Full text of The Woman Worker : May 1940, Vol. XX, No. 3
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* -• y . > - I. A'J'Z..^ a it Woman Worker >i. 'b 6 MAY 1940 United States Department of Labor Women’s Bureau \$ClO UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF LABOR Frances Perkins, Secretary WOMEN’S BUREAU Mary Anderson, Director THE WOMAN WORKER PUBLISHED EVERY 2 MONTHS No. 3 Vol. XX May 1940 CONTENTS Page Wages in the Apparel Industries_____ 2______ i__________________________________ The Census Report on Two Counties_______________________________________ Women in Unions__________________________________________________________ Women’s Trade Union League Activities—Workers’ Education—Unions and Health—Progress in Apparel, Textile, and Nonmanufacturing Industries. Toward Minimum Fair Wages______________________________________________ Progress Under the Fair Labor Standards Act—Fruits of State Wage Orders— Other Minimum-Wage Activities—Progress Under the Public Contracts Act. State Legislative Activities_______________________________________________ Notes on Women’s Earnings and Hours_____________________________________ New York Office Workers’ Earnings—Women Factory Workers’ Earnings— Administering Law in Pennsylvania—Changing Standards in Industry. Married Women and Private Industry______________________________________ News Notes and Announcements___________________________________________ New York Home-Work Law Upheld—What Every Woman Needs—I. L. O. Studying War Influence on Women’s Work. 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 5 6 8 12 13 14 15 16 co-u<-1 Wages in the Apparel Indu *• a fourth of the makers of would raise the earnings of the following women’s clothing, most of them proportions of women who were receiving women workers, should benefit from less: the minimum rates recommended by the Ap Number of Percent employees receiving with hourly under parel Industry Committee under the Fair earnings 35 cents Labor Standards Act. Those who would reported an hour Total...................................... 136,337 27 receive increases are well scattered among the various States where this industry is Dresses wholesaling by the unit 1__ 51, 055 8 31, 047 50 carried on. These indications are from Dresses wholesaling by the dozen 38 studies of 141,600 employees in women’s- Underwear and nightwear________ 21,417 42 clothing plants made by the Women’s Bu Children’s and infants’ outerwear__ 16, 425 Corsets and allied garments________ 9,628 20 reau in the spring of 1939, prior to the Blouses_______________________ 6,765 15 recommendation of the rate. Of these 1 The better dresses are priced singly. Wholesale pricing by the characterizes the cheaper products, including dresses, sports workers, making the garments to be worn by dozen wear, house coats, service aprons, service accessories, uniforms for nurses, waitresses, and the like. women throughout the length and breadth of this country, 85 percent are women. The Increases Affect All Parts of the Country. same is true of the men’s-wear industries, Benefits from the wage increases promise surveyed about the same time by the Bureau to be distributed fairly generally in all parts of Labor Statistics. It is natural that the making of clothing of the country except the two large urban should be a major employer of women, areas, New York City and Chicago, par since it is a traditional pursuit of women in ticularly New York, where living costs are the home that has now in large measure high and wage scales somewhat above those been taken over by factory production. in most other locations of the industry. Indeed, almost a fourth (23.8 percent) of all Leaving out New York City, the propor women factory operatives reported in the tions of workers that received less than 35 census of 1930 were in clothing shops, which cents an hour were practically the same in employed more women than any other single the combined Eastern and in the combined Middle-Western group of States—in each factory industry except textiles. case about 37 percent—though of course in Earnings Below Proposed Minimum. each area there was variation from State to The minimum rate that the Apparel Com State. In New York City only 7 percent of mittee recommended to the Wage and Hour those reported had earned under 35 cents. Division for the various types of women’s Here the wage is affected by union organi apparel included in the survey is 35 cents an zation and the large numbers of workers in hour. Though in each of these industries this city (a third of all reported in the in the average hourly earnings were well above dustry) greatly influence total figures for the this amount, there were in the sample sur entire Eastern section. For the very small veyed more than 37,000 women who received proportion of workers in the seven scattered less. Of course these are piece-work indus Southern States, the wage was lower than tries, and a woman’s hourly earnings differ elsewhere. However, when individual States from week to week. According to the week are considered, larger proportions of the of survey, which is representative of the workers received under 35 cents in Illinois general situation, the 35-cent minimum outside of Chicago than in Maryland and ore than M 221973—40 3 4 THE WOMAN WORKER Georgia, and also larger proportions in Mich igan and up-State New York than in Geor gia, those in Missouri, Pennsylvania, and Indiana being nearly as great. Earnings Compared to Minimum Budgets. The minimum amounts necessary for em ployed women living alone, as used by mini mum-wage authorities in five of the States important in clothing manufacture, are as follows: Minimum, budget California (San Francisco)______ Connecticut__________________ New Jersey__________________ New York._______ Pennsylvania_________________ 1 £21.25 17.99 1 22.07 122.32 21.05 1 Computed for week from figures for year’s budget. The lowest of these minimum-health-anddecency budgets is practically $18. In the unit-priced-dress industry, earnings aver aged above this in all the more important centers but up-State New York, where the average was $17.26. In the blouse industry the average was above $18 in New York City, California, and Massachusetts; but it was below in most of the important areas surrounding New York City (Pennsylvania, up-State New York, New Jersey, and Con necticut) and in Chicago. In corset making the average was above $18 in the major center (New York City) and in Chicago, Michigan, and California; but it was below this in all the important areas surrounding New York (Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and up-State New York) and in Indiana and Illinois out side Chicago. Except