Omaha daily bee., 1899-01-09
THE "HIRED HELP UNION"
Spirit of Organized Labor Invades tn,
Kitchen.

Chicago Tribune.
Two female labor leaders are on their way
to this country from Denmark. Their mis-
sion Is the unionizing of household labor by
the organization of hired girls unions.
Operations are to begin in New York. The
employers of union hired girls will be asked
to accept the following rules and regula-
tions: Work to begin at 6 a. IN. and end at
9 p. m: one afternoon free a week and
every other Sunday Off; light, warm and
well ventilated rooms; one bed per hired
girl.
These demands cannot be called extrav.
agant, except that many houses and apart
ments are SO constructed that 1t Is impossi-
BILE for the mistress to give the servant or
servants a light and we'll ventilated room
unless she surrenders her own. The work
ing day asked for is none too short. It Is
true that OF the fourteen and a half hours
a portion will be spent by the servant at
her meals. Nor will she be employed stead
lily during the remainder Of the time. But
with the exception of her Sunday and her
week day afternoon she will be around the
house and subject to call. She cannot be
sure of any idle time between the hours OF
beginning and ending work.
The Massachusetts, bureau OF statistics OF
labor has been doing some investigating as
to the hours of labor of the domestic
worker. A year ago 100 shop girls and as
many factory girls were questioned as to
their objections to domestic service. Thirty
five OF the former and ~fifty-six of the latter
alleged that the hours OF labor in domestic
service were too long. The factory girl
works only ffty-eight hours in the week
and the shop girl ten hours a day in the
larger city establishments. In the small
shops the hours are somewhat longer.
The bureau Of statistics got quite full
returns from 1874 different families, employ.
Ing 2S9 persons. On an average the busy
time per day was ten and a half hours, the
subject to CALI time an hour and forty
minutes, the free time three and a half
hours and the rest time eight hours and
twenty minutes. Excluding Sunday and the
afternoon out day, the average daily busy
time and cali time combined was thirteen
hours and about ten minutes. 1t Is not
strange that the factory or shop girl should
perfer more intense labor during a shorter
number of hours in order that she may have
more certain and guaranteed free time.
10 NIX definite and shorter hours for do
mestic labor Is difficult owing to the special
nature OF the work, and even II the diff
Guilty OF the longer hours were overcome
the objections or the shop and factory en-
ployes to domestic service would not be
removed. They find fault with the isola-
ton due to working alone; TO the lack Of
independence; to the loss OF social stand
ing" and to women employers. They pre-
fer to be bossed by men. So IL the hired
girls were to form a union and stand by it
as men stand by their unions they might be
able to control the labor market. The fac
tory and shop girls would not rush in, I'M
derbid them and get their Jobs.
But II the emlssaries from Denmark do
organize unions they will not endure. There
are too many classes OF domestic labor
and the differences between the members
in the classes as regards skill and pay are
too great an obstacle for unionism to over
come. There can be no solidarity estab-
lished between the girls belonging TO differ
ent nationalities who do American house,
work. Those girls, however. have man
aged to do well. Their wages have about
trebled since 1860 and they do not have to