[8] Miss Collet (_Report, The Employment of Women_, p. 88) quotes a witness who stated that her fines sometimes exceeded her premiums. “Anyone,” added this witness, “who left the counter on account of illness was fined for absence.” =Agreements.=--On entering a situation shop assistants are often obliged to sign agreements which place them practically at the mercy of their employers. In some cases they agree to accept instant dismissal if fault is found with their work or conduct, in which case they bind themselves not to take action in a court of law. A girl may thus be discharged at a moment’s notice, and find herself literally in the streets,[9] The formation of a strong Trade Union among shop assistants is probably the only measure that can avail to check such injustice. [9] Miss Collet (_ibid._ p. 88) states that “in the majority of cases a moment’s notice [of dismissal] was the rule. No wages are in the latter case paid in lieu of notice, and the only provision to secure that they shall not be absolutely penniless when they leave is the retention by the employer of the first week or fortnight’s wages, which are paid to them on dismissal. The matron of a home said that in one case a shop assistant who came to her was unable to obtain even this from her former employer. The power to dismiss at a moment’s notice is not merely reserved for grave offences, but seems to be frequently exercised on most trivial grounds,” and the examples given by Miss Collet fully bear out the truth of the statement.