TELEPHONISTS' TROUBLES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LII, Issue 16097, 10 December 1915, Page 9

TELEPHONISTS' TROUBLES.

ALLEGATIONS OF OVERWORK. GIRLS BECOME HYSTERICAL. During the past few months there has been increasing discontent among the telephonists at the Central Melbourne Telephone Exchange. Complaints have been made officially, as well as through letters in the Argus, that the mental and Physical strain imposed on the operators is so severe that, as one correspondent put it, at the end of a year or two after girls enter the service they became nervous wrecks.

I It is alleged that this state of affaire has been induced in recent times owing to heavier and more burdensome tasks. The fear has been expressed that greater demands will be made on the girls in the future. Objection has been taken in many cases to what has been characterised as a system of espionage. Regulations may be broken with the result that greater efficiency of work results in 19 cases out of 20. But in the 20th case, where something has not operated satisfactorily, the avoidance of the regulation that has enabled the work of the department to be performed expeditiously previously has caused a black mark to be placed against the record of the telephonist. Th© telephone operators <--laj™ that were the regulations strictly observed chaos would result. So far as can be ascertained, says the Argus, the complaints of the telephonists relate chiefly to overwork. This, it is said, has been caused through the understaffing of the exchange. About 300 girls are employed in the exchange- They work in six different shifts, the first shift beginning at eight o'clock in the morning and ending at three o'clock in the afternoon, and the last shift of tho day commencing at four o'clock in the afternoon and terminating at ten o'clock at night. The duties between ten o'clock at night and eight o'clock in fehe morning are undertaken by men. According to accounts by the telephonists of the working of the office, the practice'at one time was to have supernumeraries employed, who gave relief to the staff hands when they were away through illness or other causes. But supernumeraries'have been dispensed with. It now happens, it is said, that where a girl is absent from her board her task of attending to the requirements of 180 subscribers is divided between the two operators on either side. Thus the "load" of the two girls is increased by 50 per cent. In certain circumstances, and at particular times of the day, this may not be too exacting. Some of the operators, it is said, suffer severely from nervous affecSSf'.*Jr? it k>v two Si* were overcome with hysteria. One of them dropped back . from her work in an exhausted state, and had to be given immediate attention. On another day, 24 hoards were vacant for various reasons, and on another occasion «so girls were absant on sick leave. These allegations have produced a denial from tne authorities. "I know of ro case,'' the manager states, "where telephonists nave broken down through being overworked at any exchange in this State. ine department is, and has always been, most considerate in regard to ite officers and when telephonists have stated that , then- health has not been good, other work has been found for them until such time as they were able to resume switch -board duty. The methods followed in the Commonwealth are similar to those in existence in other parts of the world."