and Men.

The improvements in average earnings
were somewhat more general for women
than for men, which was to be expected in
view of the formerly very low level of
women’s wages. Average hourly earnings

had increased for both sexes, but more so
for women in many industries, notably con
fectionery, glass and pottery, paper boxes,
men’s cotton clothing, and suits and
overcoats.
There were declines for men in all textile
and some women’s clothing industries. De
clines for men with either a much less decline
or some increase for women occurred in the
hosiery, cotton, women’s undergarment,
cotton dress, woolen and worsted, dyeing
and cleaning, and boot and shoe industries.
On the other hand, women were at a greater
disadvantage than men in book and job print
ing, hardware, dresses other than cotton,
and women’s coats and suits.
Striking differences still appear in the
wages that men and women have to live on.
Highest week’s earnings for women averaged
#23.41 in auto-tire plants and #23.19 in
hardware factories. Men’s averages were
above these highest figures for women in 17
of the 24 industries. Lowest averages for
men were #16.38 in cotton mills, #18.80 in
silk and rayon, and #18.76 in cigar plants.
But in 15 of the 24 industries women re
ceived averages below the lowest of these
figures for men.
Employment of Women and Men.
Proportional increases in employment had
been somewhat more general for women
than men, as the following indicates:
Increases for both sexes—
Considerably greater for women than men:
Electrical machinery; hardware; radio; and
rubber boots and shoes.
Other increases greater for women:
Auto tires and tubes; glass; knit underwear;
paper boxes; suits and overcoats.
Increases greater for men:
Cotton; cotton dresses; laundry; men’s cotton
wear; undergarments; woolen and worsted.
Declines for both:
Cigars; dresses not cotton; women’s coats and suits.
Declines for men, increases for women:
Book and job printing; silk and rayon; and the
more striking percent changes:

Men
Hosiery___________ —0.4
Boots and shoes____ —1.8

Women
+6.7
+3. 5

Decline for women, increase for men:
Confectionery: Men, +3. 2;^women,—0.8.

THE WOMAN WORKER

Women’s Labor Standards and Wars Abroad 1
VEN countries at war recognize that
more effective work is done if some
effort can be made to keep up standards
labor. However, exceptional cases do not
always permit the highest standards to be
maintained. French wartime regulations
prescribe normal hours of women’s work
not to exceed 10 a day, 60 a week, but labor
inspectors may permit other hours, including
women’s night-work employment on work of
national importance. Germany restored
the 8-hour day as standard, beginning
January 1; only where “necessary” may
hours be as long as 10, and then with certain
exceptions, including nursing mothers, those
in the last 3 months of pregnancy, and per
sons in unhealthy work subject to special
hours regulations.
In Great Britain the Factories Act of 1937
had established a 48-hour week for women as
a standard. The secretary of state may now
exempt any particular premises or opera
tions, or class of premises or operations. An
emergency measure permits employment of
women telephonists until 10 or 10:30 p. m.,
or even later if absolutely necessary. The
question was asked in the House of Commons
last September whether the Government
would not set an example to private and
municipal employers by applying the prin
ciple of equal pay for equal work, but the
Financial Secretary to the Treasury stated
that the present practice of different salary
scales for men and women civil servants of
the same grade would not be abandoned.
In Belgium, in case of partial or general
mobilization, exceptions may be permitted
to the regulation prohibiting women’s work
at night. In Sweden the War Department
has asked for suspension of night-work
prohibition.
Extent of Employment.
In Great Britain, in the early days of the
war, there was a considerable increase in
women registered as unemployed. Causes
of this included stoppage or slackening in

industries employing many women, such as
service, trade, clothing, and certain textile
of
industries;
evacuation of women from their
normal places of employment; search for
work by women whose usual source of in
come was cut off. In some lines of work,
however, women’s activities have increased.
Civil-service departments have been author
ized to reemploy married women tempor
arily. The substitution of women for men
in munitions factories and in the transport
industry is being considered.
Various measures are now being taken to
increase women’s activities. The Women’s
Engineering Society is training their sex for
munitions work. The Women’s Employ
ment Federation, in agreement with the
Ministry of Labor, has established an emer
gency register, noting qualifications of
women as accountants, bacteriologists, mag
istrates, statisticians, engineers, or those
with catering experience available for can
teen posts. The Women’s Royal Naval
Service, organized by the Admiralty, is
recruiting those capable of office duties,
motor transport, cooking, and general work
as stewards, messengers, storekeepers, and
the like. Chief constables in many parts of
the country are enrolling women to take
men’s places as special constables, drivers of
police cars, clerical workers, and telephone
operators.
In Germany, at the beginning of the war,
the extension of the employment of women
to new fields became marked, and women
took the place of men in certain jobs con
sidered typically masculine, as postmen,
tramway conductors, and so forth. Last
traces of the 1933 restrictions on women
disappeared when an order of September 1
permitted retention of all married women
officials in the civil service.
The French Ministry of Labor appealed
early in September to all available women
workers, particularly those having experi1 Sec also Woman Worker for January 1940.

