Evening star., 1942-04-30
Grandmas and Girls
Vie in War PIants-
And Love Il
Production Line Jobs
Offer New Thrills
And Good Wages
By MIRIAM GUTENBERG,

BY MIRIAM OIIENbEkG,
Star Staff Correspondent.
AKRON, April 30.-Some grand
mothers and some high school girls,
hundreds of slack-suited women in
Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. plants
in this area are drilling, riveting,
filing and forming metal into
shapes vital for aircraft production.
They love it. Former, skeptical
about introducing the feminine
touch on the production line, now
say a girl just out of high school
is better at the job than boy her
age.
They can do the same job over
and over again and get 4 kick out
of it." said one of the men who
oversees q score of women workers.
One woman stands before a mill
ing machine If she varies more
than a thousandth of an inch in
her calculations, the job has to be
done again and metal is precious.
She doesn't vary. After eight hours
of that, she rushes to get nome be-
fore her 7-year-old gets out OF
school.
Jobs Give Them Thrill.
Perched on q stool before an air
plane part in its early stages is the
blue-overalled mother of two boys,
13 and II. She tapes, stretches, pins
down and sews. It's = big, un-
wieldy job.
1--WE get a thrill out of knowing
we can do mems work." she grinned.
They have come-and are coming
by the thousands-intot the plants
for a dozen reasons. Some were
Mattresses, stock clerks, secretaries.
Some were in laundries. A number
did housework, in their own and
other homes. Some Of them-the
youngsters who are going to school
in the factory-have never worked
before.
MY babies are growing up" said
one. "I figure they don't need me
and the country does"
One girl saw her husband last in
January when he enlisted. He's in
the Air Corps, stationed on the West
Coast. She'll be out of the training
school soon, ready to do job to
match his.
One Shot at Pearl HarbOr.
One of the girls bears the marks
Of japanese bullets on her arm and
leg. Her husband and father are
still at Pearl Harbor. She was
wounded when she stood at the win
dow watching her husband dodge
machine-gun bullets, driving to his
plane December T. Now she's in
charge OF confidential files at the
plant.
Then there's the girl who said,
You should see the pay checks!"
She was doing housework before at
81 a week. Now she's making $45
a week
Women with husbands and sons
in the service get first choice on
jobs and, plant officials say, are
among the best workers.
Among the thousands Of women
in the plants are old employees
the women who used to splice inner
tubes and do a dozen other peace
time jobs. They had been making
the same mechanical motion for
dozen years. Now they have to learn
TO use their heads and their hands
all over again-conversion to jobs
that required new techniques, tech
niques that changed overnight as
Snocif7 70 tiapc chonUo6
They see the changes that are
going on around them-rubber vests
being made in an employees ball
room. landing boats in an auditorium
where workers used to play basket
ball, gas masks on the machines
where rubber heels were nodded and
great machines where tires were
turned out motionless for the dura-
ton.
Turn Out Army Mae Vests"
Now they trim the edges of gas
masks, sit at long production tables
where rubber boats are assembled
piece by piece. work with scissors
and rubber cement.
The younger, suppler girls crawl
around the floor over a sea of rub
Der, sealing the seams in barrage
balloons Women who can drive
power machines turn out the Mae
Vests" of the Army and Navy in
fiatable life preservers. Others are
producing the self-sealing gas
tanks that virtually make them
bullet proof.
The youngsters are going to
school. They have TO be l8 years
old and American citizens. The
Government pays for the instructors
and supplies the materials. The
girls buy the tools themselves. They
are more careful with them then
and besides, it is a tradition among
artisans to own their own tool kits
The girls are taught first how to
draw a straight line. They are
shown how to hammer with their
fingers spread apart so miss will
injure only one finger. They learn
how to hold drill, how to remove
rivet without enlarging the hole,
how to hold a mallet or a hack saw,
how to read blue print.
They're Pretty "Gabby" Now.
The youngsters were trained first
so they would hold the seniority to
allow placing them on the day shift
on a 24-hour production schedule.