Evening star., 1932-10-24
COAST Jobs SAVED
BYSTAGGER WORK
Labor Sharing System Re-
tains 1000 Employees in
Two California Industries.

This is the first OF three articles
ON the stabilization and maintenance
of employment in the California area
by the staggered -trork plan.
LOS ANGELES, Calf, October "a
(N.AN.A).-In the effort to maintain
and increase employment in this State
through application Of the California
plan Of staggered work, two things
both rather unexpected-have impress
sed investigators OF the plans work.
ings.
One Is the willingness Of employers
to make the most of the plan and its
possibilities, once they are satisfied OF
its practicability as applied in their
special kind of work.
The other is the whole-hearted ac-
quieScence with which the vast major
ity of employees have accepted shorter
working periods and corresponding pay
reductions in recognition Of the fact
that they are thereby preventing the
dismissal or lay-off of fellow workers
and assuring themselves of continued
employment, even though at slightly
lower pay.
For this they appear to feel amply
compensated by the additional leisure
has dropped more than their pay cut.
Many cases have been reported in
which workers have voluntarily taken
cuts in time and pay greater than re-
quired by the management in order
to provide employment for others or
more pay for those in serious need.
A group of telephone girls, already on
shortened time, approached their chief
operator the other day with a request
that they be cut still more so that
the added work and added pay might
be given one of their number who
was the sole support Of family OF
FIVE The request was granted, but in
such a way that each Of the volun-
teers made minimum sacrifice.
1000 Jobs Saved.
Reports already received from rep
resentative industrial and business con-
Germs, large and small, utilizing the
California plan indicate many thou
sands of jobs saved throughout the
State, a great proportion of them in
the Los Angeles metropolitan area, and
with the surface only scratched yet.
AS an index, approximately 1000
jobs thus have been saved in the Oil
industry and telephone company en-
ployment alone in this territory-7,000
wise might be unemployed, and they
in turn supporting at least $4,000 de-
pendentS.
The $1,000 thus given purchasing
power buy food, clothes, make other ex-
penditureS, and this means work for
thousands of other personS-clerks, de-
livery men, bookkeepers, factory work
ers, manual laborerS, etc. The spread
of benefits is incalculable.
A general movement is under way to
persuade hundreds of thousands of en-
ployes and thousands of employers that
united action to increase and maintain
employment through the spreading OF
work will bring great improvement in
the economic situation generally. This
movement has its organized form on
the Pacific Coast under the leadership
of Chairman K R. Kingsbury Of the
Industrial and Banking Committee Of
the twelfth Federal Reserve district.
President Schleicher of the Chamber
Of Commerce heads the movement here.
Several good examples are at hand
of what can be accomplished through
reducing the time worked by an en-
ploye rather than using the old method
of lay-offs when the Job requirements
Of an organization are slackened.
For instance the Southern California
TelephOne Co, one OF the largest EN-
ployers in the Southland. with some
5000 workers on its pay roll, has utilized
the newer plan for almost two years
and is at present carrying on its pay
roll we'll over l,700 more employees than
would be required if all were working
full time. Thus. almost 20 per cent
Of the company's large employment per-
sonnel in Southern California would
have to be laid off we're it not for
the plan of employment spread used.
Retention Plan"
The company has adopted an excel
lent name for its method, a title
worthy of adoption by all business
America - the retention plan. With
it goes a descriptive slogan-"Job
Security by Job Sharing"
F. N. Rush, vice president and gen.
eral manager of the company, said that
failure to adopt this plan, actuated by