in New York City the average was below $18 in the manufacture of children’s and infants’ outerwear and in underwear and nightwear in every area, and in dozen-priced dresses everywhere (except Boston, with the average of $18.10). Earnings in the Men’s -Wear Industries. A low-wage situation in the men’s-wear industries is shown by studies made by the Bureau of Labor Statistics in 1939. The sample, which excluded coats and suits, cov ered almost 87,000 workers, 84 percent of them being in cotton-garment industries. In these also women are the chief workers, constituting 85 percent or more of those reported in the making of cotton garments, neckwear, and underwear; about 75 per cent of those making robes and allied gar ments and single dress pants. The mini mum proposed for cotton garments and un derwear is 32% cents; for robes and allied garments and for neckwear 35 cents; and for single dress pants 37% cents. The follow ing proportions of workers reported were earning less than the minimum proposed: North: Cotton garments___________ Shirts (not work), collars, and nightwear_________ Work and sport clothes___ Trousers, wash suits, and uniforms______________ Underwear________________ Robes and allied garments___ Single dress pants__________ South: Cotton garments. _ ________ Shirts (not work), collars, and nightwear________ Work and sport clothes___ Trousers, wash suits, and uniforms. ____ _ . Underwear . __ ___ North and South combined: Neckwear_________________ Total num ber reported Percent re ceiving under proposed minimum 42, 838 32 21,400 14,211 34 29 7,227 3,778 1,353 3,283 32 63 39 43 29,923 76 8,519 16, 943 74 76 4, 461 694 81 88 4,940 30 The picture as to geographic distribution here differs somewhat from the situation in women’s garments, much larger propor tions of the workers in these men’s-wear industries being in the South—one-third compared to less than 4 percent of those in the women’s-clothing industries. The bene fits from the minima proposed for these in dustries, therefore, will be especially great in the South. All Northern States from California to Maine were combined in the report. In the large group, the cottongarment industries, 60 percent of the work ers were in the North. Of these, practically one-third received less than the proposed minimum, but this was true of three-fourths of those in the South. THE WOMAN WORKER May 1940 5 The Census Report On Two Counties tabulations from the sample naturally were more numerous in town than taken last August to try out the 1940 country, and about half of them were schedule have been released by the Bureau females; they constituted 21 or 22 percent of the Census. These have been awaited of those not in the labor force in the St. eagerly, as the schedule was drafted to meet Joseph County cities, about 14 percent in the social needs of our vast country with the more rural Marshall County. The dis the variations and complex developments abled—the majority being men—comprised in its economic life. The sample covers about 9 percent of those not in the labor two Indiana counties—St. Joseph, including force in St. Joseph County, but 12 to 19 rural areas and the cities of South Bend percent in Marshall County. (100,000) and Mishawaka (28,000); and Employment comparisons with 1930 data Marshall, including the country sections are not exact. From the nearest approxi and Plymouth City (5,500). mations possible, data from the sample Women have increased slightly as com cities indicate that the number of women pared to men in the population in these employed (even including those on emer two counties. From 60 to 66 percent of gency work) was somewhat less in 1939 all the men were in the labor force,1 as were than in 1930. If those seeking work be 22 percent of the women in St. Joseph added, there is a considerable increase County and 15 percent of those in Marshall since 1930 in South Bend but practically County. Smaller proportions of the rural no change in Mishawaka. Of those com than of the urban people were in the labor prising the total woman labor force, in force; about 25 percent of the South Bend each case something over one-tenth were women but only 13 percent of those in the newly seeking work.2 rural areas of both counties were so reported. In 1939, women constituted a larger pro Of those constituting the labor force, over portion of those in the total labor force in 83 percent in St. Joseph County and over the two cities and also of those employed on 92 percent in Marshall County had jobs other than emergency work than of the not connected with emergency work, the gainfully occupied in 1930. (In emergency proportions being similar for both sexes and work, only 8 percent in South Bend and 6 larger in rural than in urban areas. percent in Mishawaka were women.) Pro The major groups not in the paid labor portions of women in 1930 and 1939 were market were those engaged in housework as follows: at home, students, and the disabled. This Percent women comprised of is the first time the numbers in home house total 1930 1939 work could be obtained from the Census, Employed and of course these are mostly women. (except on Total Gainfully emergency labor Of the persons not in the paid labor force, work) force 1 occupied about 65 percent—from 70 percent in Mar South Bend_______________ 24. 7 28. 3 27.8 shall County rural areas to 64 percent in Mishawaka_______________ 26. 3 28. 5 26. 8 1 Includes, besides the employed, those on emergency work and St. Joseph County rural areas—reported that they did home housework. Students those unemployed and seeking work. he first T 1 Where the labor force is referred to this includes, besides per sons in normal employment, those in emergency employment such as the W. P. A., the C. C. C., the N. Y. A., etc., and those unem ployed and seeking work. 1 Most of these probably are young persons, but among the females some of those seeking work may not be; in 1930 those counted among the gainfully occupied included the unemployed under their usual or normal occupation but did not include those seeking work who had never had a job. 6 THE WOMAN WORKER Women In Unions Women’s Trade Union League Activities. HEREVER help is needed in the union field the National Women’s Trade Union League and its various branches stand ready to take their part. A recent report in Life and Labor Bulletin shows how extensive this part is: A Parade of Trades—So reads our summary of local league organizing work for the past year. Reports from local leagues sent to the national headquarters each month indicate clearly the actual organizing work and organizing assistance given to the various unions. These activities have brought us in contact with Dairy