Full text of The Woman Worker : November 1941, Vol. XXI, No. 6

View original document

The full text on this page is automatically extracted from the file linked above and may contain errors and inconsistencies.

Woman Worker
l/jj

NOVEMBER 1941

United States Department of Labor

Women’s Bureau

'TVO, (o

UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF LABOR
Frances Perkins, Secretary

WOMEN’S BUREAU
Mary Anderson, Director

THE WOMAN WORKER
PUBLISHED EVERY 2 MONTHS

No. 6

Vol. XXI

November 1941

CONTENTS
Defense Program Increases Need

for

Women Workers___________________

1939______________________
Toward Minimum Fair Wages____________________________________________
Fair Labor Standards Administration—Public Contracts Administration—
Minimum Wage in the States.
Wage-Earning Wives and Unemployment Benefits________________________
Women in Trade Unions_________________________________________________
Progress in Women’s Wear, Textiles, White-Collar Work, Service, and Other
Industries; British Union Welcomes New Women.
Disabling Illness of Women Workers____________________________________
Women’s Adjustments as Defense Shifts Jobs_____________________________
Mobility of Weavers—Plant Shut-Down—Workers in Relief Families.
News Notes_____________________________________________________________
Government Labor Officials Meet—Benefits of New York Home-Work Order—
Household Workers’ Earnings and Outgo—Wage and Hour Bills Introduced
in 1941—Women Earn More in South Carolina.
Recent Publications_____________________________________________________
Women in Manufacturing and Trade, Census

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

Page

3
4
5
7
8

10
12
13

Defense Program Increases Need for Women Workers
work now is in real demand more than 3,000 forthcoming jobs that wom
in defense industries and in other oc en might fill, chiefly as operators of ma
chines,
cupations from which workers have gone
to such as drill presses, lathes, milling
defense employment. Agencies concerned machines, and so forth, as inspectors, and
with labor supply are examining processes to clerical workers.
Side by side with evidences of increased
discover the types most suitable for women.
At the same time, the picture is marred by opportunities for women are currents hostile
certain dislocations due to changes from to women’s chances. Where women are re
placing men, this has been to some extent in
civilian to defense production.
Employment Service reports as early as lower-paying types of work. Some em
last spring stressed the fact that women’s ployers through the country still prefer men
chances for jobs continued to improve, and or boys outside the draft ages. One example
that already women were being taken on in of many is a new arms plant in New York
places vacated by men. Indicative of this State requiring over 1,800 workers largely
shift are the reports from various parts of on processes that women could perform, but
the country of labor shortages in work ordi men are preferred. Special organizations are
narily performed largely by women, such as being set up to assure jobs for the men being
skilled textile operators, experienced office released from their first period of army
workers, restaurant employees, sewing-ma service; there will be a continual stream of
chine operators, salespersons, and workers men leaving as well as going into training,
in all types of service occupations. Em and these men undoubtedly will be given job
ployees, many of them women, also have preference over women who have done the
been needed in seasonal industries such as work in the interim. Shifts from industries
canning, agricultural operations, apparel being converted from consumer to defense
manufacture also cause great hardship to
manufacture, and service in resort hotels.
women, as in the spectacular instance of silk
Labor Needs That Women Can Fill.
A detailed study of labor demands in mills, where there are indications that over
major branches of the airplane industry made half of the 75,000 women in the industry lost
by the United States Bureau of Labor their jobs.
Staxistics shows that in particular jobs that Women Continue To Be Placed in Jobs.
women in very many cases could fill, over
Employment Service reports of placements
50,000 workers will be required by the late of women in all types of occupations showed
fall, additional numbers later. For much of much the same picture from month to month
this work women would need training. From throughout the spring and early summer,
surveys made by the Women’s Bureau it and may be outlined as follows: (1) On the
would appear that chief jobs suited for wom whole, increases continue; (2) service jobs
en are as operators of various types of still absorb nearly 60 percent of the women’s
presses, as subassemblers in sheet metal, placements, manufacturing around a fifth;
riveters, bench workers (including burring and (3) very roughly a third of the placements
filing), inspectors, and clerical workers (in in manufacturing go to women.
cluding stock clerks). Other possibilities
Placements in manufacturing increased
include different kinds of welding, and operat by 10 percent in May over the preceding
ing lathes, milling machines, and other metal month. Large scale hirings in the elec
processing machines. A similar study of trical industry, in which a third of all
needs in the machine-tool industry shows workers are women, were reported in
420885—41------1
3

omen’s

THE WOMAN WORKER

Middle Atlantic States even as early as
last spring. Many thousands of women
should find factory jobs in three large midwestern cities before next spring, according
to estimated needs. Ammunition, arms,
machinery, and ordnance plants in various
parts of the country were taking on women
as their forces were enlarged or as their
male labor supply was being reduced. Ex
amples are:
Massachusetts—Women as bench hands in an arms
factory.
Rhode Island—Women on various operations in a
plant making a new type of wire for field use by the
Signal Corps; and women in greatly increased num
bers on assembly, bench, and press work in jewelry
factories making army insignia (though there are
other reports of women losing their jobs in jewelry
plants).
Connecticut—Over 200 women inspectors in one plant
and a shift of women solderers in another.
Maryland—400 Negro women assembling gas masks.
Ohio—1,500 women to make ammunition parts.
St. Louis—3,000 women in an arms ammunition
plant.
Western New York—About 800 women taken on in a
large ammunition plant.

Some experiments are being made with
women’s work in aircraft plants, and a
large California firm has pioneered in put
ting on 300 women.
Of women’s placements in a special list
of defense jobs over an 8-month period,
nearly half were for some type of press
operation. A fourth were in assembly,
chiefly in electrical and radio plants, but in
a few cases for aircraft. An appreciable
number also were inspectors. The largest
group of industries into which these women
went were in metal work, the next in ma
chine-shop and machine-tool plants; third
came electrical manufacturing, with almost
as many in foundries and forgings.
Women Given Training in Many Localities.
Employers consider more seriously how
best they can train and install new divisions
of women, or use these workers to replace
men no longer available, and many plants
are experimenting with women on new jobs.
Scattered evidences of changes in processes
in order to employ women range from textile
mills to fine-instrument making.

