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9(4.6

Woman Worker

NOVEMBER 1940

United States Department of Labor

Women’s Bureau

UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF LABOR
Frances Perkins, Secretary

WOMEN’S BUREAU
Mary Anderson, Director

THE WOMAN WORKER
PUBLISHED EVERY 2 MONTHS

No. 6

Vol. XX

November 1940

CONTENTS
Page

Women Workers and Defense Jobs.........................................................................................

Laws for Latin-American Wage-Earning Women.................................................................

Toward Minimum Fair Wages....................................................................................................
Minimum Wage in the States—Progress Under the Federal Act.

Trends in Employment and Wages of Ohio Women............................................................

Women in Unions...........................................................................................................................
Union Health Measures—Progress in Apparel, Textiles, Other Manufacturing, White-Collar
Work, and Service Industries.

News Notes.....................................................................................................................................
Government Labor Officials Meet—To Broaden Social Security—Michigan Equal Pay Law
Upheld—Unemployment Benefits to Women—Women Injured by Falls in New York.

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

Women Workers and Defense Jobs
women registering at employ
ment agencies for industrial jobs are indic
ative of women’s part in manufacturing
defense. The most recent figures by sex 1 show
373,700 such women wanting immediate factory
work, three-fourths of them already equipped
with various necessary skills. Without doubt
the employment agencies will fit these workers
into the jobs desired. Almost every factory
is a potential producer of defense materials, and
a long view indicates the importance of more
specific training for women as demand increases
for their services, especially in types of work for
which they are eminently adaptable but which
may be new to’them.
xperienced

Women with Experience in Defense Industries.

Many applicants for work have had experience
in making products especially important in the
defense program, the numbers of women so
equipped being as follows:2 Electrical machinery,
17,600; other machinery, 6,700; metal and metal
products, 14,000; chemicals, 9,000; automobiles
and their equipment, 6,700. There are no con
tinuing data tabulated to show the location of
women applicants according to their particular
occupations grouped by industry, but samples
for some States can be given.
The metal-factory work in which women job
seekers have experience includes work in rolling
and stamping, and as machinists, filers and
grinders, welders and flame-cutters, furnacemen
and smelters, tinsmiths and coppersmiths, toolmakers and die sinkers, blacksmiths and forgemen, molders and other foundry, machine-shop,
and fabrication work, without doubt including
assembling parts and inspecting for a perfect
product, as must be done in most manufacture.
In 8 important metal-working States, approxi1 From a special inventory of workers available in April 1940, by
occupation and industry, made by the Bureau of Employment
Security.
2 Includes the factory office forces.
265772—40

mately 9,100 women are seeking jobs in these
types of work.
for
Women Job Seekers and Defense Contracts.
Women’s work undoubtedly is called for on
many contracts for defense materials awarded to
firms in New York, Pennsylvania, and New
Jersey. In these three great Middle Atlantic
industrial States nearly 3,000 women metal
workers were seeking employment as long ago as
the spring. Among the materials called for in
contracts let in these States are supplies such as
nuts and bolts, wire, steel rods, tube fillings;
machines or tools such as lathes, cranes, pliers,
drills, Diesel engines, milling machines, files;
airplane parts such as axles, gears, engine parts;
munitions such as bomb bodies, rifle parts, gun
carriages, gun parts, ammunition boxes, and the
machining of shells.
In three important Midwestern manufacturing
States, Illinois, Michigan, and Ohio, 4,000 women
experienced in metal work were on the rolls of
employment offices. Many of the contracts let
in these States call for supplies such as motor
parts, valves, wheel and brake assemblies, air
craft engines and parts; for screw drivers and
other small tools and for heavier machinery such
as presses, locomotive or bridge cranes, tractors,
forging machines, trucks, locomotives, teletype
machines; and for munitions and army needs such
as machine guns, practice bombs, gas-mask car
riers, ammunition parts, cartridge containers,
light tank hulls, and so forth.
In Connecticut and Massachusetts over 2,000
women were available for metal-work jobs of the
types described. Contracts have been let to
firms in these States for airplane parts, Diesel
parts, tools and fixtures, boring machines, drop
hammers, motorcycles, wire rope, pneumatic
drills, cartridges, pistols, howitzers, machinegun parts, ammunition, and so forth.
A similar story could be told of the electricalsupply industries, in which it is well known that

THE WOMAN WORKER

women are especially adapted to many processes
that they long have performed. Women are
seeking jobs in the making of radios, electrical
machinery and accessories, and miscellaneous
electrical equipment. Over 9,000 women were
available for such work in the nine States men
tioned here, these being distributed as follows
(in round numbers):
New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania......................... 4,300
Connecticut, Massachusetts, Rhode Island................. 1,900
Illinois, Michigan, Ohio.................................................. 3,000

Various work is needed on contracts let in these
States for electrical supplies. In the eastern
group (including New England) such contracts
call for receivers, cabinets, and head sets for
radios, telephone switchboards, storage batteries,
searchlight units, and lamp assemblies and
mountings; and in the Midwestern States, trans
formers, generator sets, signals, X-ray outfits, and
so forth.
Scientific and professional instruments are
needed in the defense program in greater variety
than ever before. For example, contracts let in
New York, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey include
requirements for aircraft clocks and cameras,
elbow telescopes, height finders, timing apparatus,
navigation watches, telescopes, and surgical
instruments. These are products on which the
work of trained women can be especially helpful.
The manufacture of chemical goods and trans
portation equipment offers somewhat the same
situation. In Illinois and Michigan more than
1,000 women seek jobs in transportation equip
ment, and in New York and New Jersey hundreds
of women are in the market for jobs in chemical
factories.
Training Needed by Women.

