Women in the Printing Trades Part 21

Why, from the point of view of the home worker in each case, is home work done?

10.--INFLUENCE OF WOMEN'S WAGES ON THE FAMILY INCOME.

Occupation of husband.

Amount contributed towards home expenses.

APPENDIX II.--DESCRIPTION OF CERTAIN TYPICAL FIRMS.

1. A.,[94] _A well-known Printing Firm in London. Employee's Information._

[Footnote 94: Index letters by which reference is made to the firm in the body of the volume, except in the chapter on wages.]

WORK.--Folding, sewing, numbering, etc.

REGULARITY.--The work is not seasonal, at any rate at A.

HEALTH.--Numbering is very bad for a weak chest and makes one's head ache as well. Girls with weak chests cannot stand it. Folding, however, is not unhealthy unless the hours are too long.

HOURS.--At B. they are 48 per week; but at A. they are 53, distributed as follows:--Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, 9 a.m. to 6.30 p.m.; Thursday, 9 a.m. to 7 p.m.; Friday, 9 a.m. to 8 p.m.; Sat.u.r.day, 9 a.m.

to 1 p.m.; one hour for dinner and half an hour for tea being allowed each full working day.

GENERAL.--The sanitary arrangements are very bad at A., and lavatories open straight out of workrooms, and are in very bad condition. One does not use them unless she wants to get a fever. The company is very mixed.

"You can tell that it is rather a low place, because the girls wear curlers and nothing is said. When one works at B. she has to take out curlers before she comes. You can always tell the sort of place when the girls wear curlers."

2. _A well-known Printing Firm in London. Forewoman's Information._

WORK.--6 or 7 girls are employed at machine ruling, and a few at vellum sewing and folding.

REGULARITY.--The girls are kept on all the year round.

HOURS.--The hours are from 8 a.m. to 7.30 p.m., with one hour for dinner and half an hour for tea.

PROSPECTS.--Might rise to forewomen, but that not common.

GENERAL.--Work girls have nothing to complain of now; they are always very well looked after.

3. S., _Small Printing Firm in London. Employee's Evidence._

WORK.--16 girls and 1 man (who is an engineer) are employed, S. helping himself. Upstairs there are 2 men "blocking," and 2 girls powdering for them. The girls do all the printing, _e.g._, the informant can set up the type, lock it into the frame, make ready, and then feed the platen machine--which alone is used in this firm. Informant can also clean the machine. She also does "bronzing," _i.e._, dusting-on bronze with a pad.

The girls powdering upstairs do nothing else. A few younger girls fold circulars.

REGULARITY.--Work is steady, and they are always busy.

HEALTH.--Bronzing is most unhealthy. ----'s colour has all gone since she was put on to it a few weeks ago. "You are supposed to have milk to drink, but you never get more than half a cupful at the end of the day, when it is too late. The inspector has been round and has asked about the milk, but of course the manager said that milk was always given."

(Informant looked very ill.) She had to stay away from work all the previous Thursday, and lost a shilling in consequence. Her father and mother say she must leave the work or she will die. "You see, they lost a brother of mine at twenty-three and a sister at thirteen, and they don't want me to go off too."

The powdering done by the girls in the blocking room is very unhealthy.

None of them can stand it long. They get ill and go off elsewhere. It brings on consumption.

Feeding machines is very tiring.

One girl works the cutting machine, which is unfit for a woman and very dangerous. A girl who worked it lost her finger and was six weeks in hospital, but the firm paid her well not to tell. The printing machines are dangerous, for you often get your fingers caught; it comes back quicker than you expect.

HOURS.--The hours are from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., with one hour for dinner and a quarter of an hour for tea; on Sat.u.r.days, from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m., with half an hour for a meal. They never get away at 6 though, not till 6.30 or later, for there are the machines to be cleaned and things to be cleared up.

GENERAL.--Mr. S. sometimes comes round and talks as if he were the kindest of employers. "He'll say, 'Take care of your head, there, dear.'

It makes you sick to hear him. If he'd give better wages it would be more to the point."

4. Q., _Job Printing Firm in London. Visit to Works._

WORK.--I went through the works and saw 10 extra young girls sticking on pockets for stamps on to an appeal sheet of ...; one girl feeding a platen machine which was gumming instead of printing; 4 or 5 upstairs in the regular folding room folding....

REGULARITY.--Q. has only 4 or 5 regular hands, and when there is a rush of work, he takes on job hands. "You put up a bill and can easily get 100 if you want them." He dislikes the custom, but does not see how it is to be obviated in the printing trade. "You suddenly have 75,000 circulars to do, and you don't know when the next order will be."

HOURS.--The hours are from 8 a.m. to 6.30 p.m., with one hour for dinner, ten minutes for lunch and ten minutes for tea. Girls prefer this to half an hour for tea and leaving at 7. On Sat.u.r.days the hours are from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m., no meal time being allowed. The married women, however, rarely come till 9 a.m.

5. L., _Printing, etc., Firm in London. Employee's Evidence._

WORK.--200 girls are employed at L.'s. Informant does folding now, used to do sewing by machine.

REGULARITY.--The work is regular, "but you never know when the work is coming in. They are always busy with the ... guides at the end of the month, and two or three job hands come in."

HEALTH.--She has always found the occupation healthy.

PROSPECTS.--None; is slow herself. She has worked at L.'s six years, and has never known of anyone becoming a forelady.

DANGERS.--She has never had an accident, and was working on a machine for five years.

HOURS.--The hours are from 8.30 a.m. to 7 or 8 p.m., with an hour for dinner (from 1 p.m. to 2 p.m.), and half an hour for tea (4 p.m. to 4.30 p.m.) and from 8.30 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Sat.u.r.days. Sometimes they are let off early if there is no work. But some girls go and lark about in the street, and then the manager scolds the forelady and she will not let the others go. She never takes a holiday except Bank Holidays.

GENERAL.--Only talks to a few of the girls, but they are quite a nice set.

6. T., _Weekly Newspaper Firm in London. Visit to Works._

WORK.--Folding, gathering, collating, sewing (all sewing by machinery), or stabbing with wire, insetting, wrappering (glue pot), feeding folding machines.

REGULARITY.--It is more or less regular, but there is the regular weekly and monthly work, so there is less fluctuation than in "binding houses."