Women in Manufacturing and Trade, Census of 1939
Women in Manufacturing.

The Census of Manufactures shows that
more than 2^ million women were employed
in factories in October 1939, the month of
peak employment for all industries com
bined. The great majority of these women
were wage earners on production jobs, more
than 2,235,000 in all. Besides these, 232,000
were clerical workers in the plants; 145,000
were concerned with distribution of the
products; 10,000 were salaried officers;
16,000, managerial or professional employees.
The average number of wage earners for
the year (men and women combined) was
about half a million less than in 1929.
The proportion of women, however, had in
creased: In December 1929, 21 of every 100
factory employees were women, in October
1939 practically 26 in every 100 were women.
There was a marked increase in the pro

portions of women in certain of the major
woman-employing industries, as follows:
Percent of wage earners
who were women
1929
‘1939

Apparel--------------------Food preparation__________________
Leather and leather products________
Machinery_______________________
Stone, clay, and glass products_______

67
23
34
11
7

74
28
40
15
11

On the other hand, women had lost ground
somewhat in textiles, chemicals, and nonferrous metals and their products.
At the later date more than one-fourth of
the women in manufacturing were in ap
parel factories, more than one-fifth in textile
mills. This reversed the 1929 situation,
when women in textiles were the largest
single group. Food preparation had in
creased in importance, accounting for 13 per
cent of the women, compared with 9 percent
in 1929. Next in importance were leather

November 1941

CENSUS OF 1939

and leather products, machinery, and paper
and printing, each including about 6 percent
of all women, with little change in the 10
years. All these main groups employed at
least 125,000 women wage earners in Octo
ber 1939; textiles employed more than 500,000, apparel more than 610,000.
Women in Trade.
The Census of Business in 1939 shows that
women employed in retail distribution (in
cluding eating and drinking places) had
increased in both numbers and proportion.
In 1935 there were not quite 31 women in
every 100 employees reported, in 1939 there
were 34 in every 100. This was accompa
nied by a marked increase in the number of all
employees, full- and part-time combined,
and women alone increased by well over 50
percent to 1,566,545. Total numbers em
ployed had increased in every State, and the
proportion of women had increased in every
State but Idaho, where the decrease was
very slight.
About three-fourths of the women were
found in three groups of trade: Generalmerchandise stores, eating and drinking
places, and apparel stores. Well over onethird of the women were in the general
merchandise group, chiefly in department
and variety stores. In these three groups

women employees usually predominated.
They were 71 percent of all in general mer
chandise, 57 percent in apparel, and 47 per
cent in eating and drinking, in each case a
higher proportion than in 1935.
Not far from one-fifth of all workers were
employed for only part time, and there are
indications that more women than men
usually are employed on this basis. In
department stores a fifth of all workers
were on part time, in variety stores nearly
half. In the general-merchandise group
the proportion of part-time workers had
increased from 24 to 28 percent. In
apparel stores and in eating and drinking
places, on the other hand, there was a
slight decline in the extent of part-time
employment.
In wholesale distribution in 1939 women
represented 19 of every 100 persons em
ployed, a slight increase over 1935. Total
employment (men and women combined)
had increased by about 200,000, to 1,562,000.
The ratio of women in 1939 varied from
a low of 5 percent for the petroleum trade
to 45 percent in the specialty-line drug
business. Women comprised more than
one-third of all employees in amusement
and sporting goods, drugs and drug sundries
(specialty lines), and jewelry.

Toward Minimum Fair Wages
Fair Labor Standards Administration
New Minimum-Wage Rates.

A minimum rate of 40 cents an hour, the
highest allowed under the act, has been
approved for the following five industries:
Men’s shirts, single pants, and allied gar
ments, and women’s and children’s apparel,
September 29; jewelry (including watch
cases and cigar and cigarette cases), No
vember 1; and wood furniture industry and
gray iron jobbing foundry industry, No
vember 3. A minimum of 34 cents an hour
for the clay-products industry and 35 cents
for the lumber industryA became effective

September 1 and November 3, respectively.
The new minimum for the men’s garment
industry will increase the wage rate of about
89,000 workers, so far as they are experi
enced, mostly women sewing-machine opera
tors, out of 145,000 employed by the
industry. Increases will amount to about
$270,000 a week, if 40 hours are worked.
In the women’s and children’s apparel
industry about 60,000 of the estimated
240,000 workers will benefit by the higher
rate. About 85 percent of all wage earners
at work on these garments are women.
Women’s coats and suits already operate
under a 40-cent minimum.

THE WOMAN WORKER

Jewelry Order Abolishes Home Work.
In the jewelry industry, it is estimated
that about one-third of the 35,000 workers
will receive higher wage rates with the new
minimum. In a study of this industry made
by the United States Bureau of Labor
Statistics in 1940, it was found that about

three-fourths of the workers receiving less
than 40 cents were women. There is no
doubt, therefore, that a large proportion of
women will benefit from the 40-cent mini
mum.
The order for jewelry blazes a new trail
in forbidding home work. (Bona fide handi
capped workers still are permitted to work
at home.) This action was taken because
of the great difficulties in enforcing wage
and hour standards where home work is
done. The conclusion was reached by the
Wage and Hour Division from a detailed
study of home work in the industry, based
on handbooks in which the employer is
required to have home workers keep a record
of hours worked. From March 1939 to
the end of December 1940, 121 firms re
quested 12,246 handbooks. Almost a fourth
of the firms failed to acknowledge receipt of
some 2,800 handbooks as is required. Re
quests were sent to 81 firms who had ac
knowledged receipt of handbooks asking
that all books completely filled or not in
use be returned.
At the time of the hearing, no response
had been received from 27 of these firms.
Of the other firms, 34 acknowledged the
use of home workers. These had distrib
uted about 3,100 handbooks, but their re
ports failed entirely to account for some
1,350 of them. An examination of the books
returned showed many inaccuracies in the
records to be kept. It was easy to recog
nize various methods used to cover failure
to pay the minimum. For example, in
a number of cases, there was a striking
artificiality in the uniformity of the hours
reported.
Recommendations.

