Evening star., 1943-09-12
D. {. Auto Mechanics
Are Placed on LIST
OF Critical Jobs

With some garages reporting they
nave lost so per cent of their me-
chanics to the armed forces or
other industries, the Washington
Labor-Management Committee yes
terday added garage mechanics to
their list Of critical occupations.
Put on the list at the same time
were all occupations in the shoe re-
pair industry. Previously, only
shoe repairmen were listed. but the
new ruling covers shoe finishers
benchmen and other repair workers
Hereafter, men in these occupa-
tions can be hired only through the
United States Employment Service
and are given special consideration"
for, draft deferment. Twelve other
local occupations are covered by the
list.
Shortage Is Acute.
While automobile mechanics have
been on the national list of essential
activities, they were not included
on the new national list of critical
occupations and therefore were not
covered by the exclusive hiring rule
until yesterdays action of the La
bor-M Management Committee.
Garages described the shortage of
automobile maintenance and repair
men as very acute" and reported
that the average motorist now finds
1t takes much longer to get work
done.
The time required for repairs
varies from one garage to another,
according to a spokesman for the
American Automobile Associations
Washington division. Minor repairs
are difficult to get, and motorists
usually must wait from few days
to as long as two weeks.
Most garages which formerly kept
open all night now are closed Only
one or two are open for emergency
service at night. The American
Automobile Association has had so
many calls for service that it now
has three mechanics to serve its
many members
The AAA has made survey of
the manpower situation during the
last two years.
This survey shows, for instance,
that during the first three months
of this year, retail garages here
had to reject So per cent of their
work because of the shortage of
labor. Fleet" establishments re-
jected 9,4 per cent, during the
same period, while wholesale places
rejected 374 per cent. The average
amount of work rejected by these
three classes was 29.4 per cent,
according to the AAA figures. The
situation nbw is worse, spokes-
man said.
The force of mechanics. machin-
lists and parts men," in Washing
ton fell off from 3,167 in January
/, 1941, to 1919 in April /, 1943,
the AAA survey shows. The classi-
fcation known as mechanics"
dropped during the same period
from 2,177 to 1159 in retail estab-
lishments, and from 2,761 to 1869
In all kinds of establishments here
during the same period.
Boys Help Out.
During the first three months of
this year, retail garages lost 258 men
to the armed services, fleet shops
lost so and wholesale places 13, for
a total of 321. All three classes
of establishments lost 442 men to
other industries during the three
months, but replaced only 1877 full
time men and 73 part-tinae men.
One garageman said high school
boys below the draft age have been
of much help during the summer,
but when they return to school,
they can put in only few hours
q week, if any.
Retail garages obtained from the
United States Employment Services
only Is men during the first three
months, feet shops got S, and
wholesale places got none.
Additional men needed to service
essential transportation was listed
by the report as 1,085 for retail busi-
ness, 222 for feet work and 63 for
wholesale.