The training of women for manufacturing proc
esses for which they are especially adaptable will
be a major service to the National program. In
bench work, using files, screw drivers, and other
small tools, and sorting and assembling small
parts, in the accurate inspections required to
assure a perfect product, and in all finer types of
work, women have a special facility. Processes
newly performed by women in 1914-18, or
engaged in by increased numbers of women, make
an impressive list, even including, to a consider
able extent, heavier work.3

Today’s situation presents this difference—im
proved machinery and product involve additional
fine and precise measurements. Few women
already have the training necessary for types of
inspection requiring, for example, measurements
to thousandths of an inch; this requires a knowl
edge of how to read blue prints, and of some shop
mathematics. Properly equipped women can do
drafting-room work, tracing, drawing, operating
machines that duplicate blue prints. Additional
need for assignment clerks, record clerks, and so
forth, can absorb more of the available office
workers.
Women are found operating grinding machines
and presses, single-spindle drills, multiple drill
presses, and even sensitive drill presses. But in
general women have not the necessary training in
shop practice, and have not developed the special
sensitiveness to differences in metals often re
quired to prevent undue spoilage in certain ma
chine processes. Major skills can be developed
only within the industry or under actual factory
conditions, but certain elementary basic training,
including the use of hand tools, is being developed
by N. Y. A. and C. C. C. courses. Only to an
extremely limited extent is there any inclusion
of womanpower in the National Defense Advisory
Council training program that has operated
through the Office of Education, using local voca
tional facilities, and with local school officials
responsible for conducting classes.
Food, Apparel, and Service Needs.

Wearing apparel and food are as essential as
munitions, and women job seekers who had
experience in such production were as follows:4
Apparel and other articles made from finished
fabrics, 92,000; textile-mill products, 86,600;
food and kindred products, 62,000; leather and
leather products, 24,000. Aside from manufac
turing needs, a variety of other services will be
required of women, especially if men are with
drawn from civilian services. Thus the follow
ing groups of women seeking work 5 may be of
particular importance: Medical and other health
services, 14,000; telephone, telegraph, and re
lated services, 11,000; regular government
agencies, 13,000; service industries, 281,000;
3 See Woman’s Bureau mimeograph: Increase in Woman Employ
ment, 1914-18, and Occupations of Women in Defense Industries.
4 See footnotes 1 and 2, p. 3.
5 See footnote 1, p. 3.

November 1940 LAWS FOR LATIN-AMERICAN WAGE-EARNING WOMEN

trade, 244,000; finance, insurance, and real
estate, 21,400.
More well-prepared registered nurses are
needed than are available, according to the
Nursing Council on National Defense recently
formed by the various nursing organizations. Its
purpose is to unify nursing activities, study nurs
ing resources, and insure continuance of a high
quality of nursing schools and services. The
Council reports that in 1939, compared to 1938,
over 1,800 more nurses graduated, but 458,000
more patients entered hospitals, 73,000 more
babies were born in hospitals, and 2 million more
persons subscribed to hospital insurance. In
1938, also, demand far outran supply, and 1,800

nurses were added to public-health agencies.
Demands have increased in the Red Cross,
United States Veterans’ Administration, and
Army Nurse Corps. The most pressing needs
are in one-nurse rural areas, and teachers of
public-health nursing also are sought. Warning
is issued that adequate education should be se
cured by attending State-accredited schools.
The National Organization for Public Health
Nursing, sampling public health agencies, re
ported a small but constant increase in salaries
of staff nurses in the 5 years 1934-38. Monthly
salaries in the latter year were: Nonofficial agen
cies, ?128; combined agencies, $132; health de
partments in counties, $135, in cities, $148.

Laws for Latin-American Wage-Earning Women
of the Inter-American Com Occupations Involving Danger.
mission of Women to be held in Washington
Certain dangerous or unhealthy types of work
early in November stimulates anew the public
are considered unsuited for women according to
interest in conditions surrounding employed the laws of Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile,
women in Latin-American countries. Legisla Cuba, Ecuador, Honduras, Mexico, Panama,
tion applying especially to women exists in most Peru, Uruguay, and Venezuela. In many cases
of these countries. As in the United States, this applies to use of specified explosives, caustic
however, enforcement presents a serious problem. or inflammable substance, or poisonous chemicals,
Provision that enforcement of laws as to women’s and to maintenance of moving machinery, or its
employment shall be supervised by women has operation, especially moving belts, cranes, or
been made in Chile, Brazil, and Venezuela. Chile, circular saws. Work specified as unhealthy in
Cuba, and Uruguay have separate sections for cludes harmful dust in Bolivia, Chile, Cuba,
women and children in their labor departments; Mexico, Peru, and Venezuela; grinding and
Mexico has a special committee of inquiry super polishing (as of glass, metal, wood) in Argentina,
vising enforcement as well as investigating con Bolivia, Chile, Cuba, Ecuador, and Venezuela;
ditions; in Buenos Aires there is a special service and work involving humidity in Mexico. Pro
to enforce maternity legislation. Social-insur hibition of certain work with lead, a poison caus
ance legislation to compensate workers for sick ing serious danger to women, is given by laws in
ness, unemployment, and old age is found to a Bolivia, Brazil, and Ecuador; Argentina, Chile,
varying degree in all South American republics Cuba, Uruguay, and Venezuela also have enacted
except Venezuela, and also in Cuba and Panama. such laws after ratifying the International Labor
Women in Latin America are employed chiefly Convention on this subject. Women’s lifting of
in the usual industries traditional for women— heavy weights is forbidden in 5 or 6 countries,
textiles, clothing, shoes, food products. Recent underground work in mines in 11 countries.
data from Buenos Aires show women employed as Sixteen countries have laws governing women’s
casket makers (jewelry, silver, and so forth), cork employment before and after childbirth.
sorters and workers, machinists, polishers, up
holsterers, explosive fillers, perfumers, tallow Laws on Hours of Work.
Laws on hours of work for industrial employees
chandlers, shipbuilders, tinsmiths, riveters, solderof both sexes exist in all Latin-American repubers, rolling pressers.
he meeting

THE WOMAN WORKER

lies (except Nicaragua), the standard working
day in all these being 8 hours. Maximum weekly
hours for women are 40 in Bolivia,1 45 in Peru;
for both sexes they are 44 in Ecuador, 48 in the
other 12 countries fixing a legal weekly limit for
industrial workers. Extra pay for overtime
is provided in the laws in Argentina, Bolivia,
Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Guate
mala, Mexico, Paraguay, and Venezuela; in a
few other countries overtime is covered by
agreement with the employer. Saturday half
holidays are compulsory in Argentina, Chile, and
Ecuador, optional in 6 other countries. Vaca
tions with pay are provided for industrial workers
in the more highly industrialized Latin-American
countries. Women’s work on night shifts is
prohibited in some cases in 13 countries.
Wage Provisions.