LABOR STANDARDS ABROAD

March 1940

ence in certain specified operations in the
metal industries, to report to the employ
ment exchanges; the Ministry of Health
appealed to women nurses and welfare
workers to enter the public services.
Civilian Mobilization.

Laws or orders providing for civilian
mobilization in case of war or an emergency
have been issued in a number of countries.
This is compulsory for women as well as
men, with certain exceptions, in Finland,
France, Germany, Poland, Rumania, and
Switzerland. Age limits usually are set,
the lowest for women being 15, the highest
70. Women needed at home to care for
children or other persons, and women for
certain periods before and after childbirth,
usually are exempt. A similar measure has
been proposed in Sweden.

Women in Mines in Japan.

Women over 25 years of age now are per
mitted to work in Japanese coal and gold
mines, owing to the present shortage of
miners and decline in the amount of metal
and coal. A woman miner must be either
the wife or some other member of the family
of a miner. The number of women thus
mobilized is estimated at 14,000. Women’s
organizations in that country have protested
this revival of the work of women in deep
mines. Since 1933 women have been pro
hibited from working underground, except
in “thin mines” (about 1% feet thick) and
digging out remaining coal in old mines.
Measures to insure workers’ health still are
recognized as essential. The woman miner
must have health examinations at least
twice a year, and may not work late at
night or if pregnant.

Toward Minimum Fair Wages
ProgressUnder the Fair Labor
Standards Act

Census of Manufactures, this would indi
cate more than 13,500 women employees.

Discharged Worker Reinstated.

Receiving, Grading, and Packing Nuts.

employee allegedly discharged because he complained to Federal au
thorities that his employer violated the
Fair Labor Standards Act has been ordered
reinstated, by action in a United States
District Court. This is the first such case
acted upon by any court under this law.
It arose in a Chicago firm making refriger
ator and radio parts.

The unshelled-nut industry is not sea
sonal, according to a decision by the Wage
and Hour Division made in response to
a request for exemption from the hours
provision of the Fair Labor Standards Act
for the unshelled English walnut industry
in California, Oregon, and Washington, and
unshelled filberts in the two latter States.
The decision held that although the receiv
ing at packing houses of new nut crops is
directly controlled by climate and other
natural factors, the extremely short season
for grading and packing is due not to natural
factors but to heavy Christmas demand.

A 40-Cent Minimum for Millinery.

A minimum rate of 40 cents an hour for
the millinery industry was approved by the
Administrator of the Wage and Hour Divi
sion and went into effect January 15. The
Division estimated that 16 percent of all
the wage earners in the industry were
paid less than 40 cents. A Women’s Bureau
study found nearly two-thirds of the work
ers to be women. On the basis of the 1937

Applications for Learners.

Application
industry was
being found.
cigars large

for learners in the cigar
denied, no labor shortage
In centers for hand-made
numbers are unemployed.

THE WOMAN WORKER

Where cigars are made by machine, labor
shortage is due rather to management
methods than to lack of labor supply,
since high turn-over accompanies low piece
rates and turn-over is low where piece
rates are high. A review of this decision
has been granted.
Hearings were held on requests for
learners in the telephone, hat, and millinery
industries. Review of regulations for cur
tain manufacturing resulted in prohibition
of learner rates. Review of the learners’
rules in textiles has been granted. (For
learners’ provisions so far made, see Woman
Worker for January.)
Back Wages Paid More Home Workers.

The drive continues against undermining
wage standards by low pay to home workers.
A recent judgment obtained by the Wage
and Hour Division in United States District
Court required a large New York knitting
firm to restore over $27,000 to several
hundred home workers making infants’
and children’s knitwear in New England,
New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania.
Glove manufacturers representing 90 per
cent of the production in the industry have
agreed with the Government to pay home
workers back wages, affecting chiefly workers
in New York, Wisconsin, Illinois, and 20,000
in Puerto Rico.

Conference of State Wage Inspectors
Methods used effectively in enforcing
minimum-wage orders were discussed in
detail at a February conference in New
York arranged by the Women’s Bureau
for minimum-wage inspectors of the north
eastern region. Invited to participate in
the conference were inspectors from New
England and Middle Atlantic States. Sub
jects considered included: How to secure
adequate record keeping by employers;
how collections of back wages are made;
how violations are followed up; methods of
securing the confidence of employees; in
spection problems arising from special
provisions of the orders, such as the guar
anteed wage, or regulations as to learners.

