The Waterbury Democrat. [volume] (Waterbury, Conn.) 1917-1946, 1943-06-22

Peter EdS09 Manpower Com
mission, following swing around
the country to get flrst-hand in
formation on today's manpower sit
uation.
The problem is, according to Mr..
Appley, most in evidence in the
Pacific coast region, where another
spirit of the gold rush days" is
leading many war workers to pull
up stakes and move on to some other
claim where they hear the diggingS
may be better.
One shipyard on the west coast
reported that of $4,000 workers
hired, only 5000 stuck on the Job
from the time they were hired to
| date.
Another yard with labor force
of $4,000 had a record of 100000
hirings to keep the force intact at
the $4,000 figure.
NOT HOUSING.
TRANSPORT OR WAGES
Exit interviews are now conducted
by personnel directors and employ
ment men to find the reasons be-
hind Workman's giving notice that
he intends to quit, but so far they
have not revealed any deep under
lying motives for this labor unrest.
In most instances, the conventional
causes of quitting are found not to
exist.
Housing problems in most of the
! established yards are now licked.
Transportation-the problem of get
ting to and from Work-may have
been solved by the construction of
new travel facilities such as special
bus lines or through shuttle trains
| loading and unloading on special
Sidings, conveniently located. They
won't be used to capacity, men pre-
ferring to crowd six or more in a
passenger car to creep over CORFU
gated highways in rush hours.
Working conditions and wages
may be as good in one place as the
next. In spite of all this, when the
urge to move hits q migrant worker,
nothing on earth seems able to hold
him to his job, and he ups and gifts.
One phase of this wartime turn
over of workers is the development
of an migration of considerable
proportions. People who rushed to
| the west coast to get jobs in the
| airplane plants and the shipyards
have grown restless and gone back
home as labor shortages and in
creasing employment have deyel-
oped in the places they came from.
Another phase is pure restlessness
e, ri
or an airplane plant worker who has
spent the winter in Southern CAL
ifornia plant may decide to spend
the spring and summer working in
the northwest, SO off he goes.
JOB FREEZING
CHECKS MIGRATION
Within local war production areas
where employment conditions have
been established there are certain
restrictions on the movement of
labor. A workman can't quit one job
to take similar job in nearby
war plant unless he gets release
from the first employer. That's to
prevent pirating and job-shopping
| by workers for higher pay.
These controls apply locally, how
ever, and not regionally. They would
apply, for instance, in San Diego or
San Francisco areas. They would
not apply regionally, however, as in
| the entire five state Pacific Coast
! region.
The administrative problem ahead
for war industry management and
| labor therefore becomes one of
checking this new kind of migra-
tory movement by regions. ReStric-
tons of the local area War Man.
power Commission Sterilization
agreements may have been winked
at to a certain extent, if a workman
from one area showed up in another
area where there was labor short
age. A tightening up on these vol
untary restrictions can do much to
check further development of this
migratory movement, it is believed.
Biggest contribution to licking the
problem can probably be made by
securing the cooperation of war
workers themselves in taking one
war Job and sticking to it. The al
/ tentative might be something like
! national service bill, which labor
doesn't want, but which is now be-
F! fore Congress, anyhow.
Jobs now aren't frozen though
| that word is loosely used to desig-
nate voluntary employment stab
! ilization agreements. A national
service law yould actually freeze
Jobs, but the effort will be made to
continue present voluntary prac-
tees, without compulsion.