HOLIDAY IN A FACTORY

New Zealand Listener, Volume 8, Issue 193, 5 March 1943, Page 8

HOLIDAY IN A FACTORY

(Written for "The Listener"

by

MARY

ALLY I met her every morning on the way ‘to the office, but this was the first time I had seen her for about a fortnight. So I asked where she had been. "Working in a factory." "A factory! You’re not still in an office then?" "Yes, but I thought I would try some‘thing different this time during my holidays." "Didn’t you want a hbdliday? "Yes, and I had one. A change is as good as a holiday, they say, and it was certainly a change... Now I can write about something different to my brother overseas." "Well, tell me all about it. What did you do?" "As a matter of fact, I was very lucky. I had several different jobs. And they weren’t so terribly monotonous, reallynot as bad as you see some girls doing on the films, one movement all the time. The first job was making up cartons, and then I had a change to putting bottoms in cartons, gumming labels, and making boxes. All very easy, and could be learnt in five minutes. Gumming labels was, in fact, quite fun. Each label was sent along on a belt and had to be grabbed in passing. I’m afraid I missed a few, but one of the other girls would get them for me or stop the belt. They were all very willing to help me. Poetry to’ Pass the Time "After the novelty of a job had worn off it of course became very monotonous and mechanical. Fortunately, talking was allowed. Some of the time I had no one to talk to. Then I was a clock watcher. When morning and afternoon tea came, I couldn’t get to the dining room quickly enough or leave too ‘late. To pass the time, I used to recite to myself all the bits of poetry I could remember or time myself against the other girls. And then there was a notice on the wall: ‘Remember You Are Doing Work for the Army, Navy and Air Force, The Lives of All These Men May Depend orf the Thoroughness with Which You Do Your Work.’ That acted as a spur. The radio was a pleasant distraction, although it was: usually on for only two hours out of the eight. The houts, by the way, were from 8 to 12 and 12 45 to 4.45, five days a week."

"You must be rolling in money having drawn two lots of pay — office and factory?" "Not really. The wages aren’t so very big — at least not the extraordinary high ones you read about. Girls over 21 get £2/10/- clear, and time and 4a-half for overtime. At this particular factory they are working overtime three nights a week and Saturday mornings-three hours at a time-so the most to be made would be about? £3/12/6 clear, which isn’t very much these days. Downstairs, girls were on piecework-paid for what they could do. When I arrived in the morning about 10 to eight, these girls: would be at their places working, and they worked right through-very often without the tea breaks, and even, in the case of some, hardly stopping to eat their lunch. I expect they could earn a little more-perhaps £5 to £6 a week -but at the rate they were going it

wouldn’t be worth it for me, One woman, I was told, got up at 3 a.m. to do some office cleaning till seven, and then went straight on to the factory, arriving about 7.20. She had a family, and one job wasn’t enough to supply all’ her needs. . "The girls under 21 started at a lower wage and worked up. It seemed unfair, as they were doing exactly the same work for less pay as older women who were often much slower; but I realise it’s not always a good thing for young girls to have too much money. When they reach £2/10/- many stick for ever, but I suppose the ambitious girls become forewomen." "What are the working conditions like?" "Not bad, but they could have been better. Air conditioning would have been a great improvement — or more and bigger windows. Even the dining room didn’t have any outside windows, and was rather forbidding with only trestle tables and hard benches to sit on." Chief Topic of Conversation "Factory girls are easy to talk to, I suppose?" "Oh yes, they were very friendly, and really awfully nice-called you ‘Love’ and ‘Dear.’ But they were embarrassingly communicative — always about boys of course, who made nine-tenths of their conversation. "While some of the girls were very young, one at least only 14, there were quite a lot of older married women doing a war job, I thought these women maryels — they worked all day in the factory, leaving their children at a day nursery, did the housework, prepared the meals for the family, did the washing on Saturday morning and the mending on Sunday. They couldn’t have had a minute to themselves." "What about draftees?" "I met only two. One was an exhairdresser with a husband in the air force. Although she wasn’t very keen on factory work, she regarded it as her contribution to the war effort." (Continued on next page)

(Continued from previous page> "Well, you don’t seem worn out yourself?" "Oh, no. When I arrived home I was certainly tired, but that was only because I wasn’t used to the work.. And there’s no mental strain. That’s what a lot of the people like about the workwhen the bell goes at 4.45, their work is finished-no worries or responsibilities. And although I didn’t exactly like the work, I’m very glad I stuck it for a fortnight. In fact next holidays I’m thinking of taking a job in a milk bar."