Workers, Box Makers, Coffee Roasters, Mail Order House Employees, Ladies’ Garment Workers, Beauty Operators, Envelope Workers, Telegraphers, Office Workers, Retail Clerks, Match Workers, Teamsters, Tobacco Workers, Waitresses and Cafeteria Workers, Red Caps, Laundry Workers, Cleaners and Dyers, Domestic Workers, Auto Mechanics, Glove Workers, Cracker and Biscuit Workers, Maritime Workers, Car penters and Laborers, and Toy and Novelty Workers. The calls in connection with this first and foremost division of our work are many and varied and range all the way from taking part in wage negotiations to writ ing and distributing leaflets, and picketing. Union meetings galore are covered. Officers in new unions are instructed in their respective duties, and workers made aware that membership in a union imposes responsibil ity. New and struggling unions are encouraged to meet in league headquarters and are helped along until they can stand on their own feet. In other words, we help them to help themselves. Organizing work is not always confined to the city in which a league is located but frequently necessitates trips to adjacent cities and towns. There is marked growth in women’s auxiliaries to men’s unions, and the League has had no small part in developing this impor tant unit in the labor movement. Locally and nation ally many women’s auxiliaries are affiliated to the League and the cooperation is mutual. Workers’ Education. Clothing unions in the field of women’s garments in New York City have adopted a “merit system” for their officers. In the current educational term 60 members of city locals graduated from the officers’ qualification courses. It was decided 2 years ago that no member who had not served previously should be eligible for a full-time job with the union unless he met the requirements of these courses. They cover the economics of the women’s garment industry, the history, structure, and func tioning of the union, and parliamentary pro cedure as applied in union meetings. To be successful the student must complete 75 percent of possible attendance, and obtain 75 percent in the marks awarded in test papers. There is already an enrollment of 50 students for classes to be held next fall. Training for union service work in the women’s garment industry also includes compulsory classes for new members to explain their rights and duties. In the Middle-Western region, classes are being run in time-and-motion study to familiarize members of the price committees with new systems of piece-work payment. Classes also are run for business agents and for executive board members. Workers in men’s-clothing industries held a 25-day conference in New York City in January and February. The program included discussions of present-day prob lems, special seminars for union officers, and study classes in collective bargaining, public speaking, industrial economics, and health problems. Active workers’ schools along similar lines were held in other cities. Unions and Health. That union conditions have helped con siderably to reduce tuberculosis was shown by a recent survey among six leading unions in New York City, conducted by the city health department and the W. P. A. More than 33,000 union workers were examined. Of these only 233, less than 1 percent, had tuberculosis requiring further treatment or clinical care. A 1933 survey of 2,000 food handlers (both union and nonunion) showed a 4 percent tuberculosis rate. Among gar ment workers only 0.6 percent of the workers May 1940 WOMEN IN UNIONS recently examined had symptoms, a sharp drop from 1915, when the disease was found among 3 percent of the 3,000 examined. Progress in Wearing-Apparel Industries. A 3-year agreement has been ratified by millinery workers in the important New York area, the center for about half the industry. A new provision requires each employer to supply the impartial chairman with a copy of his pay roll every week. Thus it will be possible to see that terms of the agreement as to wages are observed. Con tinued in the agreement are the following provisions: A 35-hour week; minimum hourly rates of from #1.10 for trimmers to #2.75 for blockers; time and a half for over time for week workers and a 25-cent premium an hour for piece workers; equal division of work. The last provision is an important one in a highly seasonal industry. A recent Women’s Bureau study showed that less than half the workers were em ployed as much as 6 months in a year’s period. Wage increases were reported in 15 agree ments covering clothing workers in the East and Middle West. Numbers affected were not always reported, but 8 of these contracts covered about 2,000 workers. In 1 contract learners were guaranteed #2 above the Fed eral minimum; in another, hours were re duced from 44 to 40. A number of others maintaining present wage scales provide for increases in case of a decided rise in living costs. Progress in Textile Industries. An official of a Pennsylvania textile mill stated recently that his firm’s increase in employment and its expansion in operation were due in no small part to the friendly attitude of the union. He praised “its willingness to cooperate with the company, and its genuine interest in the problems confronting the management.” Hosiery workers in two large plants in Milwaukee furnish another instance of union understanding of the problems of employers. They have voted to continue a plan inaugu rated in the 1939 contract. This called for 7 a reduction in wages, the amounts saved to be used for more modern machinery. This permits competition with southern mills that have been more recently established with newer equipment and lower wage levels. About 4,000 workers are affected. Progress in Nonmanufacturing Industries. A 2-year agreement covering about 3,000 workers in 200 residential hotels has been signed in Chicago. More than 60 percent of the union members are women, including maids, cleaners, and seamstresses. The con tract establishes wage scales based on three classifications of hotels and representing in creases of from 5 to 10 percent. In women’s occupations monthly rates are as follows: Full-time maids, cleaners, and scrub women, #55 to #63; linen-room help and seam stresses, #65 to #80; inspectresses, #75 to #90. Provision is made for an 8-hour day and 6-day week, with time and a half for overtime. Vacations with pay are guar anteed and uniforms are to be furnished and laundered by the employers. An agreement has been signed by two unions, one representing salespersons, one meat cutters, with a large Boston food store spoken of as “the largest and finest food store in the world.” The contract estab lishes a minimum starting wage of #17 a week for women and #19 for men. It also provides a 52-hour week with time and a half for overtime and for Sunday and holiday work, and vacations with pay. A 2-year contract covering about 75 office workers in New York provides for a series of wage increases amounting to 25 percent over an 18-month period. Minimum rates established immediately range from #15 a week for office boys to #35 for advertising assistants. These will be increased by the end of 18 months to #18 and #36.50. Hours are reduced from 42 to 39% a week. A va cation of 1 week will be given after 6 months’ service, and of 2 weeks after 1 year. If new office machinery is introduced, present em ployees are to be given preference on the new jobs and time for learning. THE WOMAN WORKER 8 Toward Minimum Fair Wages Progress Under the Fair Labor Standards Act Rates for Shoes and Knitwear. 