Minimum rates of 40 cents have been
recommended for workers on shoes and

allied products and all motor carriers. The
shoe industry currently employs more than
250,000 workers, and about 96,000 of them
(the majority women) have been earning
less than 40 cents.
The new committee appointed to revise
the rate previously established for the
woolen industry has recommended that the
36-cent minimum be increased to 40 cents.
One of the public representatives on this
committee is a woman, Amy Hewes of
South Hadley, Mass. This was the thirtysixth committee to be appointed.
The Administrator finds that no need
exists for the employment of learners in the
hat industry at less than the minimum wage.

Public Contracts Administration
Orders Revised.
Wage determinations on Government con
tracts of $10,000 or more were amended in

three instances, effective in September.
The rate of 42^ cents for leather and sheeplined jackets was extended to all leather,
leather trimmed, and sheep-lined garments
for men, women, or children. The rate for
drugs and medicines was raised from 37}£
cents to 40 cents and extended to denti
frices, cosmetics, perfumes, and similar
preparations. The rate for tags was raised
from 33 to 40 cents. The second and third
of these changes were to conform to orders
under the Fair Labor Standards Act.

Minimum Wage in the States
Kentucky—Industry Order.
A directory order for the laundry, dry-

cleaning, and dyeing industry in Kentucky
becomes effective November 1. This is the
first of a series of industry orders which
will be substituted gradually for the original
blanket wage order covering all occupations.
The new order divides the State into 4 zones,
the rates for which range from 20 cents to
28 cents.
Louisiana—First Wage Board.
Preparations are being made to issue the
first order under the 1938 State minimumwage law for women. This will cover the

November 1941

MINIMUM WAGE

laundry and dry-cleaning industry, in which
the State Department of Labor recently has
made a survey of wages and hours. Mrs.
Byrne Womack has been appointed to
administer the law.
New York—Resort Hotels.
Resort hotels opened this summer for the
first time since the wage order applied to
them. The State Bureau of Enforcement,
cooperating with the New York State
Hotel Association, held a series of meetings
in upstate resort areas to explain operation

of the order.
Massachusetts—Restaurant Order.
Women in restaurants in Massachusetts,
if classed as service employees, are to re
ceive at least $12 a week if they work more
than 34 hours, or 28 cents an hour if the week

is 34 hours or less. The rate for nonservice
employees is $16 for more than 34 hours,
or 38 cents an hour for 34 hours or less.
(Legal workweek for women in Massachu
setts is 48 hours.) Service employees are
those “whose duties relate solely to the
serving of food to patrons seated at tables
and to the performance of duties incidental
thereto.” All others are nonservice. If

an employer announces to the public a
no-tipping policy, all employees then become
nonservice. Tips are not to be counted as
part of the minimum. The employer is to
furnish and care for uniforms if they are
required. He may deduct 25 cents for each
meal actually furnished, and $2.75 for a full
week’s lodging. No learner or apprentice
period is allowed. The order became
effective September 1.
New York—Compliance in Restaurants.

After a year under the directory order for
restaurants in New York, 72 percent of all
women and minors were receiving the mini
mum rates or more. The necessary investi
gation required visits to 28,500 restaurants
of all sorts, in every part of the State. Of
these, 11,486 were subject to the order,
since they employed women and minors.
During the year, more than $111,000 in
unpaid wages was collected and refunded to
8,154 employees. The 3,362 employers
(29 percent) who refused to cooperate have
underpaid nearly 12,000 workers to the
extent of more than $400,000, but they
cannot be prosecuted until the order is
made mandatory.

Wage-Earning Wives and Unemployment Benefits
quits her job to go to another The Rhode Island appeal board supports this
location where her husband has employ interpretation with the argument that “It
should be the policy of the law to preserve
ment. In Iowa or Nebraska, by the official
interpretation of the unemployment com family life wherever possible.” Connecticut
pensation act, she is disqualified in certain and Oklahoma share the Rhode Island posi
respects for benefits during her jobless tion, refusing to disqualify a wife under such
period; in Indiana, Michigan, and Utah circumstances. It is noteworthy that Ne
positive provision of statute disqualifies her braska adopts this view about a husband
(though not about a wife) and refuses to
for benefits.
This view in applying the law assumes disqualify him when he quits a job in order
that the employee’s cause for voluntarily to live where his family lives and be in a
leaving must be connected with the work, better position to support them.
These contrasting interpretations as to
and argues that a married woman who ac
cepts employment comes into the market on what constitutes voluntary leaving of work
without good cause are not surprising. They
the same footing with all other employees.
An opposing view holds that a cause for simply follow the usual pattern of wide vari
voluntary leaving does not have to be con ance among the States in construing a gen
nected with the work, but may be personal. eral provision of law. Nor is it entirely unex
wife

THE WOMAN WORKER

pected that some States are penalizing
marriage ties and family responsibilities
when assumed by women wage earners.
But the extent of this special class treat
ment of women is surprising. At this time,
by specific statutes, a woman employed loses
certain unemployment compensation bene
fits because of marriage in 14 States and be
cause of childbearing in 3 States. The
grounds for disqualification may be stated
in general terms as follows:
1. If dismissed for marriage—Minnesota, Wis
consin.
2. If voluntarily quits to marry—Indiana, Mon
tana, Oklahoma, Oregon, Utah, Wisconsin,
Wyoming.
3. If employment discontinued because of mar
riage [not clear if both dismissal and voluntary
quitting included]—Nebraska, Nevada, North
Dakota.

