Women and War Work Part 8

"Smoking is allowed at this end of the restroom," said one Superintendent, "but since we have permitted this recreation, it seems to have fallen out of favour," which seems to show munition girls are very human.

Hutments have also been built for married couples. Lodgings are inspected and when suitable, scheduled for workers coming to the area.

In some cases the management in private factories do not adopt formal welfare workers but get a woman of the right type and put her in charge of the female operatives, with generally excellent results.

The value of the influence of this work on our girls cannot be over-estimated--it is an influence of the very best kind, and our experiences in munition and welfare work, every cla.s.s of women working together, is going to be of great and permanent good.

[Ill.u.s.tration: AN OFFICIAL BOOKLET FOR MUNITION WORKERS]

The professional woman and the girls who flock to London in large numbers for work in Government Departments, must be housed also, and there are many extremely good Hostels. Bedford House, the old Bedford College for Women, is now a delightful Hostel run by the Y.W.C.A., whose work for munition girls deserves very special mention. They had Hostels over the country before the war and have added to these. They have set up Clubs all over the country for the girls in munitions and industry in 150 centres, and these are very much appreciated and used by thousands of girls.

The feeding of the munition worker is another great piece of work.

It started, like so many of our things, in voluntary effort. The conditions of the men and women working all night and without any possibility of getting anything warm to eat and drink and, exhausted with their heavy work, made people feel something must be done, and the first efforts were to send round barrows with hot tea and coffee and sandwiches, etc. More and more it was realized that the provision of proper meals for the workers, men and women, was indispensable for the maintenance of output on which our fighting forces depended for their very lives--and the Government, the Y.M.C.A., the Y.W.C.A. and various other agencies, started to establish canteens. The Y.W.C.A.

alone in its canteens serves 80,000 meals a week. Large numbers of private firms have established their own canteens.

The Health of Munition Workers Committee reported, in November, 1915, that it was extremely desirable to establish canteens in every factory in which it would be useful. Many canteens existed before the war, but they have been added to enormously and the recommendations of the committee as to accessibility, attractiveness, form, food and service carried out.

The Canteen Committee of the Liquor Control Board who have looked after this work have issued an admirable official pamphlet, "Feeding the Munition Worker," in which plans for construction and all details are given. An ideal canteen should always provide facilities for the worker to heat his or her own food.

The prices are very reasonable, and in most cases only cover cost of food and service, soup and bread is 4 cents--cut from joint and two vegetables, 12 to 16 cents.

Puddings, 2 to 4 cents, Bread and cheese, 3 to 4 cents, Tea, coffee and cocoa, 2 cents a cup,

and a variety is arranged in the week's menu.

The Y.W.C.A. Huts are very popular. In some of them the girls get dinners for 10 cents, and the dinner includes joint, vegetables and pudding.

There are comfortable chairs in them in which girls can rest and attractive magazines and books to read in the little restrooms. The workers in charge of these canteens are educated women and the waiting and service is done by voluntary helpers. There is not only excellent feeding for our workers in these canteens, but there is great economy in food and fuel. To cook 400 dinners together is much less wasteful than to cook them separately, and the cooks in these are generally trained economists.

The children, too, are not forgotten. Our welfare workers follow the young mother home and find out if the children are all right and well taken care of. We have done even more in the war than before for our babies and the infant death rate is falling. We have established excellent creches and nurseries where they are needed.

It is impossible to overestimate the value of all this work in industry. The Prime Minister, speaking last year on this subject, said, "It is a strange irony, but no small compensation, that the making of weapons of destruction should afford the occasion to humanize industry. Yet such is the case. Old prejudices have vanished, new ideas are abroad; employers and workers, the public and the State, are all favourable to new methods. The opportunity must not be allowed to slip. It may well be that, when the tumult of war is a distant echo and the making of munitions a nightmare of the past, the effort now being made to soften asperities, to secure the welfare of the workers, and to build a bridge of sympathy and understanding between employer and employed, will have left behind results of permanent and enduring value to the workers, to the nation and to mankind at large."

