The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1919-04-16

l the extreme.
 Before I go into my reasons for believing in a union and considering g it a necessity for telephone em- ployes want to make it clear to my readers ths system in use by the tele- phone company to maintain a cer- tain grade of service at all times. If you should ask me to sum up this system in two words I would say strict discipline"
 To some people it may seem that plugging a switchboard is an un- interesting way to earn your living, but not 50 with an operator. It IS an old saying, "once an operator al ways an operator" There is a, fas- cination about it and you are so of ten brought in close contact with the very pulse of life that you find 1t fr- resistibIe work, and what better training could a girl have than to be a supervisor or chief operator to deal with all sorts of people, saying nothing of the impossible canks'' to make such people say. thank you" is time well spent.
 Every exchange has observers, girls who listen in with the operator
 
 what we call service observations. The work is defined and rated as fol- lows, errors, 35 per cent; long an- swers 20 per cent; long flashes 15 per cent; poor supervision, 10 per cent: long disconnects, 10 per cent; Irregularities, 10 DOT cent, one error in the early part Of the month would mean a. loss of thirty-five points, an it is the chief operators business lu maintain a rating of at least so per cent
 In addition to these observations to determine the grade of service sven, a chief operator, or supervisor, is expected to be So familiar with each girls work and disposition that she can say without hesitation just where each girl is lacking, in this way we know who will make a good super visor when promotions are at hand. This gives you some idea of the discipline. Now ask yourself wheth- CT or not you have ever been in an office where the clerks did not give you a glance or where they cannot turn around to ask a necessary ques- ton; where you must ask questions by telephone, where you must ask to go out if you are i'll; where you must wait until someone gives you permission to go home before you can leave your place; where tardiness of even one minute is noticed; where absence is not allowed except for ill., ness; where you must never talk back to 9, supervisor; where your work is gone over with you every three months; this is only a part oL | the discipline. Take it as part of each days work and you will tnen under stand why I admire the system; you will also commence to understand why I consider a. union very neces- sary for telephone operators. An operator has to deal with an individual, a girl like herself, with more training, surely, but with the same tendency to err in judgment and no matter how fair minded she may { be it is not in human nature to like every girl; it is almost impossible to understand every girl even though they may be very capable operators. Then an operator works under such nerve straining conditions each day that, when reprimanded, she is very liable to close control of herself and be sarcastic.
 With a union adjustment board a case of this sort is taken care of very easily; the girl will admit her regret at having made unnecessary answers when upset and the mem ber of the adjustment board has no difficulty in setting the offended party right with the result that a good operator is not lost to the ser vice. Here I want to say the girl usually avoids a repetition of such a situation.
 ! \ second suspension is rare.
 In TnnnaPtiTJIt a pirI h9Ta
 perfect record covering a period of
 rany years and an offense for which
 she would receive a warning in
 Massachusetts would mean dismissal
 here.
 You may think that means strict or discipline in Connecticut than in
 NTassa chusetts.
 I know that the discipline is not as
 good.
 I have been a. supervisor for many years and though I am considered very observing I never found but one girl talking from the switchboard yet in Hartford the girls admit that they have always done it freely, until the Union was organized.
 1 This is why, in spite of the fac that I have advised the. girls to be very careful to give their best efforts each day, they are getting some pool
 observations; the girls are not uset
 to being kept down to business and ] know just as well as the Telephone Company does that by observing lonE enough on each girl they will sue ceed in showing some poor work, bu they are taking an unfair advantage Good Chief Operators, and good Supervisors mean good Operators an6 if these girls are lacking it Is the company's own fault for not gfving them proper training.
 There seems to be a slight incon- sistency on my part, so to make the point I wish to bring out more clear want you to understand that while the company here has a rule where by a girl Is discharged without sus- pension or warning the rule has no
 boen lived up to until the girls or ganized a union.
 l I claim discrimination on the par