FEMALE LABOR.

NZ Truth, Issue 169, 12 September 1908, Page 5

FEMALE LABOR.

THE LADIES OF THE POST

OFFICE.

Another of Joe Ward's Ideas.

' What it has Led to m England.

Wellington residents who do business at the Chief Ppst Olfice will have noted an innovation m the introduction of female counter clerks and may be prompted to ask the reason of the innovation. The answer to the question is not diflicult to find, and "cheapness" must be recorded as the reason. Sir Joseph Ward, \ tho Prime Minister of the Dominion, is also Postmaster-General, and, during his recent visit to the Old Country, he absorbed a number of- ideas from the English postal and telegraph service, . which he is unloading on to tho Dominion from time to time. Some of the ideas may be all right, but the greater portion are not m the interests of the people — that is, the Avorkers— but are simply concessions to the . Fatman at the expense of the general taxpayer. Take the tAvo principal features Avhich Sir Joseph has borrowed from the English Postmaster-General,., and see how they ■ benefit the '.worker. First there was THE REDUCTION IN TELEGRAPH RATES, from one. penny per word after the first twelve words, to a/half-penny. Now, how does this benefit the ordinary worker? The majority of the working classes do not send .on i receive. ■ a single telegram during the whole of their lives, and if they do receive one they sustain a shock until the envelope is ppened, as a [telegram, td .the ordinary citizen, is generally, associated with sickness, death, or other unpleasant hasty, news.' This being so, it is plain that the? reduction was not a concession to the Avorkers, but a sop to the Avealthy merchants and business men, Avho alone benefit by the reduction. v Then the secpnd feature pf Sir Joseph's improA'ed postal facilities is that of alloAving letters to be forAvarded by post at the rate of one penny for every four ounces'. Here, again, the concession is not of any benefit to- the worker, who may, on an average, senrf perhaps half a dozen' letters per year, through 'the post, but never one weighing a quarter of a pound. No, it Avas not the -worker- Sir Joseph had m view .when he introduced the four ounces apenny letter, but the commercial clashes to Avhiph he belongs, and to whom h» panders. On the other hancl, an appeal for cheaper telephone facilities to the backblock settler is treated with scant courtesy, though perhaps an appeal at the present time might bear some fruit m vieAV of the approaching general election. So far, Sir Joseph has not. reduced the price / of press telegrams to •oring them into line with the English &nd Australian rates, but that is probably because the great city dailies

, "DO KOT DESIRE REDUCTION, which will' allow the country journals to supply a better service of telegram^ ta their readers. Of course bir Joseiih may trot out' the.' statement that press telegrams m NeAv Zealand are the cheapest m the Avorld; but this is a fallacy, as the Postmaster-General Avell knoAVs. But, reverting back to the introduction of female sorting, cLJcs and counter clerks, it behoA'es the malq employees of the Postal and Telegraph Departments tp be alive to Avhat is threatening them or they will quickly find themselves m the same .position as their brothers m tl-e same service m tlie OldCouivt-y. Jn the English' post office Ihe introduction of females, both into the post ofttcj and the instrumenif room of the Tele ruph Department has led to a preponderance ff night and late duties for the males, as the female clerks and operators -only ■ work betAyeen Ihe hours of 8 a.m. and 8 p:m., and do not attend for Sunday I duty, oxcopt m very rare instances. The ! result ' of this rule m certain offices has led to the male clerks, avlio previously worked one Aveek night duty m four. | being compelled to Avork night duty altcrnata weeks, and m some cases two weeks put ,of every three. Thetf the I lighter duties at the counter, both m the Post Office and the Telegraph v -branch, have all been handed over to the fe-". males, and the lighter circuits m the instrument room are worked by female operators, WHILST THE HEAVIER CIRCUITS, the neAVs wires and j long distance market and commercial lines are worked by the males. Similarly, all the "punching" work is done by males. Then, again, the Post Office Department at Home intioduced a system pf granting a retiring allowance tp females leaving the service to enter the bonds of matrimony, on the grounds that they Avevi comi'i'lsorily retired. This m itself .tends to keep a lot of cheap labor employed. But though the retiring allowance? is granted females leaving the service, presumably to better their position— 'as no woman admits she is lowering her status by matrimony — the Department declines to pay a compassionate alloAvance, to tie Aviiiow or dependents of an officer , who tnay die m harness *- eA'en after forty years' service, notwithstanding that Avhen a man dies he can, with absolute truth, be said, "

TO BE; "COMPULSORILY RETIRED." A number of male clerks applied to be treated on the same plane as females, and asked to be given a rc.tii.in-' allowance on getting married, they being only too willing to leave d service with which they were discontented, but the authors ties, of course, declined the applications. But a worse fate awaited the ma'e clerks, .and the discontent still, exists. In the summer houday season, it Was the custom to draff men from inland towns to the seaside resorts during the pressure, and to grant them subsistence allowances of from 5s to 7s liv per, day, and many clerks and operators who had become run down, through the constant I strain on their energies,- were able, to. benefit by a transfer for three months to a health resort. But all this was knocked on the bead, as Wie Department, ever on the look-out for cheap labor, re-introduced the previously compulsorilyretired lady clerks, who had received a large bonus, into the offices at salaries of 20s per week for the season. This is the kind of thing which the male employees of the Dominion Postal and Telegraph rer vices will have to guar;d against as it is evident that the PostmasterGeneral is bent on introducing further ideas from the Old Country. It will be of no use to protest r.gainst THE INTRODUCTION OF FEMALE LABOR, . but the Postal and Telegraph Clerks' , Union should take steps to protect their own interests, and the only way to secure this is to advocate that the females should do the same duties and obtain the same rates of pay-