4. If voluntarily quits to assume housewife’s
duties—Indiana, Minnesota, Utah.
5. If voluntarily leaves work location to live with
husband elsewhere—Indiana, Michigan, Utah.
6. If fails to resume housewife’s duties during
unemployment when such duties major occu
pation ordinarily—Iowa.
7. If discharged for pregnancy—Oregon.
8. If voluntarily quits during pregnancy—Utah.
9. For unemployment due to pregnancy—Con
necticut.
10. Childbirth period as specified—Utah.

Under the general provision in the un
employment compensation acts that an un
employed person is eligible for benefits when
“able to work and available for work,” a
woman worker may be subject to disqual
ification because of pregnancy and for a
specified period before and after childbirth,
whether or not special provision for disqual
ification on this ground exists in the law.

Women in Trade Unions
Progress in Women’s Wear.

New York Dress Institute, which
hopes, with union cooperation, to make
New York a style center, issued more than
3,500,000 labels to 800 jobbers and manu
facturers in the summer. A special cere
mony was made at the City Hall of the sew
ing of the first 20 labels into dresses ranging
in price from #1.95 to #295, but all union
made. The label reads:
he

New York
Creation
N. Y. Dress Institute

Made under Standards of
I. L. G. W. U.

Mrs. Dorothy W. Anderson has been
named executive director of the Dress Insti
tute and will guide the promotion of the
label. It is appropriate that a woman
should hold this position. Not only do
women buy the product, but union figures
show that 67,000 of the 85,000 workers in
the New York industry are women.
The dress contract signed in February
states that “workers . . . have a right to
secure efficient shop management.” (See

Woman Worker, May 1941, p. 9.)

An
order by the impartial chairman, effective
August 15, established the following main
efficiency rules: Employers must prepare
work well; bundles must be complete; work
ers must be given proper instruction; ade
quate floor service must be supplied; related
crafts must cooperate; machines must be
kept in good order. If rules are not lived up
to, complaints are to be made first to the
employer, and, if he fails to comply, they
are to be made through the union.
The February contract called for no
wage changes, but the rise in living costs
since then made advances necessary. The
bases of settlement of rates were increased
by 10 percent for most workers; #2 to #4
a week for time workers were negotiated
late in the summer.
In Los Angeles, workers in 25 dress
shops were awarded a general 15-percent
increase by a mediation board. Minimum
hourly rates are to be as follows: Operators,
75 cents instead of 63 cents; finishers, 55
cents instead of 47^ cents; pressers, #1
instead of 75 cents. In October 1940,

November 1941

WOMEN IN UNIONS

women’s earnings on dresses other than
cotton averaged 59 cents throughout the
State. Wage negotiations are to be re
opened whenever living costs increase by
5 percent. At about the same time the
first contract covering the sportswear indus
try was signed by about 40 firms. This
provided a 5-percent wage increase, 1
week’s vacation with pay, new wage negotia
tions if living costs increased, a 37^-hour
week after January 1, 1942. More than
2,500 workers were involved in these
contracts.
Progress in Textiles.

Union contracts in the textile field had
provided vacations with pay for about
100,000 employees of 171 firms by May 1,
a feature also included in many more
recent contracts. Increases in living costs
led to a raise of 7 cents an hour for 25,000
employees of a woolen manufacturer in
late summer. The minimum was raised
from 40 to 47 cents. This example was
followed by 35 other mills with about 10,000
employees. At least 20 other recent con
tracts provide wage raises. Reports for
8 show about 7,000 workers covered. The
contract with a synthetic-yarn plant pro
vides health insurance for union members,
financed jointly by union and employer
and providing two-thirds pay for a maximum
of 12 weeks’ illness a year. Full pay is
to be given in cases of lost time due to
sore eyes caused by fumes.
A 2-year contract covering all union fullfashioned-hosiery mills provides from 10- to
22-percent increases for 30,000 workers, and
will add $4,500,000 to their annual earnings,
with further adjustments if living costs rise.
A week’s vacation with pay is given to every
worker after 9 months’ service. Workers
displaced by technological changes are to
have first chance to fill other positions in
the mills. A study by the Bureau of Labor
Statistics in 1938 showed that women were
55 percent of all workers in northern mills,
where most union plants were situated;
women averaged 57 cents an hour in union
plants, 48 cents in nonunion.

Progress for White-Collar Workers.
Studies by the Women’s Bureau show

women’s earnings to be generally low in
stores. In 1937, average earnings of
women in department stores in four States
and the District of Columbia ranged from
$13.50 to $16.60; in limited-price stores,
from $12.40 to $14. In Michigan in 1941,
women in department and dry-goods stores
averaged $16.58; in limited-price stores,
$13.58. In all cases, part-time workers
were excluded. It is interesting to compare
these earnings with minimum rates estab
lished for women in a few recent union
contracts:
Madison, Wis., department store, $18 after 1 year.
(45-hour week.)
St. Louis, Mo., S-and-10-cent stores, 312 for first
3 months, £15.50 after 6 months, £18 after 3 years.
(48-hour week.)
Tacoma, Wash., variety stores, £18.25 to £21.50.
King County, Wash, (county seat, Seattle), grocery
stores, £17.50 for first 6 months to £25 after 18 months.
(8-hour day, 9 on Saturday or day before a holiday,
the extra hour being taken from another day.)

Wage increases of 6 cents an hour (a
20-percent increase) and 12^ percent for
piece work were secured in a closed-shop
contract covering 160 employees of a New
York directory publisher. A renewed agree
ment covering 80 workers on press clippings
provided additional sick leave, two more
paid half-holidays, and severance pay. A
2-year contract with a New York City
department store covering about 1,600 work
ers provided an average 15-percent increase
and larger drawing accounts.
Progress for Service Workers.
A New York City local of cafeteria em
ployees reports gains secured for its mem

bers in the past 5 years; bus girls have
advanced from $10 for 54 hours to $16 for
45; counter girls from $15 for 54 hours to
$19 and $20 for 45; dishwashers from $12 for
54 to $18 for 48 hours.
Some 700 workers in one hotel in New
York, and 5,000 in 140 cafeterias, have
secured wage increases of $2 and $3 a week.
The cafeteria contract provides a closed
shop, hiring through the union, and a week’s

THE WOMAN WORKER

vacation with pay. Wages of waitresses in
15 St. Louis hotels have been raised by from
70 cents to $1 a week, while 90 women at
lunch counters in limited-price stores secured
increases of up to $4 a week.
A recent contract for the New York head
quarters of a social agency establishes for
maintenance workers a 40-hour week with
time and one-half for overtime; minimum
salaries of from $18 to $29 a week; 3 weeks’
vacation with pay after 1 year’s service, and
3 weeks’ sick leave, cumulative to 60 days;
maternity leave; and separation allowance.
Some employees of the organization else
where work for as little as $15 for 54 hours.
As a nonprofit organization, these employees
are not covered by the Social Security Act.
Progress in Other Industries.

