The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1906-03-21
WHAT OTHER PEOPLE THINK
Hours Of Poptoftlce Clerks.


10 IIo EOItoI VI 1ue JOURNAL
The issue: of TIL e J ourn a of March
16 contained an article in regard to some
Of the apparently unjust consequences
arising from a ruling of the postoffice de-
partment to the effect that employees
were forbidden to work more than eight
hours each day and were penalized for
any violation of this rule.
This article committed the very COM
mon error of supposing that this ruling
applied to clerks in postoffices as we'll as
to letter carriers. and that the eight
! hour law was general in it's application
| to federal employees of whatever desig
nation.
Such. however. is far from being the
case. 1t is true that the eight-hour law
affects the carriers in exactly the manner
described in the article. but there is an
other large class of employees. the post
office clerks. in this city numbering ap-
proXlmately the same as the carriers, for
whom there is not. nor ever has been. an
ejght-hour law. nor yet a twelve hour
law, and whose hours Of labor. should
the eXigency, arise, would be limited only
by the laws of nature and the rota ton of
the earth on its axis; in other words.
there is no law preventing clerks in post
offices from working twenty-four hours
In the day. and furthermore no additional
remuneration is provided for time worked
in excess Of eight hours.
In fact. in the absence of a law on the
subject the department. in effect. rules
That when a clerk is appointed in an
office he sells the government his entire
time for his yearly salary. and when he
is allowed to get off with only eight hours
a day, ii is thru the generosity Of the de-
partment in not dena nding more when it
is their due.
In the Minneapolis office. as in other
large Offices the letter carriers work
eight hours, as do all the other employees.
including engineers. janitors. window =
washers. etc. except the clerks.
For instance. during the rush last
Christmas in office. in fact. just
about the time the carrier spoken of in
the article referred to. committed the
heinous offense Of working over eight
hours, for which he lost one days time
some Of the clerks were working fourteen
hours a day. Since Feb. the clerks ir
the outgoing mail division have
worked nine hours nearly all Of the time
and in addition. have been called upon tc
appear nearly every Sunday for extra
, duty on printed matter. second class mat
| ter and advertising matter Of various
, kinds that had accumulated during the
week and which could not, be handled by
working eight nor yet. nine hours. I1
, fact. there have: been cases where clerks
, have worked nineteen hours out of the
twenty -four and in all these cases the
, service has been given by the clerk:
without one cent additional pay
When one reflects also upon the con
, ditions under which the clerks work il
, the matter efsReIitila ton. it is no wonde
, that the: mortality among them in til,
! minneapolis. office has been so great.
l., The time worked in excess of eigh
hours. of which have here spoken. doe
not include the many hours the clerk
must devote to study at home. and il
. what are supposed to be their leisur
, hours, familiarizing themselves with tn
, location of thousands Of towns and ham
; lets. the. intricacies of endless railwa,
time tables. etc. all of which must b.
done If clerk is to render himself valu
I able in the work Of asserting to thei
2 proper routes the hundreds Of thousand
Of pieces Of mail that daily pour into tn
I postoffice. of a great busy city like this
s i 1t would seem as tho were these dis
v examinations and their disastro effect
. upon the postal service understood thor
oily by the general public. steps would b
: taken to show congress the necessity o
0 extending the eight-hour law to includ
: this important branch of the postal ser
: vice. Very respectfully.
n edward G.. Cole
n President Minnea polls P. O. Clerks Asso
cia ton