State Minimum-Wage Activities
Connecticut—Administration.

A wage study of laundries has been
finished recently, and the laundry wage
board is being recalled to reconsider the
present wage order, which became effective
May 10, 1938.
Under the beauty-shop wage order, man
datory since August 30, 1939, 1,200 inspec
tions and 250 reinspections have been made,
and back wages totaling $1,500 collected.
First inspections are generally devoted to
teaching the necessity for record keeping.
Some proprietors have tried to reduce the
pay roll by giving days off, so that inves
tigators have had to give considerable atten
tion to the matter of voluntary and in
voluntary absence. Other problems met
are those of partnership and booth renting.
District of Columbia—Personnel.

Mrs. William Kittle, chairman of the
Minimum Wage Board and representative
of the public, has been appointed to a
second term for a 3-year period. Miss
Gwen Geach, executive secretary of the
board, has resigned to accept a position with
the United States Department of Labor,
and Miss Eunice Broyles has been appointed
as her successor.
New York—Restaurant Recommendation.

A minimum cash wage of 20 cents an hour
for waitresses in New York City and 18
cents outside the city, plus adequate meals
and uniforms, was recommended on January
8 by the Restaurant Minimum Wage Board
for women and minors in the restaurant
industry. All other employees would re
ceive, respectively, 29 and 28 cents.
These rates, for hours over 24 and up
to and including 45, would be increased so
that at the end of 21 months the minimum
throughout the State would be 20 cents for
waitresses and 30 cents for all other restau
rant workers. Employers who do not provide
meals for workers would be required to pay
an additional 6 cents an hour and if they do
not maintain the uniforms they must pay
extra for that also. Should the Industrial

MINIMUM WAGE

March 1940

Commissioner, after public hearings, approve
the recommendations, they will become the
basis for a wage order for the restaurant in
dustry. A large proportion of the women
and minors working in restaurants will have
their wages raised if such minimum-wage
order goes into effect, and approximately
50,000 women and minor restaurant workers
will be affected. The part-time rates recom
mended are 3 cents above the basic rate for
every hour up to and including 24. Time
and a half the minimum rate is to be paid
for hours over 45. No lower rate is fixed for
learners, since no extensive training is neces
sary for most jobs in the industry.
Ohio—Administration.

During 1939 Ohio minimum-wage in
spectors made 15,970 investigations. Over
#61,107 in back wages was collected in the
year for 1,565 employees.
New York—Enforcement and New Studies.

That the minimum wage has not become
the maximum is shown in the laundry and
the beauty-parlor industries by a compari
son of sworn pay rolls in New York State
before and after minimum-wage orders went
into effect. Furthermore, the guaranteed
weekly wage is undoubtedly responsible for
the noticeable decrease in part-time work
in the laundry industry.
While the lowest-paid workers reaped the
greatest benefits among laundry workers
others also were aided, as the following
shows:
Percent receiving under $12

November 1937

Zone A____________________
Zone B........................................

14
34

November 1938

6
6

Percent receiving $15 and over

November 1937

November 1938

to receive less than #10 a week, and under
paid beauty operators were found on relief
rolls; now fewer than 9 percent get so little.
The upturn in weekly hours in laundries
was marked. In Zone A between 40 and
45 hours a week were worked by 49 percent
of the women and minors reported in 1937
and 56 percent in 1938; in Zone B by 40
percent in 1937 and 58 percent in 1938.
Back wages collected during the year
amounted to more than #17,000 for 2,800
laundry workers and #25,000 for some 3,900
beauty-service employees; 759 and 2,384
employers, respectively, were involved in
these violations.
Two new industries, retail trade and
paper-box making, are now being surveyed
in respect to minimum wages.
Rhode Island—Retail Trade Survey.

About 94 percent of the retail firms in
Rhode Island, employing 98 percent of the
covered workers, are complying with the
minimum-wage order for this industry,
according to a recent survey made by the
Division of Women and Children of the
Rhode Island Department of Labor. Since
the order is not mandatory, this shows good
cooperation and indicates that the minimum
fixed is a reasonable one. It also points to
the need for a mandatory order so as to
eliminate unfair competition by the small
minority of firms that do not comply.
Before the order was issued, over 36 per
cent of the women for whom earnings were
reported in the larger towns and 65 percent
in smaller places received less than the
minimum fixed, which is respectively 30 and
27 cents an hour or #14 and #13 for a 42}£to 48-hour week. About 80 percent of the
employees receiving less than the minimum
in each group had wages raised immediately
after passage of the order. There also was
an increase in employment.