60,000 of the 240,000 shoe workers will receive an increased hourly wage as a result of the rate of 35 cents recommended for shoe manufacturing and allied industries, to become effective April 29. A study by the Bureau of Labor Statistics in 1939 showed 45 percent of all workers, but nearly 75 percent of those earning less than 35 cents, to be women. The recommended minimum rates of 33% cents for knitted underwear and 35 cents for knitted outerwear, also approved, will go into effect May 6 and July 1, respectively. It is estimated that 17,000 employees in underwear, and 7,500 factory workers and an undetermined number of home workers in outerwear, will have their wages raised. The majority of these probably are women. Oral argument for review of the order re garding learners in the knitwear industry was announced for a hearing on April 23. ore than Recommendation for Paper Industry. The committee for the pulp, paper, and pressboard industry, appointed in February, made its recommendation about a month later. It proposed a minimum of 40 cents, the highest that can be ordered under the act. It is estimated that about 8,500 work ers now receive less than 40 cents. In 1929 there were reported nearly 11,000 women in the making of paper. On the committee is Elizabeth Brandeis Raushenbush, econo mist of the University of Wisconsin, a repre sentative of the public. A committee for converted paper products, such as paper boxes and bags, is to be appointed. Industry Committee for Leather. A committee has been appointed to con sider a minimum above 30 cents an hour in the manufacture of leather and of leather belting used for the transmission of power. There are fewer women in this industry (4,500 in 1929) than in those represented by earlier committees. The leather com mittee has two women among the public representatives: Elizabeth S. Magee, execu tive secretary of the Consumers’ League of Ohio, and Elizabeth Morrissy, professor of economics at Notre Dame College, Balti more. A committee for articles made from leather (other than boots and shoes) is to be appointed. Learners in Glove Industry. If experienced workers in certain occupa tions are not available, glove manufacturers may obtain special certificates authorizing the employment of learners at 25 cents an hour for 480 hours to the extent of 5 percent of the total workers. This determination was approved February 13, 1940. Review of this order as it relates to knitted fabric gloves has been requested and allowed. Normally, it was stated, there is no need for learners in the leather glove industry but it seemed desirable to manufacturers and the union that a determination be made infcase special need arose. For example, impending home-work legislation in New York may radically change the situation in the important Fulton County leather glove center. In other branches of the industry the need for learners was found to be variable. Handicapped in’Sheltered Workshops. Recommendations of a special advisory committee on sheltered workshops, for the employment of handicapped persons by in stitutions conducted not for profit but to rehabilitate such handicapped persons, were approved February 10. The committee had made nearly a year’s study of the problem. There are about 400 institutions attempting occupational reha bilitation for more than 40,000 “clients.” May 1940 MINIMUM WAGES Such of the institutions as produce goods for interstate commerce have been working under temporary regulations pending the results of the committee’s study. The regulations provide for the issuing of certif icates to the institutions, permitting em ployment at less pay than the minimum required under the Fair Labor Standards Act. In each certificate rates are set for handicapped workers. The committee is to continue in an advisory capacity. Seasonal Exemptions Denied. A request from the Southern Millinery Manufacturers’ Association for exemption from the maximum-hours provision of the Fair Labor Standards Act, due to “the late ness of this spring season,” has been denied. The Wage-Hour Division pointed out that since the millinery industry does not cease production in the remainder of the year, a seasonal exemption would not be applicable. 9 $17 a week. The pay rolls of four limitedprice stores examined by the board show that before the order was issued only 6 women received $17 or more, while after the order 124 were paid this much or more. In 7 department stores, where wages are uni formly higher than in limited-price stores, the number of women receiving $17 or over more than doubled after the wage order went into effect, the number receiving more than the minimum increasing from 1,868 to 2,394. Though the minimum-wage rates estab lished in the District of Columbia are un usually high, ranging from $13.25 for wait resses to $18 for women in beauty shops, nearly 40 percent of the women employed after the wage orders in the 40 establish ments surveyed by the District Wage Board earned more than the minimum set for the industries in which they were employed. New York—Wages Increased. Fruits of State Wage Orders District of Columbia—Women’s Wages Raised. Recently the District of Columbia Mini mum Wage Board examined the pay rolls of 40 establishments, employing more than 7,500 women, for a period before and one after the minimum wages were established, to ascertain the effects of the board’s orders. The results of this study are bright indeed. Since the orders went into effect, the propor tion of women in these 40 establishments who received the minimum or more than the minimum had risen from 37 percent to 77 percent of the total, and the proportion who received less than the minimum had decreased from 63 percent to 23 percent. The wage order for retail trade brought marked benefits to women working in limited-price stores. According to a survey made by the Women’s Bureau in 