Изображения страниц
PDF
EPUB

LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL

UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF LABOR,

WOMEN'S BUREAU, Washington, April 22, 1947.

SIR: I have the honor to transmit a report on women workers in power laundries. The report is based on a survey made in 1945 by the Women's Bureau, whose agents visited 258 power laundries in 38 selected cities or towns located in the Midwest or in the Southeast.

In selecting the power-laundry industry for survey, the Women's Bureau, fulfilling its statutory function "to promote the welfare of wage-earning women," was guided by the anticipated return to the industry of displaced women war workers. Information was obtained on all conditions affecting the employment of women production workers. Presenting what was found in 1945, this report must be read in the light of general conditions then prevailing.

The survey was planned by Caroline Manning and by Isadore Spring who also directed the statistical work with the assistance of Leo Robison. Margaret K. Anderson directed the field work. The report was written by Sylvia R. Weissbrodt who was assisted by Grace E. Ostrander in the analysis of the data.

Grateful acknowledgment is given to the American Institute of Laundering, to the labor organizations in the industry, and to the individual employers whose cooperation made this survey possible. Respectfully submitted.

FRIEDA S. MILLER,

Director.

Secretary of Labor.

Hon. L. B. SCHWELLENBACH,

FOREWORD

What conditions confront women laundry workers in the postwar period? To obtain factual information of help to employers in developing good employment conditions for women was the purpose of this survey. By pointing to the striking differences in standards from laundry to laundry within the same city, and by contrasting a relatively high-standard region of the country with one of low standards, this survey shows that progressive managements in the industry itself have proved the practicability of adequate wage and employment standards, pointing the way to those all too numerous establishments still clinging to depressed standards.

VI

[graphic][merged small][merged small]

WOMEN WORKERS IN POWER LAUNDRIES

CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION

THE INDUSTRY

A laundry owner of Tampa, Fla., in discussing differences in the rate of turn-over among the jobs in his laundry, expressed understanding of the high turn-over among his "flatwork ironers"-they were the new workers and those lowest paid, he said. But the high turn-over among his "sorters" perplexed him-they were the highest paid women workers in his plant, he added. In this southern laundry, the low-paid flatwork ironers received $16 for a 54-hour week, while the "high-paid" sorters received all of $18 for a 54-hour week. Moreover, it was only under the stress of war conditions, in 1943, that hours had been reduced from 58 a week. These twin evils-low wages and long hours are still found in many laundries in many cities. the other hand, progressive managements, in city after city, have demonstrated by their own practices that laundry employment need not be synonymous with depressed wage and employment standards GROWTH OF THE INDUSTRY

On

The power-laundry industry, grown in the past 30 years from a shirt and collar business to one of the major service industries in the country, had a sales volume in 1945 of approximately 650 million dollars. Laundry service, officially declared essential to the health and welfare of the people during the recent war, has come to be accepted among large parts of the population as one of the necessities and comforts of modern living. About 275,000 people depend on its almost 6,800 establishments for a livelihood.

Like other services performed in the home exclusively not too many years ago, laundering with the use of power-driven machines is now a well-entrenched industry. It is estimated that commercial laundries now get slightly less than 10 percent of the total potential laundry business. Much of the same sort of work, obviously, is still done in homes. But urbanization, smaller apartments, an increasing number of women in the labor force, the shortage of household help, and the virtual disappearance of the unpaid family household worker, as well as the trend toward relieving the housewife of the more onerous household tasks are among the forces contributing toward the demand for commercial service. Measured by its total receipts, there is no doubt that the industry is growing. In 1942, a new high in dollar volume was attained, and each succeeding year, 1943, 1944, and 1945, has brought record-breaking receipts to the industry.

741469-47- -2

1

« ПредыдущаяПродолжить »