PAYMENT OF TELEPHONE GIRLS

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3023, 9 March 1917, Page 6

PAYMENT OF TELEPHONE GIRLS

Sir t —lt is a wonder how,girls are' obtained to work in the Telephone Exchange, considering tho ridiculously small wages they receive. "With tho 'present cost of living, t donfc know hew they manage to have a cent, left at the end of each week. It is very necessary that the Exchange should be properlystaffed. The position is becoming ver.T acute there. The men are enlisting, and girls leaving, doubtless throughthe inadequate wages paid, and also from the nerve-racking work. Why riot give tho girls a decent living wage and encourage others to try the job. especially now. If ' these girls werepaid better, instead of forcing big war bonuses on overpaid officials in othar Departments, a better state of affairs would be brought, about. Trusting 1" have not encroached too much on your valuable space, also that others will' take aip tho cudgels on behalf of theso-miserably-paid girls.—l am, etc., . . I FAIRPLAY.

[The Postal authorities were consulted regarding the : contents of the aboveletter, and expressed surprise at■ thesame, as they had never -been without a rush of applicants for billets in thn Exchange. Switch-board, attendants! receive £50 per annum for the first year of service (during which time thqy had to learn the duties), and their wages were raised by £10 a year -until, they received £100 a year. Their weekly, hours were 33—six hours a day and three on Saturday—and vor.r seldom was a girl asked to work an: extra hour, and when that was the case, in exceptionally busy times, senior girls were selected. During : tho six hours' work the girls were allowed from ten minutes to a quarter of an. hour off for tea. Tho work -was nof--hard certainly not ''nerve-racking,"' and is made light of by ordinarily smart, girls. Every provision for the comfort and convenience of tho staff is provided—indeed, tho retiring rooms at the local Exchange are said to be like ai suite of club-rooms. It is claimed that the conditions of employment are equal to, if not better than, those engaged 'in similar occupations in any paru of the world.]