The Providence (R. I.) local of the Inter
national Association of Machinists has fol
lowed that of Bridgeport (Conn.) in admit
ting women. (See Woman Worker, March
1941, p. 6.) This includes assemblers, polish
ers, packers, and machine operators making
small tools and gages.
The 20,000 employees of one of the chief
meat packers have received a raise recently,
making an increase of 10 cents above levels
prevailing before April 1 for all workers paid
on hourly basis. The rate for common labor
was advanced from 67^ to 72^ cents. Can
nery wage increases reported, secured in 11
contracts covering more than 10,500 in 8
States, were from 2 cents to 10 cents an hour
in some cases, $2 a week in 1, from 7 to 27
percent in others.
Basic rates of 50 cents for women and 65
for men are incorporated in a contract with

a parachute manufacturer; also 25- and 30percent increases and vacations. In a metaltoy factory, 800 workers gained a 5-cent-anhour raise, vacations with pay, the check-off,
and closed shop.
British Union Welcomes New Women.

A resolution welcoming the new women
workers into the British National Union of
General and Municipal Workers was a
prominent feature of the recent Biennial
Congress of that great organization. The
resolution was in part as follows:
This Congress welcomes the great increase of women
membership into the Union since its last meeting and
records its belief that only through strong trade-union
organization can women receive the full advantage both
of the wage agreements which have been entered into
and the various statutory and permissive orders which
have been issued to safeguard economic standards and
conditions of work * * *.

In moving the foregoing, Dorothy M.
Elliott, National Women’s Officer, spoke in
part as follows:
It is something to be proud of that we today say
that, as a Union, we represent 80,000 women members.
Particularly is it a case for pride when we can remember
not so very long ago we were talking in terms of 19,000
and 20,000 women members * * *.
Not only is it a steady growth in numbers, in which
we can have confidence, because we believe that we can
retain it at the end of this conflict, but also the quality
of that membership is something of which we can be
proud * * *. I have never in my experience of the
trade-union movement seen a better generation of
women than the young women of 20, 21, and 22 today
who are taking their full share of responsibility in the
workshops, and who are organizing and holding together
the membership for which they are responsible * * *.
* * * we are as a Union raising the wage level of
women * * * breaking down the distinction
between women’s work and men’s work, and saying it
is all work which is being done with skill, * * *
requiring skill and knowledge and care * * *.

Disabling Illness of Women Workers
women workers are more 64, part of the National Health Survey of
frequently disabled by illness than 1935-36. Rate of disability was based on
employed men are, but less frequently
the proportion of persons disabled on the
than either housewives or the unemployed day of the visit to the family.
workers (both men and women). These
It was found that 2 in every 100 male
conclusions are based on data in a study of workers, between 2 and 3 in every 100
a million and a half individuals aged 15 to female workers (in each case both employed
mployed

November 1941

ILLNESS OF WOMEN WORKERS

and unemployed), and about 5 in every 100
housewives, were disabled. The difference
between men and women workers was
greatest in the age group 25 to 34; between
women workers and housewives, in the
group 15 to 24. Among unemployed work
ers, including persons on work relief and
those newly seeking jobs, the rate for both
men and women was more than twice that
of employed workers. When workers were
classified as manual and nonmanual, rates
for manual workers, whether men or women,
were found almost a third higher.
Differences in rates between male workers,
female workers, and housewives may reflect
differences in occupational hazards and in
susceptibility due to sex. Differences in
rates between female workers and house
wives, and differences in rates between the
employed and the unemployed, may result
at least in part from a type of selection,
better health making it easier for a woman
to secure and hold a job. In this connec
tion it is worth noting that, except for
confinement, the greatest excesses in dis
ability rates of housewives over female
workers were for chronic diseases and
impairments, smaller excess mainly for
acute diseases. The excesses in disability
rates of unemployed over employed persons
(of each sex) also were greater for chronic
than for other diseases.
Injuries to Illinois Women Workers.

Nearly 3,000 cases of industrial injury to
women were closed in Illinois in 1940, hav
ing cost more than $360,000. Among these
were 9 deaths and 1 case of permanent total
disability. Practically 30 percent of the
cases resulted in permanent partial dis
ability, including 68 instances of disfigure
ment, while 70 percent caused temporary
disability only. Three-fourths of the com
pensation money was paid for permanent
partial disability and disfigurement, only
one-fifth for the temporary cases.
The three large occupational groups in
which these injured women had worked
were manufacturing, service, and trade.
Those in manufacturing suffered relatively

more permanent injuries, those in trade
relatively less, as the following shows:
Percent distribu
tion of—

Occupational group

AU
cases

Manufacturing. _________ ________ 42
Service _ .. . ________ ________ 26
Trade________________ ..________ 25
Other____________ ____ ________ 7

Permanent
partial
cases

50
26
19
5

Falls of persons were the leading cause of
all injuries to women, followed in importance
by handling objects— such as those that
were sharp, rough, or too heavy--and by
machinery. Among permanent partial
cases, machinery led, causing 35 percent of
all injuries.
Of the women whose age was reported, 30
percent were under 25, and 49 percent 25
but under 45. Those whose injuries were
permanent were slightly older. About half
the women received the minimum weekly
compensation of $8.25 provided by law,
since women’s wages tend to be low. Forty
percent averaged regular earnings of less
than $14.50 a week, 63 percent averaging less
than $16.50.
Hazards in Wisconsin Women’s Jobs.