Zone A____________________ 46
62
Zone B........................................ 20
22
Zone A comprises New York City and Westchester
and Nassau Counties; Zone B comprises Suffolk County
and cities over 18,000 not in Zone A.

Utah—Recommendations for Retail Trade.

Similarly, in beauty parlors, 85 percent
of the women receive #15 or more a week
since the order, whereas formerly only 35
percent got so much. Almost a third used

The Minimum Wage Board for Retail
Trade in Utah has recommended that the
Industrial Commission shall set minimum
rates by zone between #10 and #15 a week

THE WOMAN WORKER

for a standard week of 48 hours. Part-time
employees, those working less than 48 hours
a week, would be paid for at least 4 hours
a day at 31% cents an hour; apprentices,
workers with less than 1 year’s experience,
#2 a week less than the regular minima for
the first 6 months and #1 less for the second.
Hearings on these recommendations of the
wage board, which was called by the Indus
trial Commission after the Supreme Court
had held the original order invalid on the
ground of inadequate hearings, began on

December 8 and were continued on Janu
ary 10.
Washington—Study of Small Exchanges.
An extensive survey has been made of
rural telephone exchanges in this State as
the result of several hearings held in con
nection with small exchanges seeking ex
emption from the provisions of existing
minimum-wage and other welfare orders.
The Department of Labor and Industries
plans to issue regulations affecting this type
of exchange very soon.

Women in Unions
Progress in Textile Industries.

making progress in the textile
industries such as they never made
before, it has been pointed out by Business
Week recently. Wage increases have been
secured in more than 100 firms, to a con
siderable extent due to union negotiations.
“Historically, the textile business lags behind
other industries in such action: This year it
leads. Historically, too, the nonunion mills
have the bulk of the business and the union
mills cannot get out of line; now the situa
tion seems to be reversed, with the union
mills setting the standards.” The raises
are estimated at about 55,000,000 a year,
for about 75,000 workers.
A study of individual contracts shows the
steps being taken to protect the workers. A
number raise the question of the work load.
In some the union is to participate in setting
the amount of work; in one the amount is
specifically defined, in another the present
study of the work load is to be continued. In
one plant, where a wage-incentive plan has
been set up, the union aids in its regulation.
A number of contracts provide vacations
with pay. A usual specification is that in
slack times work is to be divided equally.
Grievance and arbitration machinery and
clauses forbidding strikes and lock-outs are
quite usual. In one contract it is provided
that a third shift is not to be added until
earlier shifts work at 90 percent capacity.
nions are

In one of the older rayon-yarn plants, the
union has made some concessions in the
hope of restoring profitable business, since
the firm found itself in an unfavorable com
petitive position. Wages were adjusted to
the level of another plant owned by the same
firm and hours increased from 32 to 40 a
week. Employees 65 years old and over
are to receive a pension based on earnings
and length of service; and a dismissal wage,
also based on earnings and service, is to be
paid to employees under 65 who can no longer
be given employment.
Progress in the Wearing-Apparel Industries.
Of outstanding interest is the program
to curb substandard production being pro
posed to buyers and sales representatives by
the joint board of the Millinery Workers’
Union in New York City. Buyers are asked
to agree to handle or sell only millinery made
by firms eligible to use the Consumers’
Protection Label issued by the Millinery
Stabilization Commission, and to sell or
handle such goods on a basis to yield the
manufacturers a reasonable profit. The
proposed obligations, if assumed, would
become effective immediately and remain
in effect until February 15, 1943. The
joint board represents 20,000 workers in
more than 600 union shops.
In certain of the important clothing
centers, thousands of workers often are
covered in a single contract with one or more

March 1940

WOMEN IN UNIONS

employers’ associations. No such com
prehensive agreement has been negotiated
recently, but continued gains are reported
for smaller groups.
Some 1,800 workers on women’s neckwear
in an eastern State, in a new 1-year agree
ment, have secured a S-percent wage in
crease. In an underwear factory in north
ern New Jersey, employing approximately
1,000 workers, a new agreement provides
that under a proposed new piece-work
system earnings of workers must aggregate
for a full week’s work at least 10 percent
above total earnings of an equal number of
workers under the former time-work method.
Otherwise, rates are to be reset. Wages were
raised by $1 to #4 a week. Vacations with
pay are allowed, an extra day’s pay to be
given if time off includes a legal holiday.
Alteration workers in one of the expensive
New York shops gained a union contract
and a 10-percent wage increase following a
3-day strike. They were assisted by union
millinery and fur workers who refused to go
through the picket line.
New York workers on lining fur gloves
secured in a recent agreement a 25-percent
wage increase, elimination of home work,
equal division of work, and a closed shop.
The union label is to be put on fur-glove
linings.
Progress in White-Collar Occupations.

