The potters herald. [volume] (East Liverpool, Ohio) 1899-1982, 1943-06-24
Management
Must Solve Mass
Feeding Facilities
Well-Rounded Diet Would
Curb "Absenteeism"
Says Perkins


ers = many of them are not getting
good food on the job and this is con-
tributing to absenteeism and ineftici-
ency, Secretary of Labor Frances Per-
kins said here.
If workers are to have a we'll
rounded diet, labor and management
must take the initiative in working out
mass feeding facilities, she added.
The Women's Bureau has formu
lated standards for eating periods for
women in war plants-a minimum of
30 minutes time, q menu that includes
hot, nutritious foods at a reasonable
price and pleasant place in which to
eat away from the wOrkrOOm," Secre-
tary Perkins said.
l5-Minute Lunch Periods
'In recent survey of 1873 war
plants, bureau agents found that 1913
gave 30 minutes for lunch, not paid for
in the workers wages. A total of l j5
of the plants paid for lunch periods
ranging from Is to 80 minutes. OF 1T
plants reporting ON facilities, about 60
per cent had cafeterias or mobile can
teens serving hot food of some kind
The findings reflected wide variety of
conditions, some meet ing fully
WOmens Bureau standards. But these
statistics don't tell the whole story.
Here's what the bureau also dis
covered:
| thousands of war workers have no
hot food during working hours.
| "ThOusands of war workers must
eat lunch in 10 minutes.
! "'rhOuSandS of workers eat in the
open, exposed to all weather varia-
tionS.
"Thousands of workers eat in I'M
sanitary rest rooms.
And the results? Lately people have
been calling it absenteeiSm. Personnel
officers call it anemia, indigestion, ner-
vous debility and work lag You can
see it i'm the girl at an ordinance plant
who doesn't even attempt to eat in her
l5-minute dinner hour-she cat-naps
on bench in the hall.
Number OF Causes
"COnditiOnS such as these have Il
number of causes. The primary one is
an inadequate supply of food at places
of work. Secondly workers cannot al
ways bring food with them from home
many live in boarding houses, Others
have too many home duties to spare
the time for preparation of lunches, OF
d do not, want. to take rationed items
/ from the family group. ~
Thirdly, peacetime service facilities
simply cannot cope with the huge in
crease on top of labor shortages ant
ratiOning. The rapid conversion of tn,
: production Set-up to Il war ecOnom,
has brought i'm its wake diSlOcationS il
: essential civilian establishments tha
cannot be easily overcome
Miss Perkins went on to cite tn,
hypothetical case of small meta
shop that in 1910 employed 100 mel
and women. Then the shop had the
, 40-hour week with an hour for luncl
and eating facilities were adequate
. Now the firm employs 1000 persons
working in 3 shifts. with 15-minut'
, luncheon periods. Dinning car restau
ants that in 1910 took care of th'
workers demands for food are utterl,
inadequate now.
, She outlined the difficulties of SOlv
! ing the problem, came to the conclu
sion that much could be done through
education and planning by both plant
|; officials and community interests an,
summarized steps that could be takel
to establish better eating facilities.
In ending, Secretary Perkins stress
ed that food will win the war" an,
declared:
AS demands on Americas food sup
a ply increases, citizens will be forcet
. to concentrate on quality rather thai
/, quantity The good health of the n;l
a tion's labor force is of primary i'm
pOrtance. Any serious breakdown il
the physical well-being of that fore
will be weakness in the home front
; Through the concerted efforts of TIN
: workers, his. employer, his communt.
I and his government, Americas soldier
Z on the production front must be KEEP
. on the job
1 Why is remorse so often the sc