1937, half the women employed in this type of store earned less than $12.50; only 2 percent earned as much as $15 a week. The mini mum wage established for retail stores in the District by the Minimum Wage Board is A survey of beauty parlors in New York, recently reported, shows higher earnings with shorter hours, due largely to the wage order for the industry, which is mandatory except for manicurists in barber shops. In 1936 women averaged $13.47 a week, while in 1939, some 7 months after the order, the average was $16.74. Others besides the lowest-paid had benefited, over half the women receiving more than the weekly minimum of $16.50. Average hours had been reduced from 48 to 45; in 1936 half the women worked more than 48 hours, but in 1939 less than 1 percent did so. Last year nearly $28,000 was collected for women who had been paid less than the minimum, or whose cash wages had been reduced below the minimum because of charges for uniforms. With only the danger of publicity as punishment for noncompliance in the con fectionery industry, more than three-fourths of the employers were in complete com pliance with that order. During the past year about $3,500 was collected for 1,727 employees. 10 THE WOMAN WORKER New Jersey—Increased Employment. No special study as to the effects of the wage order for the apparel industry has been made in New Jersey, but reports of employment and pay rolls show that it has not decreased employment or wages. Comparing the first 3 months under the order, July to September 1939, with the same 3 months in 1938, employment in creased by 9 percent and pay rolls by 14 percent. Figures for miscellaneous manu facturing, which includes practically all the industries covered by the order for “light manufacturing,” show that from 1938 to 1939 employment increased by 23 percent and pay rolls by 30 percent. In all manu facturing in the State, employment increased by 5 percent and pay rolls by 6 percent. In 1939 the minimum-wage bureau collected nearly #38,000 due to women and minors under four wage orders. union rates, when requested to do so by the employers with union contracts. The 225 canneries in the State employ about 63,000 women. Of these plants, 89, employing 39,600 women, were audited in 1939. About 85 percent of the women whose pay was subject to audit in that year were in union plants, where the majority of women had a rate of 38% or 42% cents, according to whether rural or urban. About a tenth were in plants where the majority of the women had a rate of 33% cents, the State minimum. For the remainder, the rate for the majority was 35 cents. In Oregon audits were made in 1939 in 38 plants employing 6,139 men and 10,234 women. The total pay roll for the season (May 1 to December 1) was #1,177,120. While the minimum hourly rate for women is 35 cents,1 the average amount earned by all women was 39.3 cents. West Coast States—Cannery Wages. Other Wage Collections. In the West Coast States, both tradeunions and State minimum-wage authori ties have worked to secure improved wages for cannery employees, the majority of whom are women. Union rates are higher than the State minimum. In Washington the State minimum is 37% cents an hour,1 the union rate 40 cents. In California the State minimum is 33% cents,1 the union rate 38% cents in rural districts, 42% cents in urban. In Washington 70 percent of the cannery workers are organized, as are about 65 percent of the women in audited canneries in California. There is little organization in this industry in Oregon. California and Oregon have a unique sys tem, worked out between employers and the minimum-wage authorities. Under the di rection of the latter, but paid for by the piece-rate firms in the industry, the books of canners electing to come under this system are audited every pay period (usually weekly). Other plants, usually those pay ing by time work, are subject to the regular wage inspections. In California these auditors of the Divi sion of Industrial Welfare audit for the In Minnesota in 1939 a total of more than #28,000 was collected by the Division of Women and Children in the course of nearly 5,000 inspections. Of this amount, 921 females received more than #20,000, 239 male minors nearly #8,000. Most of the violations were in service industries, especially restaurants and beauty parlors. The Ohio Division of Minimum Wage reports that collections from the beginning of the division’s activities to the end of January 1940 amounted to more than #134,000. In Kentucky the Department of Indus trial Relations collected more than #6,000 under a general wage order covering all occupations. Other Minimum-Wage Activities New York—Restaurant Directory Order. An estimated 50,000 women in restaurants in New York will be covered by an order for the industry effective June 3. The Industrial Commission states that most of these will receive an increased wage. A 1 At least half the piece workers must receive this much. May 1940 MINIMUM WAGES 11 basic rate of 20 cents is fixed for service employees, 30 cents for others. These are cash rates, exclusive of tips, meals, and uniforms, for which special provisions are made. No lower rate is allowed for learners or apprentices. However, an adjustment period is allowed in which, outside of New York City, 18 and 19 cents may be paid to service workers and 28 and 29 cents to others, and within New York City 29 cents to nonservice workers. Special provisions should effect some regulation of hours. Basic rates are to be paid for 25 to 45 hours a week. If less than 25 hours are worked in the week, 3 cents an hour shall be added to the minimum rate, and for all hours over 45 time and a half the minimum shall be paid. Funds specifically allocated to the Minimum Wage Division, instead of the present cus tom of including money for this division in the lump sum for the Department of In dustrial Relations, were recommended. The Ohio Division of Minimum Wage has been granted $515,000 to be used to set rates in beauty culture. Maine—Order for Fish Packing. The wage order for retail-trade occupa tions, setting #13 and #14 a week (by size of city) for experienced workers, was made mandatory March 18. The overwhelming majority of employers at the hearing voiced their support of the minimum scale. The division is making a resurvey of the wearingapparel industry. On April 11a wage order for fish packing became effective in Maine. Specific mini mum piece rates were set for certain occu pations. For all other processes, time work or piece work, not less than 33 cents an hour must be paid. This is the only in dustry covered by the existing Maine law, passed in 1939. Ohio—Minimum-Wage Conference. How to extend the benefits of