“Equal pay for equal work” is provided by
law in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Cuba,
Mexico, Peru, Venezuela, and possibly Ecuador,
in most cases applying to both salaried and wage
earners, and in Peru to home workers. In
Mexico a special inquiry is under way to secure
full application of the minimum rates to all
women workers.
Fifteen of the 20 Latin-American republics
have laws providing for fixing minimum wages
for both sexes. The minimum may be fixed by
a wage commission in Brazil, Costa Rica, the
Dominican Republic, and Ecuador; directly in
the law in Bolivia, Haiti, and for certain purposes
in Panama; by both methods in Chile, Cuba,
and Venezuela; by other government body in
Peru; by all three of the above methods in Argen
tina and Uruguay; by wage commissions in
separate States, or presidential decree in Mexico.
In Guatemala the Ministry of Labor may fix a
minimum to settle a wage dispute between
employer and workers. Wage laws apply to
1 Bolivia also fixes 48 for men.

home workers in Argentina, Cuba, Ecuador,
Peru, and Uruguay, though enforcement of this
is difficult, as it is in North America.
Nine of the 15 countries whose laws provide
for wage fixing actually have established mini
mum rates for certain industrial workers, accord
ing to latest information. Here again, enforce
ment sometimes is difficult. These rates cover
workers in “all private firms” in Chile and
Ecuador; “all adult workers” in Costa Rica; the
entire country, by locality, in Brazil; workers in
many garment industries and in the telegraph
service in Argentina; workers in Mexican rubber
and textile plants, cotton, silk and artificial silk,
wool, and counterpane making; shoe factories in
Uruguay and certain home work on shoes in
Argentina; certain food industries in Cuba,
Mexico, and Peru; furniture factories and build
ing construction in Argentina and Cuba, and in
the latter painting, tobacco, and cigars, as well
as hotels, tanneries, periodical printing, tile mak
ing and brick kilns, salt works, and home work
on clothing. In the Mexican cotton-textile in
dustry, for certain machines used in spinning and
weaving, the normal number of revolutions is
given, and employers using such antiquated
patterns that workers cannot do the ordinary
amount of work must either retire the machine
from use or pay the difference between what is
earned on the obsolete machines and what could
be earned on modern machines.
A wage has been fixed for salaried workers in
Bolivian commerce and industry; and for agri
cultural workers in Costa Rica, Cuba, Ecuador,
Guatemala, Mexico, Peru, and Uruguay, pre
sumably also in Costa Rica and Brazil, and to
a limited extent in Argentina. Among the publicservice workers covered in various countries are
the postal service and certain other State and
municipal workers in Argentina, those in certain
semiofficial institutions in Chile, and those on
public works in Uruguay.

THE WOMAN WORKER

November 1940

Toward Minimum Fair Wages
Minimum Wage in the States
Annual Minimum-Wage Conference.
he annual conference of State mini
mum-wage administrators will be held in
Washington early in 1941. Among important
matters on its agenda will be a discussion of the
drafting of minimum-wage orders so as to correct
as many as possible of the conditions that ad
versely affect wages. A committee of adminis
trators is now at work on suggestions for model
orders, chiefly for certain service industries that
fall entirely within State jurisdiction and that
have specialized problems, such as the questions
of split shifts, irregularity of hours, furnishing
of meals and lodging, and provision for uniforms,
in the hotel and restaurant industries. The
conference will consider methods for improving
inspection in States with a limited inspection
staff. Safeguarding the existing orders, as well
as their extension, will come in for discussion,
as will the subject of how to keep wage orders
abreast of rising costs of living.

California—Hotel and Restaurant Compliance.

Because violations of minimum-wage orders
are more prevalent in the hotel and restaurant
industries than in any of the others, the Cali
fornia Division of Industrial Welfare concen
trated during the summer on correcting such
abuses. In the year ending August 31, 1940,
43 percent of the complaints filed were from
these industries. Among them were some against
soda fountains and creameries, alleging that new
employees were required to work 2 weeks or
more without pay before being placed on per
manent pay rolls. During July, $1,852.40 was
collected from hotels and restaurants, chiefly
following complaints. To handle complaints
more rapidly, the division has opened a new office
in Fresno, to be followed shortly, if effective, by
offices in San Diego and Sacramento.

Connecticut — Mandatory Order for Dry
Cleaning.

The Connecticut order for cleaning and dyeing
directory since January 1939, was made manda
tory, effective October 7. (See Woman Worker
for March 1939.) Rates in the original order are
maintained. The learning period for plant work
ers in the industry is reduced from 4 to 3 months.
A new provision requires payment of time and
one-half the regular rate (a minimum of 52% cents
an hour) to women and minors working more
than 48 hours.
District of Columbia—Wage-Hour Cooperation.

All inspectors of the Minimum Wage Board
of the District will investigate for violations of
the Fair Labor Standards Act in establishments
covered by the law in which they regularly make
inspections, according to the agreement with the
Wage and Hour Division. The board has
appointed, as authorized by the agreement,
another full-time inspector for investigation of
complaints against concerns engaged in interstate
commerce, and a clerk-stenographer to assist this
inspector.
Illinois—Minimum Wage and Inspection Work.

A wage board for the Illinois restaurant indus
try has been appointed. A recent study by the
Division of Women’s and Children’s Employ
ment found that half of all women and minors in
the restaurants reported in the State received
less than $10.05 a week in cash, and half of all
table waitresses and waiters less than $8.16.
Boards for hotels, dyeing and cleaning establish
ments, and retail trade will be appointed in the
next year. Enforcement of the minimum-wage
law has resulted in a more healthful standard of
living for many women and minors in the State.
In the five industries for which minimum-wage
orders have been established, a substantial num

THE WOMAN WORKER

ber of the 40,000 women and minors employed
have benefited by receiving higher wages. The
division enforces not only the minimum-wage law
but the 8-hour law for women, and the childlabor, 6-day week, and industrial home-work
laws. Visits are made by 24 trained inspectors
to secure compliance with these laws.
Kentucky—Back Wages Collected.

The Minimum-Wage Division of Kentucky
reported in August that it had inspected 472
establishments since September 1, 1939, and
collected nearly $22,000 in back wages. Special
surveys of the laundry and dry-cleaning indus
tries indicate that the average hourly rates of
many workers have been increased by from 12 to
15 cents an hour, due to the minimum-wage law.
Rates for a normal week now must be at least 20,
22%, or 25 cents, according to size of city.
Massachusetts—Office Workers’ Wage.

Hearings have been held looking toward the
fixing of a minimum wage for Massachusetts
office workers.
New Hampshire—Retail Trade.