In addition to wage increases, office and
professional workers’ agreements are cover
ing such important points as sick and
maternity leave, vacations, and severance
pay. A comprehensive contract was signed
recently with a social-work agency in New

York covering 130 professional and clerical
workers. This provides a 10-percent in
crease in wage scales; 40 days’ sick leave
with pay; vacations of from 2 to 5 weeks; a
5-day 32%-hour week in summer and a
5-day 37hrhour week the remainder of the
year; maternity leave up to 6 months; and
severance pay of 1 week for each year of
service.
Office workers in a Minnesota company
have negotiated an agreement giving a wage
increase in addition to restoration of a 9%percent pay cut, paid vacations, time and
one-half for overtime, and sick leave with
pay. A contract with a law office in Cali
fornia provides from 3 to 6 months’ ma
ternity leave. The renewed contract with
a leading news weekly stipulates that con
finement is not a reason for dismissal. The
employee on maternity leave is to receive
double vacation pay. If she chooses not to
return, she is to receive severance pay minus
any vacation pay already given her. Sever
ance pay is at the rate of 1% weeks for each
6 months of service and is payable to the
estate of a worker who dies.
Progress in Service Industries.

Considerable progress was reported in
securing union conditions in Chicago hotels
for housekeeping employees—chamber
maids, linen-room workers, and so on.
Wage increases were obtained for these
workers in recent agreements with two
hotels, one covering about 90 such em
ployees. In a third hotel 160 workers in the
housekeeping division have joined the
union, and negotiations on a contract are
under way.

Women in the 1940 Census of Population
complete census in a decade woman, and child in the country in the Six
that covers population, occupations, teenth Decennial Census. In the selection
and employment for the United States will be
of enumerators, the Bureau of the Census
gin April 1. On that date 120,000 enumerators has announced, women will be given equal
employed by the Bureau of the Census start consideration with men. The gigantic task
out to seek information on every man, of sorting and tabulating so much informa
he first

THE WOMAN WORKER

tion about each of this country’s over 135
million inhabitants will take nearly 2
years.
Of particular interest to working women,
among the data that will be collected, are
facts on occupations and employment.
These facts will show what has been happen
ing to the status of women as workers during
the past eventful 10 years. They will show
whether more women are working now than
were employed in 1930 and what shifts have
occurred in women’s occupations.
In addition, the Census Bureau will collect
material on the composition of the American
people by sex, marital status, and age groups.
Of especial interest will be the comparison
of the 1940 with 1930 figures showing the age
groupings and indicating changes in the age
distribution of women at work in various
occupations. The woman who is the homemaker-in-chief for the family also will be
designated by the enumerator.
A new question deals with year’s income
and is designed to reveal the total annual
earnings of individuals, and for family units
as well, from wages or from salaries. It will
give information hitherto not available on so
large a scale for the lower-income groups,
including, for example, domestic workers
and other poorly paid women. This is ex

pected to help in defining the problem of the
below-safety-margin income for single
women, female heads of families, and fam
ilies in which both the man and the woman
are at work. Information also will be col
lected to show the number and the earnings
of women engaged in part-time work.
The population schedule contains another
new question as to where each individual
lived 5 years ago. The resultant picture of
internal migration is expected to develop
some interesting material on the enforced
movement of families due to low incomes
and occupational and other shifts.
A question on usual occupation and usual
industry will be asked of a 5-percent sample
of the people. If sufficient tabulations can
be made, this may indicate the number of
women not working in professions or trades
for which they have been trained, and may
aid vocational experts in determining more
clearly what jobs are in demand and what
are overcrowded or losing in numbers.
The conditions under which American
people are living will be revealed further in
the results of the Census of Housing, to be
taken for the first time in 1940. This cen
sus, in addition to enumerating the Nation’s
dwelling units, will record details as to
their facilities and conveniences.

News Notes and Announcements
The White House Conference on
Children in a Democracy
sound economic basis for family life
in this country was a keynote of the
1940 session of the White House Conference
on Children in a Democracy, held in Wash
ington in mid-January. “The most signifi
cant development in child welfare in the 10
years which have elapsed since the 1930
Conference has been the deepening convic
tion of public responsibility for children,
which has found expression in various Fed
eral and State activities,” according to find
ings of committees that met prior to the
Conference. The general report made to

the Conference, which was developed from
the work of the Report Committee with
Homer Folks as chairman, a research staff
headed by Philip Klein, and expert consult
ants, stated:
It is clear that the safety of our democratic institu
tions requires that as many families as possible be
enabled to earn a decent income on a normal selfsupporting basis. It is clear also that measures are
required to supply substitute income where there is
none or where it is insufficient to meet family needs.

