GIRLS IN OFFICES

Evening Post, Volume CXIII, Issue 141, 18 June 1927, Page 8

GIRLS IN OFFICES

(To the Editor.)

Sir,—ln your issue of the 9th Juno appear a few words from employers in Ohnstehurch regarding girls in offices All I can say is these employers are very lucky, and I have been otherwise. Ninety per cent, of the girls I. have employed have always wanted five to ten minutes to take their hats off, and the same to put them on. They .would all die if they aw not have their morning and afternoon tea, and. of course they- must have quite a number o| powdering* during,the day. I found that if they wanted ft book down, oue of the men had to get it for them They s lmply gaid; -'Oh. »o; we 'JK lift that about," In fact, I was almost employing a boy solely to get things for them, so that, the dear things would not je T tO rget UP *r°w their seats. In the end I found, by paying a man a good wage, I could'get rid of 2VS girls, allow tlie man put to see a man about a dog " and still get more work done. Ope man States: They never lean across the counter to talk sport." No, they may not: but they make up for that by the time they waste talking inside the office about their conquests of the night before In my opinion girls ore half the trouble of unemployment these days. Their employers and themselves were in the forefront at. waving flags when the men left to tight for.them, but when these men came back crippled, the poor beggars are shut out of a light job by these nelf-game flagwavers. Of course, we know there are some girls who must work to keep the uome going, and who deserve all they earn; but how many have parents earning enough to keep them at home instend of letting them go to these offices, get the pay, and put it "all on their backs"? Inese are the girls that 'are usurping the place of men apd causing a lot of the unemployment, and the sooner people woke up to these facts the better Another sentence in the article states: "It is far more likely to be a young, newlymarried man ■to blame." If a man gets away with any money, it is generally the tault of his marrying a girl who has been ■working in oue of these pffices, getting her pounds * week md putting it al) out on clothes, and who expects to be as gaily dressed as »he wag before getting married. The man find* out he cannot keep up her style and keep the house on Ins salary alone, «nd of course' he starts purloining, and the poor .beggar wakes up too Ute,—l fan, etc.,

"WAKE UP."

Occqld states that cases similar to t lose quoted by "Observer," of underpaid clerks, have come under bin own notice. He considers the only remedy to be an application by a legal and commercial clerks umpn to the Arbitration Court, W fix a proper scale pf wages according to a person's ability, "Jt would be an advantage, also, for every clerical worker .to possess a diploma showing that he is fully qualified as » book-keeper or shorts hand-typiat, because it is not fair tp expect an employer to pay a fairly high Wage to one not experienced, -The main reason Why there are go mapy girls employed in pffipes is undoubtedly for cheapness, and while I do not believe in girls, taking on a man' 9 .jqb., yet if they are capable of doing the worl? satisfactorily, then they ought to be paid the game rate of wages as 3 matt doing the same class pf work, apd this' could b<i dealt with in an award."