Steps are being taken to make mandatory the
New Hampshire order for retail trade.
New Jersey—Year’s Progress.

The year’s report of the director of the New
Jersey Minimum Wage Bureau showed $32,598
collected in back wages under the four orders in
effect (year ending June 30, 1940). Unemploy
ment-compensation taxes were paid on about
100,000 persons under these wage orders, and in
the first 3 months about $5,000,000 more than in
any previous similar period was paid in wages to
persons under the two manufacturing orders
(light manufacturing and wearing apparel). The
laundry and dry-cleaning industries also are under
orders, and it is planned to call a board for a
beauty-parlor wage.

June 3, and more than two-thirds of the 2,400
restaurants inspected by the end of July were
found to be in compliance. More than threefourths of the 10,000 women and male minors
were receiving the minimum rate or more.
Nearly $8,000 was collected during this period for
1,400 employees who had been underpaid, though
the order is still directory.
Wage recommendations for hotels have been ac
cepted, effective November 25. Hotel waitresses
receiving no meals are to be paid the same mini
mum hourly rates required by the recent restau
rant order—26 cents in New York City and 24
cents outside; lower rates are to be paid when
meals are furnished. Other classes of nonresident
employees are to receive higher hourly rates than
waitresses. Lower rates temporarily are to be
allowed for up-State than for New York City
hotels, but all must pay the higher rates by March
1942. The wage board recommended lower
weekly rates for resort hotels than for all-year
hotels on the ground that they “presented a
different problem.”
Earnings of women in laundries continue to
improve, according to sworn pay rolls for No
vember 1939, at which date an order had been
mandatory for more than a year. In that period
the guaranteed weekly rate was increased from
$12.80 to $13.60 in Zone B (places of more than
18,000 population outside of Zone A). Hence,
1938-39 wage increases were greater there than in
Zone A (New York City and adjoining counties)
with a guaranteed minimum of $14. The pro
vision of a guaranteed weekly wage has stabilized
employment in the industry, as is shown by the
greater numbers of women and minors who
worked at least 40 hours a week, as follows:
Percent working 40
hours or more
Zone A Zone B

November 1937....................................................
November 1938............
November 1939....................................................

69
75
76

60
69
74

Pennsylvania—Inspection and Compliance.
New York—Orders in Service Industries.

The New York Board of Standards and Appeals
has upheld the cleaning and dyeing wage order,
except in the case of two minor provisions, and
has heard complaints on the restaurant order.
Hearings have been held on a proposed order for
hotels. The restaurant order went into effect on

The Bureau of Women and Children in Pennsyl
vania will for the present inspect for hour viola
tions in certain industries in which this bureau
is authorized to visit plants for minimum-wage
purposes, according to an agreement made with
the Bureau of Inspection and Enforcement. The
records show that 90 percent of the commercial

November 1940

MINIMUM WAGE

laundries in Pennsylvania are complying with
the directory minimum-wage order in effect
June 1, and are paying at least 27 cents an hour
to all women and minors. The field staff of the
Bureau of Women and Children has visited 601
laundries, in every section of the State, instruct
ing owners and bringing them into line with the
wage order. The attorney general of Pennsyl
vania, in a formal opinion, exempts laundries in
hospitals when the laundry is operated solely for
materials used in the hospital and not on a com
mercial basis.

Order for Leather.
A 40-cent minimum for leather manufacture
became effective September 16. The industry
employs some 49,000 wage earners, of whom about
one-tenth are women. The order is expected to
raise the wages of more than 2,700 employees.
Probably the majority of these are women, since
women’s wages are at the lowest levels.

fined as having duties functional rather than
supervisory and receiving $200 or more a month.
This is expected to exempt 100,000 additional
employees. Exempted “executives” are those
having duties primarily of management and
receiving $30 a week or more. This is not
expected to increase the number now exempt.
The vague provision that such an employee
do no “substantial” amount of such work as is
done in subordinate jobs was held to mean not
over 20 percent of the worktime.
The definition of “outside salesman” was
broadened to exempt from the law “driversalesmen” and to assure exemption of certain
advertising solicitors, thus adding perhaps 100,000
to those not covered by the act.
The “professionals” not covered are those
receiving $200 a month or more (as well as those
licensed to practice law or medicine though
receiving under $200). Thus newspaper re
porters, writers, musicians, actors, graduate
chemists, or engineers, and so forth, are exempt
from overtime provisions only if paid as much
as $200. This may result in pay increases to
those receiving less.
Wages Restored to Home Workers on Lace.
Back wages of about $60,000 were ordered paid
to some 300 home workers making lace in New
England, to bring their pay up to 32% cents an
hour. The process done in homes is breaking up
the large machine-made webs by “ thread draw
ing” to release the separate collars and other
small trimmings. Similar work is done in Ohio,
Pennsylvania, New York, and New Jersey.

Recommendation for Embroidery.

Rate Holds in Puerto Rico Until Superseded.

A minimum rate of 37% cents has been recom
mended by the committee for embroidery manu
facture. If accepted, this rate is expected to
raise the earnings of 4,400 of the industry’s
14,250 factory workers. Home workers, though
not included in this figure, are covered by the
recommendation. A very large proportion of
the factory workers are women, as are most if
not all of the home workers.
Executives, Professionals, Salespeople.
Redefinitions have been issued for these classes
of workers, who are excluded from benefits of
the Wage-Hour Act, and need not be paid over
time if at work beyond the maximum 40-hour
week. (See Woman Worker, July 1940.)
Exempted “administrative” employees are de

A permanent injunction has been secured
against 71 of the 91 needlework employers in
Puerto Rico, requiring them to pay the present
30-cent minimum ttntil a new rate is fixed for the
industry, and to pay the statutory overtime rates.
They are enjoined also from shipping from the
Island any goods produced in violation of the law,
until restitution is paid to all workers producing
the articles. These 71 firms employ about
65,000 factory and home workers. The Depart
ment of Labor of Puerto Rico reports that in the
year ending in June 1939 women factory workers
in the industry averaged 16% cents an hour, men
19 cents. This injunction will greatly help the
situation on the Mainland, where, as enforcement
proceeded, more and more work was diverted to

Rhode Island—New Board.
The hotel and restaurant industry is the next
for which a board will consider wage standards in
Rhode Island.