The Conference recommended assuring
incomes for adequate standards of living for
the working man and his family through
measures such as minimum-wage legislation;
laws affirming the right of collective bargain

March 1940

NEWS NOTES AND ANNOUNCEMENTS

ing; and far-reaching adjustments in agricul
ture to keep the farmer and the farm laborer
from actual want. Sample surveys were
cited indicating that one-half to two-thirds
of the city children in this country live in
families where the income is less than the
equivalent of #1,260 a year for a family of
four.
Recommendations were made for continu
ing and developing flexible public works
programs, low-cost housing plans, unemploy
ment compensation, aid to dependent chil
dren, old age and survivors’ benefits, and so
forth. Though recognizing the responsi
bility of private industry to provide the
main sources of employment, “it is clear that
wherever private industry cannot find profit
able use for unemployed workers, their time,
skill, and morale should be salvaged * * *
by increased provision for public employ
ment.” The Conference reiterated the gen
erally accepted standards of 16 years as the
minimum age for most employment, 18
years in hazardous occupations, and adjust
ment of school laws to child-labor laws.
The 11 main topics considered in the Con
ference included: The family as the thresh
old to democracy; economic resources of
families and communities; economic aid to
families; social services to children; child
labor and youth employment; and so forth.
General sessions of the Conference were
addressed by President Roosevelt and by
Mrs. Roosevelt, each in a broadcast message.
Mrs. Saidie Orr Dunbar was appointed
chairman of a subcommittee on follow-up
work. The plans adopted by the Confer
ence for Nation-wide consideration of the
proposed program included action through
(1) a national citizens’ committee, nongov
ernmental in character, and (2) an inter
agency committee by which official agencies
of the Government could cooperate in
carrying forward the Conference recom
mendations.

Household Employment Symposium
Unsatisfactory working conditions for
household employees are a major cause of

shortage of such workers in spite of continu
ing unemployment, according to findings of
a large symposium held in New York to dis
cuss this subject. Five hundred women
attended this meeting, which was arranged
through the cooperative efforts of 24 organi
zations, including employer, employee, civic,
and social-work groups, and those interested
in training.
Speakers included Mrs. Franklin D.
Roosevelt as an employer, who urged recog
nition of running a house as a business pro
position. Miss Mildred Stewart, of Phila
delphia, a “trained, experienced household
worker satisfied with her job,” emphasized
that trained household workers demand and
get more respect and they take pride and
satisfaction in their work.
Besides local unions, training agencies,
and many local women’s organizations, in
cluding the Women’s Trade Union League,
the following groups national in scope were
among those sponsoring the symposium:
Federal Council of Churches, National
Board Y. W. C. A., National Child Labor
Committee, National Consumers’ League,
National Council of Jewish Women, Na
tional Council on Household Employment,
and National Urban League.

Recent Court Action
Wife’s Gainful Work and Divorce.

The Ohio Court of Appeals has refused
to grant divorce to a husband on the ground
of his wife’s gainful employment (Winnard
v. Winnard, Nov. 8, 1939). This consti
tutes reversal of the lower court’s decree,
which had granted the divorce for the wife’s
“gross neglect of duty,” based on her alleged
persistence in gainful employment against his
wishes, resulting in her unfitness for home
duties. The higher court concluded the
husband might have had a good case if he
had proved satisfactorily that he was able
alone to pay necessary family expenses and
obligations, that he was actually incon
venienced over long periods of time, and
that he had from the first objected to her
outside employment.

THE WOMAN WORKER

Massachusetts Court Opinion.
It was stated in the September issue of
the Woman Worker that “Replying to
questions asked by the legislature, the
[Massachusetts] court decreed that ‘legisla
tion discriminating against married women
in employment would be unconstitutional.’ ”
Because the opinion was rendered in connec

tion with certain bills that were being con
sidered by the legislature, and not with a law
that had been passed, it was assumed that
readers would understand that this opinion
was advisory. As there has been some mis
understanding of the statement, the Bureau
takes this opportunity of stating that the
court’s opinion was advisory.