I am no believer in the gloomy predictions of industrial revolutions after the war. We will have revolutions--but of the right kind and one thing has been clearly shown, that the workers of our country are not only loyal citizens but realize every issue of this conflict as vividly as anyone else. On their work, men and women, our Navy, our Army and our country, have depended--and they have not failed us in any real thing.

MINISTRY OF MUNITIONS.

DUTIES OF WELFARE SUPERVISORS FOR WOMEN.

(Sometimes called EMPLOYMENT SUPERINTENDENTS.)

NOTE.--It is not suggested that all these duties should be imposed upon the Employment Superintendent directly she is appointed. The size of the Factory will to a certain extent determine the scope of her work, and in a.s.signing her duties regard will of course be had to her professional ability to cope with them.

These officers are responsible solely to the firms that employ them, and in no sense to the Ministry of Munitions.

The experience which has now been obtained in National and other Factories making munitions of war has demonstrated that the post of Welfare Supervisor is a valuable a.s.set to Factory management wherever women are employed. Through this channel attention has been drawn to conditions of work, previously unnoted, which were inimical to the well-being of those employed. The following notes have, therefore, been prepared for the information of employers who have not hitherto engaged such officers, but who desire to know the position a Welfare Supervisor should take and the duties and authority which, it is suggested, might be delegated to her.

POSITION.

It has generally been found convenient that the Welfare Supervisor should be directly responsible to the General Manager, and should be given a definite position on the managerial staff in connection with the Labour Employment Department of the Factory. She is thus able to refer all matters calling for attention direct to the General Manager, and may be regarded by him as a liaison between him and the various Departments dealing with the women employees.

DUTIES.

The duty of a Welfare Supervisor is to obtain and to maintain a healthy staff of workers and to help in maintaining satisfactory conditions for the work.

In order to obtain a staff satisfactory both from the point of view of health and technical efficiency, it has been found to be an advantage to bring the Welfare Supervisor into the business of selecting women and girls for employment.

I. THE OBTAINING OF A HEALTHY STAFF.

Her function is to consider the general health, physical capacity and character of each applicant. As regards those under 16 years of age, she could obtain useful advice as to health from the Certifying Surgeon when he grants Certificates of fitness. The Management can, if they think fit, empower her to refer for medical advice to their panel Doctor, other applicants concerning whose general fitness she is in doubt. This selection of employees furnishes the Welfare Supervisor with a valuable opportunity for establishing a personal link with the workers.

Her function is thus concerned with selection on general grounds, while the actual engaging of those selected may be carried out by the Overlooker or other person responsible for the technical side of the work. In this way both aspects of appointment receive full consideration.

The Management may find further that it is useful to consult the Welfare Supervisor as to promotions of women in the Factory, thus continuing the principle of regarding not only technical efficiency but also general considerations in the control of the women in the Factory.

II. THE MAINTAINING OF A HEALTHY STAFF.

The Welfare Supervisor should ascertain what are the particular needs of the workers. These needs will then be found to group themselves under two headings:

(a) Needs within the Factory--Intramural Welfare.

(b) Needs outside the Factory--Extramural Welfare.

INTRAMURAL WELFARE.

I. SUPERVISION OF WORKING CONDITIONS.

The Welfare Supervisor may be made responsible for the following matters:

(a) _General behaviour of women and girls inside the factory._--While responsibility for the technical side of the work must rest with the Technical Staff, the Welfare Supervisor should be responsible for all questions of general behaviour.

(b) _Transfer._--The Welfare Supervisor would, if the health of a woman was affected by the particular process on which she is engaged, be allowed, after having consulted the Foreman concerned, to suggest to the Management the possibility of transfer of the woman to work more suited to her state of health.

(c) _Night Supervision._--The Welfare Supervisor should have a deputy for night work and should herself occasionally visit the Factory at night to see that satisfactory conditions are maintained.

(d) _Dismissal._--It will be in keeping with the general suggestions as to the functions of the Welfare Supervisor if she is consulted on general grounds with regard to the dismissal of women and girls.

(e) _The maintenance of healthy conditions._--This implies that she should, from the point of view of the health of the female employees, see to the general cleanliness, ventilation and warmth of the Factory and keep the Management informed of the results of her observations.