PAYMENT OF TELEPHONE GIRLS

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3029, 16 March 1917, Page 6

PAYMENT OF TELEPHONE GIRLS

Sir, —In reference to "Fairplay's' remarks in a recent issue of your paper, I am pleased to see that some one has taken up the cudgels on behalf of the 'workers in. the Telephone Exchange, The Department claims that the eon-" ditions of work are satisfactory, suggesting that the rata of pay is quate, and emphasise the statement that the work is not 'Jnervo-racking.' I beg to differ. The fat© of pay may be sufficient when girls are living athome, but take any girl who is absolutely dependent upon her salary, an(l consider the disabilities under which she labours. Board is high—it is impossible nowadays to get decent boara and lodging under £1 a week. Then! the telephone girl must dress neatly for ihe office, and most of us know! that even the simplest of clothes are* not cheap. Car fares is another item, and I guarantee that when, board is paid out of a month's salary, and the) necessaries of life are bought there is nothing left for dentists, doctors, of recreation. The telephone girl is soi busy paying her way that when the annual fortnight's holiday comes around; she is not able to afford the change* which would benefit her health. The work is certainly "nerve-rack-* ing," despite the Departmental statement to the contrary. For six hours at a strotch, with one ten minutes' interval, the telephone girl sits with a> metal band strapped over her head< holding tho receiver in place. Her attention is concentrated on a board con-j taining 100. numbers, and besides thab she is subjected to the strain _ of aJ severely strict supervision—which _su-< pervision can be made more than irk-< some by tactlessness or lack of stow pathy. It is surprising to mo that the De J partment should be overwhelmed with applications for telephone exchange work when so many more lucrative forms of employment are_ open toj women. One can only think thau these girls enter the Telephone Exchange in absolute ignorance of tha conditions obtaining therein. —I am* etc., 1 MERE MALE.