Two general types of occupational disease
liable to occur in a great number of women’s
occupations are dermatitis (or skin irrita
tion) and disabilities such as bursitis, syno
vitis, neuritis, tumors, or felons. Causes of
dermatitis may be repeated handling of such
common materials as food products, or of
soap or other cleaning compounds, as well as
of a great variety of other materials; the
latter group of disabilities may result from
repeated motion or repeated pressure or
shock involved in certain jobs. A detailed
report of cases of occupational disease settled
in Wisconsin in 1940, while not by sex, indi
cates the industry and job of the persons
involved. Cases occurring in jobs usually
held by women are considered here.
There were 52 cases of dermatitis reported,
affecting vegetable trimmers, sewing-ma
chine operators, office and sales workers, hotel
or restaurant employees, beauty operators,
nurses, and household workers. Disabil
ities caused by repeated motion, pressure,

THE WOMAN WORKER

or shock were not so numerous, but affected
workers in quite as wide a range of jobs.
Heat prostration was reported by a waitress,
a laundry flat-work ironer, and a teacher.
None of the foregoing resulted in perma
nent impairment, and in most the loss of
time was less than 20 working days. How
ever, dermatitis caused considerable loss of
time in certain instances, as follows: Dress
maker, 122 working days, caused by the tex

tiles used; sewer in shoe factory, 93 days;
nurse, 91 days; two beauty operators, aver
age of 57 days, caused by a hairdressing
preparation; cook, 51 days, caused by re
peated contact with dishwater. A file clerk
lost 61 working days with neuritis due to re
peated motion. Two sewing-machine oper
ators lost an average of 30 days because of
tumors due to repeated shock from the mo
tion of the machine.

Women’s Adjustments as Defense Shifts Jobs
rapid employment increases due to employing some 17,000 closed in 1935; Pater
the defense program are not without son, N. J., where there have always been a
their acute phases of readjustment and even
large number of broad-silk mills, many very
unemployment, often depending on location small; and Philadelphia, with both large
of the workers in relation to the jobs to be and small textile mills and also many other
filled, or on the probable ability to fit into industries.
new types of work if certain industries con
These weavers were in general middletract as others expand.
aged, with long work histories but with little
In June 1941, there were approximately experience outside of textiles. Nearly two38,383,000 persons in civil work other than thirds of the women were 40 or older. More
agriculture, a new all-time peak 3% million than half of them had begun working before
above that of June 1940, and nearly 2 million 1910, a fifth before 1900. Three-fourths of
above June 1929. (Not including persons them had been weavers about 10 years or
employed by W. P. A. and N. Y. A., or in longer, a third about 20 years or more. In
C. C. C. camps; nor those in the armed the period from 1926 to 1935, about twothirds of the women had made no change in
forces.)
In the face of this improvement special industry. In Philadelphia over two-thirds
problems still exist, and three recent studies of the weavers, and in Paterson, with many
show types of shifts that occur in industry small plants, almost all the weavers, changed
but may be intensified by the defense pro employers in this 10-year period. In Man
gram, for example: Older skilled workers chester, however, three-fifths of the men and
who must shift to a new industry to find four-fifths of the women worked for only one
jobs;1 workers left stranded by plant shut employer during the decade. In Philadel
downs in an industrial town;2 workers in phia, where the opportunity to vary occu
relief families.3
pations was the greatest, the grade of skill
of the jobs secured by weavers usually was
Mobility of Weavers.
To determine the extent to which workers less good than that of weaving. A few wom
highly skilled in one industry might fit into en in Philadelphia had been able to develop
the expanding defense industries, records a schedule of dovetailing work in radio fac
were examined of nearly 900 weavers, one- tories and textile mills in their respective
fifth of/them women. These lived in three busy seasons in such a way as to give them
cities: Manchester, N. H., where one mill fairly regular employment throughout the
1 The Mobility of Weavers in Three Textile Centers. Gladys L. year.
Palmer. In The Quarterly Journal of Economics, May 1941.
It will be recalled that Great Britain
2 After the Shutdown in Howland, Maine. Everett Johnson
Burtt, Jr. In The Southern Economic Journal, July 1941.
3 Employability of Pennsylvania’s General Assistance Case Load afforded a spectacular instance of the trans
in April 1941. Pennsylvania Department of Public Assistance.
fer of hosiery workers to munitions factories,
June 1941.
he

November 1941

WOMEN’S JOB ADJUSTMENTS

with planned proportional curtailment in
hosiery production during the period of
shifting. Many of these appear to have been
relatively youthful workers.
In general, several factors make especially
difficult a shift of the American workers
surveyed into other industries now building
up their labor force. There is lack of
adaptability due to age and to long experi
ence in a single industry. Weavers usually
are promoted from less skilled jobs in the
same mill. Many of the women, especially
in Manchester, were married and could
move only if it were desirable that the family
move. Weavers usually are part of a
family the other members of which are
customarily employed in textile mills, often
the same mill. Here again the entire family
must be considered, particularly since the
factories affording new occupations often
are at too great a distance to enable the
same residence to be kept.
Plant Shut-Down.
A pulp and paper-bag mill in a small
town in Maine closed in the summer of
1938, leaving more than 200 workers without
jobs. In July 1939, ISO of them were located
and asked what adjustments they had
made. Of these, 43 were women, with an
average age of 31 years; all but two of them
were married. Of the 150 workers, 90
percent had dependents to support, slightly
more than 3 on the average, one-fourth of
them had 5 or more; 9 women were the sole
support of themselves and dependents.
All the women were semiskilled workers;
and all but one earned 27 cents an hour,
the rate having been reduced in the spring
of 1938. At the time of the interview, two
of the women had factory jobs within 50

miles of the town, and one had a temporary
job as a waitress. The others were without
work. All but 17 of the men were working
at the time of the interview, but most had
been forced into jobs requiring little or no
skill, usually highly seasonal and paying
low wages.
Workers in Relief Families.

