WORK IN DAIRY INDUSTRY

Evening Post, Volume CXVIII, Issue 33, 8 August 1934, Page 8

WORK IN DAIRY INDUSTRY

(To the Editor.)

Sir,—May I draw your attention to thS conditions of employment of labour in the dairy industry? During the war the men were paid low wages and worked long hours and told to bo patriotic. Now they have their wages cut and the' hours made unlimited on account of the slump. If we cannot bo heard through the columns of your paper indeod our plight is hopeless. I wonder if the public know that many farmers employ women and children in their milking sheds. Maiiy employ men from 4 a.m. to 6 or 7 p.m. for seven consecutive days ■in V every week ;so long as tho season lasts, then dismiss them. I know instances not uncommon when these men have received no wages and have actually' run up debts for clothv ing in which to do the farmers' work.] In the" dairy factories where men are working in water and. very, often in steam on hard concrete floors which generally brings on rheumatics and leg trouble before they reach middle-age, tho wages are cut to the limit, tlio hours are unlimited, and these men never have, the chance of going out with their wives and; children in the sunlight. They work three hundred and fifty days in every year if they are lucky enough to have permanent employment. In, sixteen, years I have only seen a labour inspector once in these factories. Is thero.no redress?—l am, etc., .',,■;..■ '.-'■ FACTORY WORKER.