the State minimum-wage law was the subject of a con ference called by the Consumers’ League of Ohio and attended by women from all parts of the State. Sponsors included the League of Women Voters, the National Council of Catholic Women, the National Council of Jewish Women, and the Young Women’s Christian Association. Progress made in Ohio in minimum-wage administration was discussed by George A. Strain, director of the Department of Industrial Relations in the State. Budget increases were stressed by the con ference as essential for the necessary ad vances, which include coverage of more industries, as thus far only laundries, clean ing and dyeing, restaurants and hotels have had rates set. Routine inspections every 6 months to check on compliance, and more frequent staff conferences, were among points considered of immediate importance. New Wage Boards. In Massachusetts a study of clerical work ers has been made, and a wage board is to be appointed. A board for the dry-cleaning industry in New Hampshire is holding pub lic meetings. Rhode Island Activities. “Car Hops” in California. The California Division of Industrial Welfare has ruled that tips can not be counted in the wage paid girls who serve guests at drive-in stands. It has been the practice to require these girls, known as “car hops”, to work without wages, depend ing on tips alone, and some girls say that they have been told to report #16 weekly in tips or be discharged. Other types of res taurants make up the difference between amount of tips and the minimum wage. The drive-in stands frequently do not fur nish meals. Some require an elaborate uniform, costing the girls from #25 to #40 apiece, with two uniforms necessary in a season. The ruling cannot be enforced until a decision is made by the courts. New Hampshire—Earnings in Dry Cleaning. In August 1939 one-fourth of the adult women and nearly three-fourths of the girls in dry cleaning in New Hampshire were earning less than 28 cents an hour, the mini THE WOMAN WORKER 12 mum for experienced workers in laundries, closely allied in work. Nearly one-fourth of the women and well over four-fifths of the girls earned less than $12. Fifty-nine per cent of the women earned 30 cents or more an hour and 41 percent $15 or more a week. Hours of work indicated some part time, as one-fourth of the women and girls worked less than 40 hours in the week. On the other hand, more than one-fourth worked 48 hours or more, but none beyond the legal limit of 54. Progress Under the Public Contracts Act Wage rates ranging by type of product from 40 cents to 57% cents an hour have been recommended under the Public Contracts Act for certain branches of the electrical industry. They are based on the prevailing rates for unskilled workers found by the Bureau of Labor Statistics in a study made in the summer of 1937. In this sample study women formed nearly one-fourth of all em ployees. More than two-thirds of all the women and of the unskilled were in branches of the industry for which either a 40- or a 45-cent minimum was recommended. Con sidering all branches of the industry, 18 per cent of all the women in contrast to 2 percent of all the men, and 21 percent of the un skilled women in contrast to 5 percent of the unskilled men, had received less than 40 cents an hour. State Legislative Activities or special legislative sessions for State to employ person whose spouse is began in 10 States in January 1940. employed by State at $125 a month or more. Regular sessions convened in the following New Jersey. 7 States—Kentucky, Mississippi, New Jer Minimum wage.—To provide $50 penalty sey, New York, Rhode Island, South Caro for failure of employer to appear when sum lina, and Virginia. In addition, Alabama, moned by commissioner of labor for nonwhich recessed September 15, 1939, will compliance; to make directory orders man datory after 90 days instead of 9 months. reconvene June 25, 1940. Hours.—To reduce hours of women from Special sessions opened in 3 States— 10-54 to 8 a day; to extend law to beauty Nebraska (January 2-13); California (Jan parlors, barber shops, and cleaning and uary 29, recessing February 25 to reconvene dyeing plants. Removes cannery exemp May 13); and Louisiana (January 20-25), tion. To establish 6-day week in factories, which also will hold a regular session begin stores, transportation or public-service com ning May 13. Legislation has been intro panies, restaurants, hotels, cafes, bakeries, duced along the lines listed below. These laundries, taverns, cafeterias, and any estab bills had not been passed when The Woman lishment engaged in selling food or liquor. Worker went to press (except for laws To repeal law that prohibits women’s employment between midnight and 7 a. m. starred). Married women.—To provide against dis Louisiana. ^Married persons.—Makes it unlawful for crimination based on sex or marital status in State to employ any person whose spouse is State employment. Home work.—To require home workers employed by State at $100 a month or more. (Act No. 15, approved January 25, effective and employers in hand knitting to keep daily February 14, 1940.) records of work done; to require that em ployees be paid on completion and delivery Mississippi. of work. Hours.—To make it unlawful for any mer chant to work employees over 48 hours a New York. week. Hours.—To provide 8-42 hours for bind Married persons.—To make it unlawful ery women over 18, to October 24, 1940; egular R May 1940 STATE LEGISLATIVE ACTIVITIES thereafter, 40 hours unless with time-and-ahalf pay. *To exempt from 10-to-7 night-work law women employed by florists at Easter and Christmas. (Approved by Governor March 22, 1940.) Home work.—*To require an employer to attach to materials for home manufacture label with his name and address legibly written or printed in English. Rhode Island. Minimum wage.—To fix a minimum of 25 cents an hour for all workers. 13 Hours.