Utah—Part-Time Workers.
The Industrial Commission of Utah has defined
part-time restaurant workers as those employed
4 hours or less per day. For the first 2 hours a
day they are to receive 40 cents an hour, for re
maining hours the regular rate. (See Woman
Worker, July 1940.)

Progress Under the Federal Act

THE WOMAN WORKER

Puerto Rico. In the year following enactment of
the Fair Labor Standards Act, shipment of needle
work from the Island to the Mainland increased
by more than one-fourth, though production in
Continental United States had shown no increase.
The Special Industry Committee for Puerto
Rico authorized by a recent amendment (see
September Woman Worker) was appointed and
began hearings late in September on a minimum
rate for needlework. Later the same committee
is to consider wages for other industries.
Work for Compliance.

A Nation-wide drive for compliance, begun late
in August, covered five industries: Boots and
shoes, hosiery, woolen goods, furniture, and
leather goods and luggage. In the first three of
these the minimum rate fixed is from 32% to 40
cents. Strict compliance protects both employ
ees and employers. Similar concentrated inspec
tions will be made later in other industries. Over
$5,000 in back wages was ordered paid some 160
leather goods and luggage workers in New York
and New Jersey.
With a more adequate force of inspectors and
pay-roll examiners, the Wage and Hour Division
has been able to accelerate enforcement measures.
From October 1938 to August 1, 1940, 635 civil
and 163 criminal cases were instituted. Of these,
558 civil and 117 criminal cases have been closed.
Fully 80 percent of these cases were handled in
the first 7 months of 1940.
As an added step toward decentralization, full
power and authority has been given to seven
regional directors and acting directors in issuing
certificates to handicapped workers.
Required Wage Payments Further Interpreted.

A number of interpretations have been made
as to payment of overtime, of different rates in
the same factory, and deductions from regular
wages. The question of overtime arises in plants
having union agreements more favorable than
provisions of the act, or in plants desiring a
“constant wage” plan though the flow of work is
uneven. Ways of meeting these problems have
been pointed out by the Administrator and cer
tain regulations have been amended.
In the case of workers employed in the same
workweek on products at different wage rates,
the employer is now permitted the option of

keeping additional records and paying on the
basis of the two or more rates, or of continuing,
as in the past, to pay the highest applicable rate
through the workweek without having to keep
detailed records. An employer may not change
without some formality from one method to
another merely to select the basis of pay cheapest
for a particular week.
Employers whose production fluctuates may
wish to distribute the workers’ income more
evenly through the year. A fixed amount may
be given each week, even though this exceeds
total earnings at a fixed hourly rate, thus build
ing up a reserve against which overtime pay in
busy weeks may be charged. For example, if an
employee’s regular hourly rate totals $19.50 for
a week’s work but he is paid $21 for several
weeks, the amount above the regular hourly rate
may be counted toward the extra overtime pay.
In the case of a pay period of 2 weeks or longer,
each hour of overtime in 1 week of the pay period
may be offset by an hour and a half off in another
week of the same pay period, thus holding pay for
the period to a fairly stable amount.
Where union contracts provide overtime pay.
in excess of the act’s requirements, as, for ex
ample, for more than 8 hours a day, or double
time for Sundays, such overtime pay need not be
included in determining the worker’s regular
hourly rate of pay. The employer is not re
quired to pay overtime twice. If the amount
required by union agreement equals that pro
vided for in the act, no further amount need be
paid. If the union amount is less than that re
quired by the act, the employer pays only the
extra amount of compensation. On the other
hand, the act does not relieve the employer
from paying the union overtime agreed to if in
excess of what the law would have required.
The same principle applies where a State law
sets a standard above the Federal.
Deductions from the regular wage rate are
permissible for certain “facilities” such as meals
and lodgings, general merchandise from company
stores, and fuel, water, or gas for the personal
and noncommercial use of employees. Board
and lodging or other facilities customarily fur
nished as part of the wage must be charged for
only at actual cost. Employers may not coerce
workers into accepting facilities instead of cash,

November 1940

MINIMUM WAGE

nor arbitrarily deduct their cost from the wage
when the facilities are not freely accepted or
used. Time and a half for overtime required by
the act must be paid before such deductions are
made. Deductions primarily for the benefit of
the employer, for example, those for tools neces
sary on the job, for company police, or for taxes
to repay subsidies given the employer to locate
in the community, will not be countenanced.

Special Regulations for Learners.

apparel, and hosiery industries.1 In the custommade branch of the millinery industry a learner
is defined as a “maker” engaged in learning all
the hand operations involved. Floor girls,
helpers, preparers, and general workers are ex
cluded specifically. Learners shall not exceed 10
percent of the average number of makers em
ployed in the previous year, or 10 percent of those
currently employed, whichever number is larger.
They shall be paid at least 30 cents for the first
6 months, 35 cents for the second 6 months.
However, if experienced workers are paid on a
piece-work rate, learners shall receive earnings on
this rate if in excess of the 30- or 35-cent rate.
In the popular-priced branch of the industry
learners are defined as persons not employed for
more than 240 hours during the past 5 years at
trimming or straw or fabric stitching. Learners
are limited to 5 percent of all trimmers and to 10
percent of all stitchers (based on the largest
number during the same season in the preceding
year or on the number currently employed, which
ever number is larger). Rates for learners are to
be not less than 35 cents for trimmers and 30
cents for stitchers, but, if experienced workers
are paid by the piece, learrters shall receive earn
ings on this rate if in excess of these minimums.
Revision of learner regulations in the wearingapparel industries was issued in September.
Learners are to be paid not less than 75 percent of
the minimum rate applicable to the product on
which they work. The previous order allowed
learners only on sewing-machine operations; now
they may be employed on any operation but cut
ting, shipping, pressing, hand sewing, and office
work. Another important modification allows a
retraining period of 160 hours on machine opera
tions where experienced workers transfer from
one division of the apparel industry to another.
Certificates for learners in hosiery mills would
have expired September 18, but are extended 60
days to avoid the disruption of employment, with
primary rates of 22% cents in the seamless and 25
in the full-fashioned branch. The former limit
to 5 percent of all factory workers now may be
increased “ to the extent of expanding production
needs” in plants on Government defense con
tracts. (See Woman Worker, November 1939.)

Special learner regulations, either new or re
vised, have been issued for the millinery, wearing

1 Since this report went to press, regulations for the knitted-wear
and independent telephone industries have been issued.

Wage Rates for Vocational Students.

