STATE SETS LIMIT ON WOMEN'S WORK

...Flattings of Board...

...Gives Its Reason...

...while a point on which considerable emphasis was laid was the requirement that conductors must get out of the car at flag crossings regardless of the inclemency of the weather, such action being necessary on some runs as many as 108 times during a period of six hours of work...

...Other objections were the fact that motormen and flagmen worked alone, and not in company with other women, that the sanitary arrangements are inconvenient and not easily adapted to the needs of women employees of this type, that working at night and during rush hours exposes women to liability of insult from offensive passengers, while all night work is prejudicial to the welfare of female employees...

...The usual practice of boarding a car while in motion after flagging was also referred to as a hazard...

...Economic matters therefore, or the supply of male labor, could not be given weight...

...THE claim was made that a street car is not a "place of employment" within the meaning of the law, but this contention was not admitted by the commission, and it proceeded to reach the conclusions of fact already quoted...

...2. That the morning rush period for street car lines ends about 8 a. m. and for the evening period begins about 5 p. m. There was practically but a single opponent to the action of the commission in arriving at these findings or issuing its order, the Wisconsin Gas and Electric Company at Kenosha being the only company that manifested any interest in the matter...

...State Sets Limit On Women s Work TE Industrial Commission of Wisconsin has had before it for more than a year the question of determining the hours of labor of women under the authorization of law directing it to make investigations, fix classifications and issue general or special orders fixing the periods of time and hours of beginning work necessary to protect the life, health, safety, or welfare of females...

...This company appears to be the only one of its kind employing women in such service, a number of the street car companies of the State having replied to the notice of the hearing that they were not interested, as they employed no women...

...at Kenosha...

...These findings are based on the practical necessity of continuous standing and the effects of the vibration and jostling where the roadbed is uneven...

...On the other hand were the protests of representatives of the Wisconsin Consumer's League, the Wisconsin Federation of Women Wage Earners, the Wisconsin Federation of Labor, and other organizations and interested individuals against employment at night in particular, the objection in some cases reaching to any employment whatever of women as conductors, motormen, and flagmen...

...Letters were received from a number of citizens of Kenosha urging that any further restrictions than those contained in the statutes of the State would be prejudicial to the service rendered by the Wisconsin Gas and Electric Co...

...On the latter point the arguments that led to the abolition of night work in manufactorties and laundries were held to be fully as applicable to street railway service, while the times of the rush periods further shortened the portion of the day during which it was thought desirable that women should be employed...

...Orders were issued in June of last year forbidding night work in and about manufactories and laundries in the state, night work being defined as that taking place between 6 P. M. and 6 A. M. In January of the present year the matter of the employment of women on street car lines was taken up, resulting in the issue of the following order: Order No 4. In cities of the first class women may be employed as conductors, motormen, or flagmen by street car lines only at day work between the hours of 8 A. M. and 5 P. M. In all other cities and in towns and villages, women may be employed in the employments named only at day work between the hours of 6 A. M. and 5 P. M., and their hours of labor during any day must not exceed eight hours...

...THIS order shall take effect June 10, 1918, and is based on the following findings of fact: 1. That throughout the State the employment of women as conductors, motormen, or flagmen by street car lines for more than eight hours in any day, exclusive of meal periods, or at night, or during the evening rush period, and in cities of the first class, also during the morning rush period, is prejudicial to the life, safety, and welfare of such women...

...Certain arguments advanced could not be considered by the commission, as the scope of its power was restricted to the limitation of periods of time necessary to protect the life and health of women...