Industrial Injuries to Women
Hazards to Women in Five States.

dusts constitute a serious
health hazard to which women are
likely to be exposed in clothing and textile
factories and to a lesser extent in certain
other lines of manufacture and in laundries.
This is emphasized by studies of industrial
hygiene recently made by health depart
ments in five States, with the advice or
active cooperation of the United States
Public Health Service. The States are
Maine, South Carolina, Texas, Utah, and
Virginia. Studies such as these are the
first step toward pointing out methods of
prevention.
Respiratory diseases may arise from con
stant breathing of dust-laden air. In cloth
ing factories the percent of all workers ex
posed to such dusts varied from 27 in Maine
to 87 in Utah; in textile mills from 59 in
Virginia to 82 in Utah. Practically twothirds or more of the workers reported in
the following were exposed to organic dusts:
Cigar and tobacco factories in Virginia,
wood-turning plants in Maine, and laun
dries in Texas.
Some control for organic dust was reported
as furnished for about one-fifth of the
workers exposed in South Carolina, and
specified controls were reported in Maine and
in Utah. Methods of control of dust include
ventilation of various types, enclosure of
the process, use of water or other liquid to
lay the dust, and respirators.
rganic

Reports from Ohio, one of the few States
recording occupational diseases by sex,
bring to light the following cases of women
suffering from respiratory diseases caused
by organic dusts not compensable until the
amendment of 1939: A wool winder, a paste
board carton maker, a hard-rubber grinder.
A woman sewing on coats was reported as
having conjunctivitis due to lint.
Another hazard that must be controlled
by ventilation is exposure to extreme heat
and humidity, often found in textile mills
and in laundries. More than half of the
workers in textile mills in South Carolina
were confronted with this condition at their
workplaces. Though much careful atten
tion has been given to this condition in
textile mills, the extent to which it has been
controlled cannot be determined. In Utah
nearly two-thirds of the workers in laundries
were exposed to extreme humidity and more
than half to marked temperature changes.
The most common type of occupational
disease reported as affecting women workers
is dermatitis, inflammation of the skin, which
may be caused by almost any substance, and
is known to follow contact with dyes and
with oils, fats, and waxes. Exposure to
dyes is common in the textile and clothing
industries, where dermatitis is caused not
only in the dyeing of textiles, work done
almost entirely by men, but in the handling
of dyed goods. A recent Ohio report for a
single week listed three women in garment

March 1940

INDUSTRIAL INJURIES TO WOMEN

factories as suffering from dermatitis at
tributed to dyes.
Industries with a considerable proportion
of workers exposed to miscellaneous derma
titis producers were: Maine, fish curing and
packing, 70 percent; Texas, candy, 54 per
cent, fruit and vegetable canning, 36 per
cent; Utah, confectionery and fruit and
vegetable canning, 66 percent in each. Not
all workers are equally affected by the various
substances. Since new materials are con
stantly being introduced, the effects of which
are not yet understood, a program of control
must be supplemented by compensation for
occupational diseases under workmen’s com
pensation laws. As yet, the five States
studied here have no such coverage.
Industrial Injuries to Women in New York.

Women are the principals in over a tenth
of the industrial injury cases compensated
in 2 late years in New York. An increase
from nearly 8,000 cases closed in 1936 to
8,500 in 1937 may correspond to employment
increases. The amount of compensation
paid to women in each year was about half
that received by men, owing to women’s
lower wages and to the relatively fewer serious
injuries that occur to them as compared to
men. Death or some permanent disability
was caused each year by about one-fifth of
women’s injuries, but by well over one-fourth
of men’s. The average amount paid injured
women was #182 in 1936 and #174 in 1937.

The average wage in the cases closed was:
Men

1936....................$22.01
1937....................... 23.25

Women

$14.51
15. 13

As is true of employment, so with com
pensation, relatively more of the women
than of the men were in the younger age
groups. However, in recent years a marked
change has come in the proportion of very
young women receiving compensation: In
1930 one-sixth of all injured women were
under 20; in 1937, less than one-tenth.
The Age Factor in Accident Experience.

Does the older worker constitute a greater
accident risk and therefore a heavier com
pensation cost than the younger one ? Ethel
M. Johnson, Washington representative of
the I. L. O., speaking before the 1939 con
vention of the International Association of
Industrial Accident Boards and Commis
sions, answered this question by analyzing
an extensive investigation of the subject
made in Switzerland. Though the situation
varies somewhat with the industry, the
general conclusions of the study are as follows:
Industrial accident frequency reaches its maximum
with the age groups 20 and under 30 years and there
after declines steadily with age. Accident severity,
however, increases with age, as also does the probability
that accidents when incurred will result in invalidity
or death. These factors largely offset each other, so
that the compensation costs remain fairly constant
between the ages of 20 and 64 years—that is, for all
industrially effective age groups.

he paramount responsibility of Government is to protect the general welfare.
That way lies safety and a progressive evolution of our economy and of our
political institutions. No amount of confusing legalistic discussion of limitation
of powers can obscure the reality of the choices before us. To protect the general
welfare in our times—in an industrialized and urban economy—means, above all
else, to build and maintain in good order a sound economic structure.
*
********

* * * If the economic organization is such that competitive conditions and
practices produce chronic depression in the industry and demoralizing distress
among those dependent on the industry, then Government intervenes to seek
correction of those conditions and practices.
Report of the National Resources Committee on Energy Resources and
National Policy, January 1939.