In April 1941 there were 76,000 general
assistance families in Pennsylvania with one
or more employable members—that is, per
sons 18 or older able to work and available
for employment. Of the approximately
83,000 potential workers in these families
nearly 11,000 were women. Recognizing
that there are varying degrees of employa
bility, depending on age, sex, race, physical
condition, education, occupational back
ground, and duration of unemployment, a
careful study was made of the 83,000 persons
involved to ascertain their possibilities of
fitting into jobs.
Only about a fourth of the women were
classified as skilled, semiskilled, or whitecollar workers, occupations the most likely
to fit into the defense program. More than
two-fifths were service workers. Two-fifths
of the women were Negroes, more than onethird were 45 or older, nearly a tenth were
physically handicapped; all in groups that
have some deterrent to immediate employ
ment. Least employable, on the . whole,
were those with no occupational classifica
tion, more than one-fourth of the total.
These include young persons with little or
no work experience and persons who, be
cause of age or other handicap, could not be
assigned to any specific occupational classi
fication.

News Notes
Government Labor Officials Meet

pecial

under
supply
features of

national Association of Governmental Labor
Officials held in St. Louis in September.
sessions on labor standards President of the Association Frieda S.
the defense program and labor Miller, Industrial Commissioner of New
and defense needs were importantYork, stated that the certain prospect of
the annual conference of Inter great increases in employment of women

THE WOMAN WORKER

emphasized the need to preserve and extend
legal standards of hours and wages. She
stressed the responsibility of these officials
to guard the gains of democracy in the
major areas of their experience and technical
knowledge, namely, the conservation of the
workers’ health and income and the main
tenance and extension of labor standards.
Any requests for relaxation of the labor
standards should be treated as individual
cases and their need and ultimate effect
examined objectively. The defense program
calls for many new employees. It was
pointed out that greater numbers at work
automatically increase the amount of indus
trial sickness and accident. Such a pro
gram is accompanied, too, by crowding,
speed-ups, employment of inexperienced
workers, use of new machines and unfamiliar
chemicals, all of which are factors subject
to control. Labor officials have an urgent
responsibility to promote methods of as
suring mechanical safety in plants and to
keep abreast of the health hazards from
new chemical processes.
Moreover, lack of sufficient rest and rec
reation results in alarming increases in ill
ness, often with permanent injury to the
worker and decline in output and industrial
efficiency. In their work to preserve and ex
tend the standards which personify de
mocracy, governmental labor officials realize
that they are maintaining public morale and
adding to the efficiency of our economic
system.
At another session of the conference, re
ports were given of the year’s progress in
minimum wage, situation of women in in
dustry, regulation of home work, social se
curity developments, factory inspection, and
other subjects affecting workers. The report
on women in industry stressed the need for
continuing to secure for the women workers
everywhere the benefits of reasonable legal
regulation, and for increasing attention to
adequate living conditions for women work
ers, especially in areas where defense in
dustries have caused crowding.
The conference passed resolutions urging
vigorous enforcement of labor standards,

continuing the benefits of the democratic
way of life, and the extension of such stand
ards where nonexistent.

Benefits of New York Home-Work
Order
The artificial-flower industry in New York
has been stabilized and workers much helped
by an order forbidding home work, according
to a recent report based chiefly on a special
survey made about a year after the effective
date.
In 1937, prior to the order, there were four
home workers to every three women working
on artificial flowers in shops, and in 1938, 70
firms in this industry employed 1,118 home
work families. The prohibitory order be
came effective May 2, 1938, and by 1939
there were 45 firms holding home-work per
mits and only 272 special certificates out
standing. Excepted from the prohibition
were certain workers unable to adjust to fac
tory work because of handicap or because
needed at home to care for another. This
order has been challenged a number of times,
but always upheld. (See Woman Worker,
September 1940.)
The fears of employers that the order
would disrupt the industry proved unwar
ranted. More than three-fourths of the
firms involved had practically no problem
of adjustment. Employers supporting the
order said that it stabilized the industry by
reducing unfair competition; that factory
work was more efficient and scientific and
less wasteful. Although 1939 was not so
good a season as 1938, in the 68 firms which
previously had employed home workers the
number of factory workers had increased 44
percent, while in 69 firms having no home
workers there was a 2-percent decline.
The adjustment of the home workers was
studied also. In more than half of 337
families visited, at least one of the former
home workers was in outside employment.
Only 5 of the 24 families who had some trou
ble in making the change said that when
they went into the factory they were worried
about their children. Other reasons given
for difficulty in the worker’s adjustment were

November 1941

NEWS NOTES

physical disabilities, nervousness about fac
tory work, and inability to speak English.
Of the home workers going into factories,
three-fourths preferred it to home work.
In the families in which no home worker had
secured outside employment, some said
they did not need it. Others gave reasons
for not seeking such work that would have
allowed them special certificates under the
order.
For those continuing to do home work
under special certificates, average earnings
were #12.15 a week compared with #9.80
before the order. This increase was due to
the terms of the order, which required that
the pay for home work be at the same rate
as for similar work in the shop.
Only 13 percent of the families now were
on relief, as compared to 24 percent of the
home-work families in 1937.

Household Workers’ Earnings and
Outgo
Average earnings of #8.25 a week and
average expenditures of #5.76 were shown by
accounts kept over a 3-month period by
nearly 200 household workers. The project,
sponsored by the Y. W. C. A., was carried
out by women in 13 States, most of them in
the northern part of the Mississippi Valley.
On an average, one-fifth of earnings went
for clothing; nearly one-tenth was contrib
uted to the worker’s family; and almost as
much went for medical services. Contribu
tions to the family increased quite consis
tently with higher earnings. A little more
than one-twentieth was expended for food
(more often for meals in restaurants) and
housing. This indicates that most women
received room and board besides a cash
wage, but bought an occasional restaurant
meal on days off. If an average of savings
could be maintained steadily for a year, the
amount would be about #130, but this can
not be counted on, as in another 3 months
some emergency might require greater
expenditures.
General earnings varied directly with size
of city, being #6.27 in places of 25,000 popu
lation or less and practically #12 in those of

500,000 or over. Total expenditures also
averaged more in larger cities, though there
was no direct relationship between size of
city and amounts spent for most individual
items.