Regulations issued in August for employing
student-learners are of prime importance in the
vocational-training programs now increasing.
Special certificates will be issued for employment
of such students at rates to average over the
period covered not less than 75 percent of those
fixed in the act or in wage orders. The program
must provide for part-time employment of the
student, supplemented by related instruction as
a regular part of his school or college course.
Employment of a student-learner must not dis
place a regular worker, nor fill a job or position
which otherwise would be filled by a regular
worker. No certificate will be issued when
training is confined to manual operations and
processes, when it consists solely of developing
high speed on a single operation, when the occu
pation involves no skill and requires no signifi
cant training, or when the number of students
in one establishment is more than a small pro
portion of the working force.
General Regulations for Learners.

Revised general regulations for the employ
ment of learners also were issued in August. An
important feature is the specific provision for
the filing of applications for learners by employers
in industries for which public hearings on the
subject have not been held. When learners are
needed to replace normal labor turn-over, a certifi
cate will be issued on prima facie evidence that
experienced workers are not available. Changes
in the provisions for canceling certificates allow
learners already employed to finish their learn
ing period after such cancelation, unless terms
of the certificate have been violated or the
employer was guilty of fraud in obtaining it.

THE WOMAN WORKER

Trends in Employment and Wages of Ohio Women
Percent with rate
in 1937 exceeded that
under $15
Wage
earners:
1937
1933
of 1930, according to figures from one of
Women
..............................................
71
42
............
the major industrial States that show trends over
Men................................................... ............ 17
7
this 8-year period. Wage rates were recovering Clerical workers:
from depression lows. The comprehensive figures
Women.............................................. ............ 25
15
collected by the Ohio Department of Industrial
Men................................................... ............ 8
5
Relations have just been printed, giving for each Salespersons:
Women.............................................. ............ 76
55
year the month-by-month employment, and wage
Men................................................... ............ 27
17
rates at time of greatest employment in the year.
Employment had increased markedly in cerThis coverage is greater than the data for any
tain
manufacturing industries now especially
other State, including all industries except mines
important
to defense, which also are among the
and quarries and interstate railroads, and almost
largest
employers
of women in the State. For
all establishments with three or more workers.
example,
in
iron
and
steel 6,100 women were at
The report groups separately wage earners, cleri
work
in
March
1930
and 7,800 in March 1937;
cal workers, and salespersons (not traveling).
the
proportional
increase
being greater for women
Employment generally reached its lowest level in
than
for
men,
of
whom
249,000 were employed
1933. Among wage earners and office workers the
in
1937.
Proportional
increases were greater
decline (March 1930 to March 1933) was greater
for
men
than
women
in
the
other metal industries
for men than women. In the sales group, how
and
greater
for
women
in
the boot and shoe
ever, women’s loss was proportionally twice that
industry,
and
in
electrical
supplies,
which em
of men. By March 1937 wage earners had in
ployed
4,600
women
in
1930
and
7,700
in 1937.
creased markedly above 1930, more so among men
The
wage
advances
in
these
industries
are
shown
than women (12 percent compared with 9). Sales
by
the
decrease
in
the
proportions
of
workers
with
persons numbered a third more in 1937 than in
rates
less
than
$15
a
week:
1930, women having regained their relative posi
Percent with rates
under $>15
tion by a very great increase after 1933. There
Iron and steel:
1937
was less fluctuation among office workers than
Women........................................ ................. 79
13
in other employment, as by 1937 the number of
Men............................................. ................
8
1
men and women was only about 2 percent above Other metal:
Women........................................ ................ 77
14
1930.
Men............................................. ................ 13
3
Comparison of the wage rates of men and
Electrical supplies:
women in the three occupational groups in 1930,
Women........................................ ................ 79
17
1933, and 1937 shows the greatest changes to be
Men............................................. ................ 15
2
in men’s rates, especially among salesmen and Men’s clothing:
Women........................................ ................ 57
30
wage earners. Women’s rates, already low, could
Men............................................. ................ 16
9
decline less. Average (median) rates of every
Boots and shoes:
group had increased since 1933, women’s less
Women........................................ ................ 70
43
than men’s. Women’s average wage rates were
Men............................................. ................ 26
7
much below men’s in each of these years, but
Certain service industries became subject to
for each occupational group the difference was minimum-wage orders in the period covered by
not so great in 1937 as in 1930. The striking these figures. Since these orders were applied
increases in wages from 1933 to 1937, based on women’s employment, as well as their wages,
week of greatest employment in each year, are show increases. Effective dates are shown in
shown in the following summary of the propor the following summary:
Directory
Mandatory
tions receiving less than $15 in the 2 years.
Laundry................................. March 1934
July
1934
Changes in median rates also show marked Cleaning and dyeing............ Sept. 1934
Jan.
1935
advances.
Hotels and restaurants........ July
1936
March 1937

mployment of women

November 1940

EMPLOYMENT AND WAGES OF OHIO WOMEN

In laundries and dry cleaning, women’s employ
ment in March 1937 was 24 percent above March
1934, and showed an almost continuous increase
from year to year as measured by the same month
in each successive year. In hotels, and even
more markedly in restaurants, women’s 1937 em
ployment was above that in 1936. Employment
in the laundry and cleaning industries usually in
creases in the spring and early summer and
declines thereafter; in hotels and restaurants the
general trend is upward from early spring until
late fall; of course seasonal demands were in no
way changed by the wage orders.
The minimum rates fixed for experienced wage
earners are $11 a week in laundries, $14 in clean

ing establishments. The highest minimum rates
for regular employees under the hotel and restau
rant order are $7.50 for service workers, chiefly
waitresses, and $10.50 for nonservice. By 1937
the proportions of women receiving less than $10
had decreased markedly, since effectiveness of the
orders; those receiving $15 or over (well above
the minimum) also had increased very decidedly,
as the following shows:
Percent with rates—
$15 ana over

Laundry and dry cleaning:
Under $10
33
1933....................... . ............. ........
7
1937....................................... ........
Hotels and restaurants:
36
1935................................................
23
1937....................................... ..........

11
33
14
23

Women in Unions
Union Health Measures.

