Evening star., 1942-01-11
Factories
Continued From Page C-6)

ing employees to no more than 50
hours a week One Of these said:
Experience in England shows they
can't stand more"
A Worthington Pump Co. plant
in Massachusetts said it had tried
seven-day. 24-hour operation. but
the men couldn't stand the strain"
Other high lights of the survey
important in themselves or signifi-
cant for their implications, in
cluded:
From Baltimore, where great ship
building. steel and electrical plants
are going full tile, the United States
EMPLOYMENT Service still says:
Indications are there has been
no widespread change to a 24-hour
basis. This is primarily due to diff
Guilty in getting skilled labor and
materials. ANY change will have
to come later"
In Minnesota. big arms plant.
employing 10000 already, and still
incomplete, went to the 168-hour
week Immediately after Pearl Har-
Dor.
Difficulties Faced.
From Chicago, where the steel
mills have been in continuous opera
ton for many months, and where
several important engine. fuse and
other defense works have gone the
whole way since war broke out,
comes the message that: Some
other companies have 24-hour
schedules in special departments,
but do not expect to put their entire
plants on that basis soon. They
cite lack of material, skilled workers
and general operating difficulties as
barriers to continuous production. !"
Akron rubber companies. always
on a 24-hour day, have stepped up
to seven days from five within the
past 60 days.
Cincinnati, center Of important
aircraft and other defense plants,
finds most of them working two
l0-hour turns each day, and re-
ports: Some Cincinnati industrial
sources say three 8-hour shifts i'm
practical and costly, due to wear on
machinery and the inability of one
department to keep pace with an
other"
In Los Angeles the Merchants and
Manufacturers Association reports
the entire Southern California avia-
ton, shipbuilding and ordnance in
dustries working around the clock,
except where handicapped by in
ability to get materials, assembly
delays. and so forth" 1t estimated
125 firms. employing 10000 to 13o,-
600 people, were on a 24-hour basis,
a seven-day week, or both.
Larger Output Possible.
From ST. Louis came this mes
sage from Thomas N. Dysart, presi-
dent of the chamber of commerce
Most defense plants here are not
working on seven-day, three shift
schedule. This means they could
handle additional contracts without
having to expand their facilities" :"
From the Louisville, KY, area the
report was that important powder
and aluminium plants had been on
clock-around schedule for months
before Pearl Harbor.
Philadelphia, bristling with big
defense-industry names like E. G.
Budd, Baldwin Locomotive, West
inghouse and many others, reported
most of the key plants already had
adopted the full week operation,
and said practically all WAR in
dustries contemplate 24-hour busiz
ness as soon as feasible"
Word came from the iron mines
of Michigan's Menominee range
that big producer there had in
creased working days to six from
five. The men work 48 hours a
week.
A parachute factory in New York
State switched from two 8-hour
shifts to three of seven hours each,
lifting employment by 400 men.