—To provide 6-day week in com mercial occupations. To prohibit women working between midnight and 6 a. m. in factories. Ex empts those working on shifts for a public utility. To prohibit women working between 10 p. m. and 6 a. m. in factories, except that those in textiles and leather may work till 11. To limit continuous employment of women in factories, workshops, and stores to 6 hours (6% if day ends at 1 p. m., 7% if it ends at 2 p. m. and sufficient time is allowed for lunch). Notes On Women’s Earnings and Hours New York Office Workers’ Earnings. HE STUDY of earnings of office work ers based on a fixed list of manufac turing plants in New York showed employ ment in October 1939 increased by nearly 2 percent from October 1938, while average weekly earnings had risen by 61 cents to $35.47. Employment had increased for the office forces in 7 of the 10 industry groups covered, and pay rolls in 8, most markedly in textiles, and in fur, leather, and rubber goods. Women’s weekly earnings averaged $22.98 compared with $45.90 for men. Superintendents and office managers are included, and it is probable that the majority of these higher-paid positions are held by men. Earnings by sex cannot safely be compared with earlier years, since separate reporting for women and men is not on a fixed-list basis. Women Factory Workers’ Earnings. That the earnings of women factory workers vary greatly in different industries, regardless of degree of skill, is apparent whenever a number of studies are brought together. The Bureau of Labor Statistics has published recently wage data collected in 1937, 1938, and 1939 for the following industries: Six kinds of knit goods; four kinds of hats or hat materials; electrical products; boots and shoes; meat packing; men’s neckwear. Average hourly earnings of women, regardless of skill, varied by prac tically 20 cents, ranging from 50.9 cents in full-fashioned hosiery to 31.4 cents in seam less hosiery. Details for 13 branches of the electrical industry show a spread of about 19 cents in average earnings, from 59.7 cents to 41.1 cents. It is possible that industries with higher average earnings report more women classed as skilled workers, but earn ings of such workers showed a wider varia tion, from 62.8 cents in fur felt hats to 35.5 cents in knit gloves. Average earnings of unskilled women were highest in the elec trical industry, practically 50 cents, an amount exceeding the average for skilled in six of the nine industries reporting such workers separately. The benefits of union organization are shown in two of the reports. Women in unionized full-fashioned-hosiery plants aver aged $2 a week more than those in nonunion plants. In the shoe industry women in union plants averaged about 4% cents an hour more than nonunion workers, or about $1.80 for a 40-hour week. In the making of men’s neckwear there was a difference of 10 cents an hour in favor of workers in union plants. THE WOMAN WORKER 14 Administering Law in Pennsylvania. The Pennsylvania Bureau of Women and Children receives about 100 requests a month for deviation from provisions of the hour law for women, and makes investiga tions to determine whether such requests shall be granted. Since the bureau is reluc tant to allow deviations, the employer is helped to make out a schedule that con forms to the general provisions of the law if possible. About 100 special permits were issued for inventory purposes during January. Home workers must conform to the hour law as do factory workers. During January, SO special investigations were made in the enforcement of the home-work law and 29 violations of the women’s hour law were found. At the end of January, 158 employ ers’ or contractors’ permits and nearly 6,400 home workers’ certificates were in force, a very slight change from the first of the month. Nearly 900 cases of accidents to women and girls were reviewed, and 29 of these were referred to the Bureau of Inspection for investigation. These showed 8 violations of law. Changing Standards in Industry. Annual labor department reports from scattered localities for 1938 or 1939 show that women’s earnings had increased from the preceding year in Missouri, and hours of work in Maryland indicated a fuller day’s employment. In South Carolina fewer women were employed, but those with jobs had worked more days in the year. The Commissioner of Labor and Statistics of Maryland reports that the daily hours of women, as found by inspectors on their visits to 25,000 establishments, indicate some shift to longer hours. In general there was an increase in those working 8 hours, a decline in the proportions working less than 8 and more than 8 hours. The most marked change was in mercantile establishments. The Missouri Department of Labor gives weekly wages as reported by about 4,600 firms, chiefly manufacturers. Wages in manufacturing as a whole and in public utilities tended to be a little higher than in 1937. For all women covered, the propor tion receiving less than $10 had declined from 14 to 12 percent, while those receiving $20 or more increased from 17 to 20 per cent. In the most important woman em ployers in this State, women’s wages had increased more than the average in cloth ing, but in leather industries there was a decline. In South Carolina the Department of Labor reports that the number of women wage earners in all manufacturing and in textiles, where more than 80 percent of the women in manufacturing were found, had declined somewhat. Total wages paid to women had increased, however, due chiefly to fuller employment for those on the job, since there was an increase in the average number of days that factories operated dur ing the year. Average per capita wage payment to women for the year’s work was $589 in all manufacturing, $625 in textiles. Married Women and Private Industry o secure information as to the pre received from 484 companies, with a total vailing practice on the employment of employment of 1,150,646. married women, the National IndustrialThe conclusion of the Conference Board Conference Board sought an expression is that in probably a large majority of cases from representative companies—not only no definite position had been taken one way manufacturing concerns but stores, financial or the other; the more general practice was companies, and others. Information was to leave the policy somewhat flexible. T May 1940 15 MARRIED WOMEN AND PRIVATE INDUSTRY Practically three-fourths of the companies said they had no definite fixed policy con cerning women factory employees who mar ried, and nearly 60 percent had none regard ing their office employees. Well over half the plants encourage or permit their women employees, whether in plant or office, to remain at work after marriage. Altogether, women plant em ployees in about 92 percent of the companies and women office workers in practically 77 percent may continue in their jobs under some circumstances. The policy of forbidding office women to remain after marriage is most general in the 52 financial companies (including banks and insurance companies), 34 of which require that women leave if they marry. Of the 372 manufacturing concerns, only 52 require office women and 31 require factory women to give up their jobs at marriage. Only 3 of the 26 mercantile establishments require saleswomen and office workers to give up their jobs. Statements cited from employers include the following: There is no question but that from the employer’s standpoint there will be a