100,000 members of the Inter
national Ladies’ Garment Workers’ Union
in New York City belong to a sick benefit fund
that pays from $4 to $10 a week for a maximum of
20 weeks. This is not a new idea but was begun
by one local in 1913. At that time a union health
center was established to examine applicants for
membership and to issue certificates for sickbenefit claims. Averaging an attendance of
about 3,000 a year for the first 8 years, the work
grew as more locals participated until in 1939
over 98,000 examinations were made at the
center and benefits were allowed to nearly 4,500
persons. The health center is available also to
union members’ families.
In addition to cash benefits during incapacity,
medical benefits are allowed by some locals.
The worker often may be able to continue his
work while receiving medical care, and thus
avoid disability and the need of collecting sickbenefit cash during illness. There is need of
hospitalization plans at a reasonable rate for
workers, and at least one local has begun such
a plan.
Hospital services for the 45,000 members of the
United Office and Professional Workers in all
parts of the country are provided in a plan
recently set up. Benefits, costing less than
3 cents a day for adults and half that for children
ore than

under 18, are paid directly to the member or to
the hospital if he so desires. These will amount
to $5 a day for 1 month and $2.50 a day for
5 months more. Anaesthetics, operating room,
X-ray, and other charges also are provided.
Progress in Wearing Apparel.

A recent contract covering 31,000 workers in
the cloak industry in New York City establishes
a board of stability and control composed of
union and employer representatives. The board
will direct research into problems that have in
the past provoked dispute, such as the setting of
uniform piece rates, the use of modern machinery,
and the advisability of allowing overtime. The
board is empowered to enforce labor standards.
In a renewed agreement with seven garment
firms in San Antonio, industrial engineers are to be
employed jointly by manufacturers and the
union to modernize methods of wage payments
to piece workers. At a conference between plant
executives and the union, a woman union member
was selected to go to St. Louis for training in
time-and-motion study. She will work in a
factory during the day and study in the evening.
Greater stability is secured in the cloak and
suit industry in Los Angeles as a result of a
recent contract covering more than 500 workers.
Jobbers have agreed to be responsible for main
taining union wages and hours in their shops, and
to accept limitation of contractors.

THE WOMAN WORKER

Progress in Textiles.

Contracts with 60 firms, most of them renewals,
have been reported recently in the textile field,
covering more than 20,000 workers exclusive of
dyeing and finishing, a branch that employs
relatively few women. A number provide wage
increases; one forbids wage cuts; another pro
vides for restoration of a wage cut that had caused
a short strike, and also provides special rates for
style changes; still another calls for 2 weeks’
severance pay for employees displaced by the use
of new machinery or changes in production.
Progress in Other Manufacturing.

A wage increase totaling about $1,400,000 a
year has been secured for some 25,000 workers
in 13 plants of a large aluminum company.
While the union negotiated for its members
only, some 16,500 in 5 plants, the entire force
benefited. New minimum rates range in the
various plants from 51 to 71 cents. Since the
union was formed in 1933, total wage increases
of more than 50 percent have been secured, also
a 25-percent decrease in hours, and paid vaca
tions for all employees. In general, women
comprise about 12 percent of all employees in the
aluminum industry.
Wage increases retroactive to June 11 have
been secured for 2,700 men and women in a
Missouri electrical-appliance factory. The con
tract also provides 1 week’s vacation with pay
for employees with a year’s service, and mater
nity leave with no loss of seniority.
A closed-shop agreement with check-off- of
union dues was secured after a 5 weeks’ strike
by workers in a Maryland factory making gar
ment and shoe bags, mattress covers, and so
forth. Of all the employees, 95 percent are
women.
Progress for White-Collar Workers.

A contract covering some 800 independent
neighborhood merchants and nearly 10,000
clerical and sales employees provides a week of
48 hours for men and 45 hours for women, a
guarantee of 52 weeks of employment, 1 week’s
vacation with pay, and a ban on the split shift.
A stabilization board, under the impartial

chairman, is set up with broad powers and
authorized to reexamine wages as economic
conditions change.
The first union contract with a unit of one of
the 5-and-10 chains has been secured in Michigan.
It provides a 25-percent wage increase for em
ployees with 1 year’s seniority and improved
working conditions.
A contract renewed with an association of de
partment and specialty stores in St. Paul provides
for a job-analysis committee of representatives
of employers and the union. The committee is
to study and recommend changes in existing sales
incentive, quota bonus, or similar plans. Changes
agreed on will become part of the contract.
Progress in Service Industries.

A recent decision by the impartial chairman
awards laundry workers in New York City min
imum wages based on the skill of the job, instead
of one minimum for all. This will raise annual
earnings by about $300,000. When the laundry
contract was signed in November 1939, it pro
vided for a job survey. In the course of this
study hundreds of pay rolls and thousands of
workers were examined and employees were classi
fied by occupation. The occupations, in turn,
were classified by skill. These data were pre
sented to the impartial chairman and hearings
were held. As a result, in place of a flat 35-cent
minimum the union obtained 36-, 37-, 38-, 40-,
and 41-cent minimums for certain classes, $18,
$18.50, $20, $30, and $40 minimums for others.
In the spring it was agreed to make a similar
survey of the linen-supply division of the in
dustry. The study was made and a decision
rendered. The minimum hourly rates set range
from 36 to 42% cents, weekly from $18 to $40.
In Los Angeles, laundry workers have secured
one new and one renewed agreement. These
provide a wage increase of about 8 percent, an
8-hour day with time and a half for overtime,
6 holidays a year, and 1 week’s vacation with
pay after a year’s service. The union secured
the right to inspect plant conditions. No change
in the piece-work system or in timing operations
is to be made unless agreed on by management
and the unions.

November 1940

THE WOMAN WORKER

News Notes
Government Labor Officials Meet1
he annual conference of the International
Association of Governmental Labor Of
ficials was held in New York in September. The
report of the Women in Industry Committee
emphasized this country’s inner defenses, and
urged, as a means of maintaining these, the
extension of labor laws to groups not now benefit
ing from them, and the placing of women in
occupations for which their natural endowments
best fit them, training them for such work, and
safeguarding their health and well-being.
Resolutions of the conference opposed the
weakening of State or Federal minimum-wage
laws and urged the extension of such legislation
and adequate appropriations for new wage orders
and for enforcement. Other resolutions welcomed
the International Labor Office to this country
and endorsed its continuing work for world
peace based on workers’ welfare; invited LatinAmerican labor departments to affiliate or send
representatives to the I. A. G. L. O.; urged main
taining safeguards against child labor, deploring
action of the New York Bureau of Education to
eliminate labor regulations for apprentices; and
urged continued programs to train factory
inspectors.

