Women in the Printing Trades: A Sociological Study.
General
Women in the Printing Trades: A Sociological Study.
Printing industry -- Great Britain; Women -- Employment -- Great Britain; Women printers -- Great Britain; Working class women -- Great Britain
REGULARITY.--The girls are employed all the year round, but they are
busier in the autumn and winter (from September to May). They are also
very busy the last week in each month. _Occasionally_, in June and July,
they only work half-time, but this does not happen often.
HEALTH.--The work is very healthy. Before they had electric power the
employer had seen girls fall down and faint when "laying-on" at night
when the gas was lit and the room hot. Now that they have electric power
and electric light such a thing never happens.
DANGER.--The use of electric power does away with the need of belting
shafts, etc. There is simply a small motor on the ground.
ORGANISATION.--There is no organisation amongst the women, though the
men are all Unionists.
MARRIED AND UNMARRIED.--Girls all leave when they get married.
Occasionally, when they are busy, an old hand who has got married comes
back, but 99 per cent. are unmarried. The employer did not know whether
they had any married women there then.
FACTORY LEGISLATION.--Factory legislation has in no way limited the
usefulness of women. Girls do not mind working overtime when they can
make a little extra by it, but the employer said "overtime does not pay
anybody." _E.g._, when layers-on worked overtime they were paid time and
a quarter, and it did not pay to give that extra money. The restriction
of overtime to thirty days a year worked out very inconveniently for the
masters, but this employer thought the factory legislation was a very
good thing on the whole.
One direct result of factory legislation here has been the introduction
of a self-feeding folding machine worked by electric power, which they
use when they are busy instead of getting in extra hands or working
overtime. When not busy this machine stands idle, and the folding is
done by hand. Another result of factory legislation is that they have to
employ more hands than they otherwise would, and so girls sometimes have
to work short time.
MEN AND WOMEN.--The employer said there was a clearly drawn line between
men's work and women's work. The Union made a great point of keeping
women out of what they consider to be men's work, and there would be a
"row" amongst them if women were put on, but I found out later on that
girls do the laying-on and _gold blocking_ for the backs of books, etc.
The employer said he put them on to that about three years ago. At first
the men made a fuss about it, but it passed over. His reason for putting
girls on was that it was light work quite suitable for a girl. Only
skilled girls did it. They would get perhaps 12_s._ 6_d._, time wage,
while they were learning, and then go on to piece work and earn 18_s._
or 20_s._ a week. A man's wage for the same work would be a minimum of
32_s._ a week (time), as that is the Trade Union minimum, and the Trade
Unionists generally get something above the minimum.
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