Wage and Hour Bills Introduced in
1941
Wage and hour bills, with provisions
similar to the Federal Fair Labor Standards
Act, were introduced in 29 State legislatures
in 1941. No bill of this type was adopted
but in the following 5 States a wage-hour
bill passed one house: Connecticut, Indiana,
Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Rhode
Island. Puerto Rico adopted a wage-hour
bill. (See Woman Worker for July.)
Some of these bills in the form in which
they were introduced constitute a real threat
to existing labor standards. Unlike the
model wage and hour bill, they provided for
the repeal of present laws which regulate
the hours of women workers and establish
minimum wages. Under existing minimumwage laws, orders have been issued setting
minimum wages well above the initial statu
tory rates proposed in State wage and hour
bills and providing important regulations to
safeguard these minima.
All these orders would be wiped out if the
present wage laws were repealed, and
women workers would be deprived of the
protection that they have had for years.
If the model wage and hour bill were fol
lowed, the gains that have been made during
the past 30 years would be preserved until
equally high standards could be established
under the new type of law for both men and
women.
The State wage and hour bill is not in
tended to be a substitute for State hour laws
that place an absolute limit on the number
of hours for which women may be employed.
The overtime provision of the State wage
and hour bill requiring, as does the Fair
Labor Standards Act, the payment of time
and one-half the regular rate of pay for
hours beyond the basic week doubtless would
discourage long hours, but it does not pro
hibit them as do State hour laws for women.

THE WOMAN WORKER

The model wage and hour bill expressly
provides for the nonrepeal of these laws as
well as of State minimum-wage laws.

Women Earn More in South Carolina
Increases in wages of women in South
Carolina factories give striking testimony to
the effectiveness of the Fair Labor Stand
ards Act. These women received over 2%
million dollars more in the year ending June
30, 1940, than in the previous fiscal year.
During the second fiscal year, the basic
minimum under the Fair Labor Standards
Act was increased from 25 to 30 cents.

Early in this period a rate of 32% cents was
set for seamless hosiery and cotton, silk,
and rayon textiles, South Carolina’s out
standing industries. As a result, per capita
wages paid to white women in all manu
facturing increased from #589 to #680, in
textiles from #625 to #696. Employment
of white men and women in all manufactur
ing declined somewhat, that of men more
than women so that the percent of women
rose from 30 to 33. Employment increased
in textiles, where some 31,500 women were
found, 88 percent of all in manufacturing.

Recent Publications
Women’s Bureau—Printed Bulletins 1

Other Publications

The Legal Status of Women in the United States
of America, January 1, 1938. Bui. 157.—United

The Relation of Hours of Work to Health and
Efficiency. New York Department of Labor, Divi

States Summary.

89 pp.

150.

Earnings and Hours in Pacific Coast Fish Canner
ies. Bui. 186. 30 pp. 100.
Labor Standards and Competitive Market Con
ditions in the Canned Goods Industry. Bui. 187.

34 pp.

100.

Safety Clothing

Bui. No. 3.

for

Women

Industry. Special

11 pp.

Women’s Bureau—Mimeographed Material1
Women

War Industries

Great Britain.

22 pp.
Series of State Bulletins on Labor Laws for
Women: Kentucky, 25 pp.; Maryland, 23 pp.;

Michigan, 25 pp.; New Jersey, 27 pp.; New York, 38
pp.; North Carolina, 24 pp.; Ohio, 31 pp.; Pennsyl
vania, 27 pp.; Tennessee, 23 pp.

Other Department of Labor Publications
Labor Laws and Their Administration. 1940. Bu

reau of Labor Statistics. Bui. No. 690.
Labor Offices

in the

United States and in Canada.

May 15, 1941. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Bui. 681.
Facts About Crippled Children. Children’s Bu
reau. (Mimeographed.)
Protecting Plant Manpower. Practical Points on
Industrial Sanitation and Hygiene. Division of
Labor Standards. Special Bui. No. 3.
Control of Welding Hazards in Defense Indus
tries. Division of Labor Standards. Special Bui.

No. 5.
1 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 Women’s Bureau.

sion of Women in Industry and Minimum Wage.
August 1941. (Mimeographed.) A summary of
literature on the subject. Summarized briefly in the
New York Industrial Bulletin, May 1941.
A Brief Introduction to Trade
Unionism for Women, by Mary Agnes Hamilton.
An early organization of British working women
was the Women’s Trade Union League founded in
1874 by Emma Paterson, a bookbinder. Her work
was carried on by Mary Macarthur, Margaret Bondfield, Lady Dilke, Gertrude Tuckwell, and others.
With the ultimate aim, the admission of women into
the unions with men, the grim fact was that women,
not by any wish of their own, were dangerous to trade
union standards. It was realized that wages must be
raised first in the “sweated” industries where women
predominated. This led to the fight for Trade
Boards, originally set up in a bill piloted through the
House of Commons by Winston Churchill and passed
in 1909.
By 1939, women were found in most of the principal
unions, although their proportion varied. In recent
years the rate of unionization for women has increased
faster than the rate for men, though the proportion of
men is still much greater than that of women. The
problem arises again of protecting women who are
entering men’s industries and jobs because of the war,
and at the same time protecting the union standards
that have been built up. Women’s position on the
whole is better than in 1914-48, as regards wages,
hours, and conditions of work, and there is a far
stronger public opinion in favor of equal treatment
than there was in that war.

Women at Work.

U. S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE: 1941

Full text of The Woman Worker : November 1941, Vol. XXI, No. 6

FRASER