■i

THE WOMAN WORKER

Recent Publications
Women’s Bureau—Printed Bulletins 1
The Legal Status of Women in the United States
of America, January 1, 1938. Report for Vermont

(Bui. 157-44). 1939. (Now in print, 44 States
and the District of Columbia.) 5 cents each.
Women Workers in the United States. (In
Spanish and Portuguese.) 8 pp. each.

Women’s Bureau—Mimeographed Material1
Preliminary Report on Application of Labor and
Social Legislation to the Cannery Industry.

1938.

by the Central Statistical Board and the Works
Progress Administration, the latter also making a
grant of funds. The bulletins thus far issued are
the following:
Money Disbursements of Wage Earners and
Clerical Workers, 1934-36. Bui. 637, North

Atlantic Region. Vol. I, New York City; 641,
West North Central-Mountain Region (5 cities).
Family Income and Expenditure, 1935-36. Bui.
642, Chicago. I, Income.1 II, Expenditure; 647,
Southern Cities. I, Income (5 cities); 649, Pacific
Northwest (4 urban communities). I, Income.

166 pp.

Ninth Minimum-Wage Conference, November 13,

1939. Proceedings of Conference, 3 pp. Coverage
of State Minimum-Wage Orders, 3 pp. Learners
(existing State and Federal provisions), 6 pp.
Tips (policy and rulings), 2 pp. Working and Wait
ing Time (interpretations), 2 pp.

Other Department of Labor Bulletins1
Changes

Prices of Retail Electricity, 1923-38.

Bui. 664, Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Better Care

for

Mother and Child.

Children’s

Bureau.
Report * * * Sixth National Conference on
Labor Legislation. Bui. 35-A. Division of

Labor Standards.
The Division of Labor Standards. Bui. 33.
Answers to Workers’ Questions on the United
States Wage-Hour Law. Wage-Hour Division.
Employers’ Digest of the Fair Labor Standards
Act of 1938. Wage-Hour Division.
Studies of Family Income and Expenditure. The

Bureau of Labor Statistics is publishing the results of
a Nation-wide survey showing the actual living of
wage earners and clerical workers—their money
receipts and disbursements—in 42 cities of more
than 50,000 population, including 2 of major impor
tance. This is the first such study since the one made
by the same agency in 1918, though consumption
habits have changed greatly. The urban series of
the study of consumer purchases is paralleled by
studies of families in small cities, villages, and rural
counties made by the Bureau of Home Economics of
the Department of Agriculture. Plans for these im
portant surveys were formulated by the National
Resources Committee. Technical advice was given
i Bulletins may be ordered from the Superintendent of Documents,
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.

Other Recent Publications
Industrial Home Work. By Ruth Enalda Shallcross.

Industrial Affairs Publishing Co., New York, 1939.
257 pp. “The purpose of this dissertation is to
analyze the problems arising out of legislative at
tempts to control home work. It seeks to attain
this purpose by a detailed examination of home-work
legislation in the State of New York in comparison
with legislative methods tried in other States and in
foreign countries, especially in England and in
Germany.”
Vocational Information. The National Federation
of Business and Professional Women’s Clubs, Inc.,
is reprinting the vocational articles as they appear
month by month in The Independent Woman. The
series now comprises three pamphlets: Executive
Housekeeping, Social Work, and Statistical Work.
Plans are laid for articles on Office Management,
Penology, and Occupational Therapy. Single re
prints are 15 cents, or 10 reprints #1.25.
Roster of Women Officials of the State of
Louisiana. Compiled by Flora Beals Craton,

issued by Louisiana Federation of Business and Pro
fessional Women’s Clubs. May 1939. “There is no
parish in the State that is not served by a woman in
some official capacity” (this includes notaries public).
Of the 1,353 women officials reported, 57 were elected
and 651 were in departments of public welfare.
Alabama Women and Their Employers, 1938-39.
By Minnie Steckel, Ph. D. Alabama Federation of
Business and Professional Women’s Clubs, in collab
oration with Alabama College. July 1939. Em
ployers of women, employed women, college women,
and high-school senior girls agreed that the traits
most desirable in a woman worker are: Reliability in
all business relations; ability to assume responsi
bility in business emergencies; and tact in meeting
and dealing with all kinds of people.
See Woman Worker, July 1939, p. 4.
U.

S. GOVERNMENT

PRINTING OFFICE: 1940

Full text of The Woman Worker : March 1940, Vol. XX, No. 2

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