distinct loss if he attempts to dismiss all married women from his organization. We do not believe that employers should set up restrictions regarding employment of married women. They are not valued by domestic value but by job value. News Notes and Announcements New York Home-Work Law Upheld constitutionality of the industrial home-work law, as well as of the order prohibiting^home work in the artificial flower and feather industry, has been upheld at the special term of the State Supreme Court in New York County. This apparently is the first time the long controversy in relation to this industry has resulted in the upholding of the law itself. This suit had been brought by a group of individual home workers. The opinion stated in part: he So far as the reasonableness of the order itself is con cerned, it is apparent that it is the result of study and investigation and is an endeavor in good faith to carry out the direction of the legislature and, although it may appear arbitrary to those who may suffer loss on ac count of its promulgation and enforcement, in the whole it is for the general good of the economic order and cannot be considered unreasonable in the light of the study and investigation of the legislature and the industrial commission. The case had first been brought before the Board of Standards and Appeals, which upheld the reasonableness and validity of the order without a hearing, basing its deci sion on a previous one made in a case brought by employers. The court, while upholding the constitutionality of the law and the order, ordered the board to hold hearings in this second case in connection with issues raised by home workers in differentiation from those raised by employers, and also to look into conditions in the industry which may have been created by the passage of the Federal Fair Labor Standards Act. What Every Woman Needs The Consumers’ League of Ohio has is sued an estimate of the cost of living of a wage-earning woman living independently in Cleveland. It states— This cost-of-living estimate is based on goods and services which every woman needs and the prices she must pay for them. We chose this method in prefer ence to studying actual working-women’s expenditures because the budget will serve its purpose only if it represents standard requirements rather than how to make the best of a bad bargain. The following are the annual and weekly costs of the main items: Annual All items __________ Room and board_________ Clothing and its upkeep Health and personal care____ Leisure-time activities. Miscellaneous (transportation, savings, etc.)____________ Weekly 21, 054. 31 220.27 575.64 183.51 62.00 77.16 11.07 3.53 1.19 1.48 156.00 3.00 16 THE WOMAN WORKER I. L. O. Studying War Influence on Women’s Work The influence of war and mobilization on the conditions of women’s work is among the problems to be especially investigated by the International Labor Organization, which may issue a report on this subject in the autumn of 1940. A regular session of this body was held as usual in February, and the next is scheduled to begin June 5. Subjects being investigated to ascertain the effects of war and mobilization include the following in which women have an important stake: National regulation as to hours of work and rest periods; adjustment of wage rates to changing prices; organization of medical labor inspections; and living conditions of workers’ families (low-cost housing). A somewhat similar picture exists in the various warring countries in relation to women’s work—great demands for women in new occupations and special measures to facilitate their acceptance of jobs; unemploy ment among women, due to shifts in popula tion and occupations, leading to the estab lishment of priorities for employment; efforts to maintain some standards as to worktime and rest, but with considerable abandonment of these in emergency situa tions; efforts of various private organizations to aid in the situation, followed by fuller governmental organization for the central handling of labor; and so forth. In France the Union of Mining and Metal Industries has drawn up standard lists of occupations suitable for women in metal industries, and has prepared plans for se lection and vocational training for women. In the Soviet Union about 9 million wom en were estimated to be at work in Janu ary 1939. Over 23,000 have taken a course enabling them to do railroad work. The People’s Commissary for Maritime Trans port has appealed for women in shipbuilding yards and in loading and unloading in ports. There is a move to revise the order of April 1932 that included a long list of trades pro hibited to women. The urgent desire to im prove technical ability and increase the num ber of skilled workers has led to the induc ing of women to enter occupations hitherto reserved to men. Recent Publications Women’s Bureau—Printed Bulletins 1 The Legal Status of Women in of America, January 1, 1938. the United States Reports for South Carolina (Bui. 157-39), Utah (Bui. 157-43), Vermont (Bui. 157-44), West Virginia (Bui. 157-47), Wyo ming (Bui. 157-49). 1939. (All States and the District of Columbia are now in print.) 5 cents each. Other Department of Labor Bulletins 1 Welfare of Families of Sugar-Beet Laborers, 1935. Bui. 247, Children’s Bureau. Children in the Courts, 1937. Juvenile-Court Sta tistics and Federal Juvenile Offenders. Bui. 250, Children’s Bureau. Child Welfare Legislation, 1938. Bui. 251, Children’s Bureau. The Meaning of State Supervision in the Social Protection of Children. Bui. 252, Children’s Bureau. New York City. Bui. 643. Vol. II. Family Expenditure. Bureau of Labor Statistics. (Already published in this series are Family Expenditures in Chicago; and Family Income in Chicago, in Five Cities in the South, and in Four Urban Communities in the Pacific Northwest.) Study of Consumer Purchases, 1935-36. Other Recent Publications 1940 U. S. Census. “To Know America, Tell America.” U. S. Department of Commerce. Census Primer. Mothers of the South—Portraiture of the White Tenant Farm Woman. By Margaret Jarman Hagood, Chapel Hill. University of North Carolina Press. 1939. “On such farms, ... so sparing in economic returns, these mothers labor. A con siderable amount of field work is not only the modal pattern but is the practice in over three-fourths of the cases. The rule is to do as nearly full-time work as housekeeping and cooking permit during chop ping, hoeing, and picking times on the cotton farms, or during most of the summer on the tobacco farm, with the fall spent largely in the striphouse.” {< 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. U. S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICEl 1940