To Broaden Social Security
Legislation extending and liberalizing the
coverage of the social-security program was
introduced on the fifth anniversary of the signing
of the Social Security Act. Of great importance
to women is the proposal that household em
ployees, agricultural workers, employees of
State and local governments, non-civil-service
employees of the Federal Government, and
employees of nonprofit, religious, charitable, and
educational institutions be included in the old
age and survivors’ insurance part of the act.
The bill also would extend the coverage for
unemployment compensation to about 5 million
additional employees, including those serving
1 See mimeographed reports of the Women in Industry Committee
and the Minimum-Wage Committee, available from Women’s
Bureau while supply lasts.

the Federal Government in non-civil-service
occupations; workers in nonprofit institutions;
and those in enterprises employing fewer than 8
employees. As regards the group last named,
in 1937 the number of wage earners in manu
facturing plants with fewer than 6 such workers
(figure for fewer than 8 not reported) was over
170,000. A much larger total would be found
in small stores, restaurants, and other business
enterprises not employing so many as 8.

Michigan Equal Pay Law Upheld
The Michigan law requiring equal pay for
equal work has been upheld as constitutional by
the Michigan Supreme Court, affirming the
decision of a lower court in favor of a woman
automobile worker. The opinion refuted the
employer’s contention that the law is uncertain,
arbitrary, confiscatory, discriminatory, and lack
ing in equal protection of the laws. (See
Woman Worker, January 1940.)

Unemployment Benefits to Women
Rather impressive numbers of women have
benefited by unemployment insurance, as indi
cated by very scattered reports from several
States, covering parts of 1938 and 1939. No
complete report has been issued to include all
women workers in the United States.
The proportions women comprised of those pre
senting claims varied widely. About a fourth of
the claimants in Virginia and North Carolina
over the period reported were women, as were
nearly a fifth of those in Mississippi, and well over
a third of those in the city of Baltimore. Of
those allowed payment in Ohio and Michigan, 14
or 15 percent were women; in Kansas, only 8
percent; in South Carolina and the District of
Columbia, 14 percent of the Negro and respec
tively 42 percent and 30 percent of the white
women. Of the amounts actually paid in South
Carolina in 1939, women received 30 percent; of
the numbers receiving payments, women com
prised 34 percent. The complete numbers of
women receiving benefits cannot be ascertained.
The number of first payments ran as high as
63,000 in Michigan in 11 months of 1938-39, and

THE WOMAN WORKER

19,000 claims were allowed to South Carolina
women in 1939. In 1 week in February 1938,
5,300 women in the important industrial State of
Ohio were allowed payment.
The compensation women received was in
almost all cases below ?10. In Michigan during
an 11-month period, two-thirds of all first pay
ments to women 2 amounted to ?7 and under $12
a week. In Ohio, in 1 week, three-fourths of the
women received benefits of $4 but less than $9.
In South Carolina the average weekly payments 2
were $4.71 for white, $3.39 for Negro women.
In Kansas the average weekly benefit reported
for one month was between $6 and $7 for both
white and Negro women. In North Carolina
two-thirds of women’s claims (filed in the first
quarter in 1938), if granted, would entitle them
to less than $6.

Recent Publications
Women’s Bureau—Printed Bulletins 1
Application of Labor Legislation to the Fruit and
Vegetable Canning and Preserving Industries.
Bui. 176. 162 pp. 20 cents.

Earnings and Hours in Hawaii Woman-Employing
Industries. Bui. 177. 53 pp. 10 cents.
Reprint of figures from an earlier bulletin, out of print, that
show changes in women’s occupations in census periods
from 1910 to 1920 and 1930. Bui. 104A.

Women’s Bureau—Mimeographed Material4
Increase in Woman Employment 1914-18, and Occupa
tions of Women in Defense Industries. September
1940. 23 pp.
Reports to Annual Meeting of the International
Association of Governmental Labor Officials,
September 9-12, 1940:
Women in Industry. 8 pp.
Minimum Wage Legislation. 10 pp.

Women Injured by Falls in New York
The use of chairs or other unsuitable objects
in place of stepladders caused compensable
injuries to 178 women and 412 men in New York
in 1939.3 One worker was killed by a fall and
126 received permanent injuries. Usually the
worker lost balance, but sometimes the chair,
box, or other object broke or collapsed, or it
tipped or slid from its place. These were in
industries covered by workmen’s compensation,
but such accidents happen frequently in homes.
Of 2,918 compensable injuries in New York in
1939 due to falls on stairs or steps, 591 were
caused by tripping, stumbling, heel catching,
and similar occurrences. In 3 of these death
resulted, and in 130 permanent injury. Of the
591 persons so injured, many were janitors,
cleaners, maids, and waitresses; 286 of them (48
percent) were women, though of all compensated
injuries only 10 percent were to women. Trip
ping or stumbling was reported most often, but
the reason for tripping or stumbling is lacking.
Second in importance was catching of the heel,
which happened to 84 women and may have been
due to unsuitable shoes or to defective stairs.
2 Includes partial unemployment also.
3 Cases closed in 1939.

Other Department of Labor Publications
Union Wages, Hours, and Working Conditions in the
Printing Trades, June 1, 1939. Bureau of Labor Statis
tics. Bui. 675.
Labor Laws and Their Administration, 1939. (Pro
ceedings of the 25th convention of the I. A. G. L. O.)
Bureau of Labor Statistics. Bui. 678.
Money Disbursements of Wage Earners and Clerical
Workers, 1934-36. East North Central Region (8
cities). Bureau of Labor Statistics. Bui. 636.
Family Expenditure in Selected Cities, 1935-36. Bu
reau of Labor Statistics. Bui. 648, vol. II—Food.
Recommendations of the White House Conference
on Children in a Democracy. Children’s Bureau.

Other Recent Publications
Illinois Labor Bulletin. The Illinois Department of
Labor is to be congratulated on the reappearance of this
bulletin in print, beginning in July 1940. For 7 years
the department has been without its regular printed
monthly, and has had to present its statistical material
in mimeographed form, either monthly or annually.
I. L. G. W. U. Convention Film. The International Ladies’
Garment Workers’ Union has prepared a movie of its
1940 convention, the first time such a picture has been
made of a union convention.
4 Bulletins may be ordered from the Superintendent of Documents,
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.

U. S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE: 1940

Full text of The Woman Worker : November 1940, Vol. XX, No. 6

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