The Butler County press. [volume] (Hamilton, Ohio) 1900-1946, 1943-06-18
LABOR AND
MANAGEMENT
MUST WORK OUT
MASS FEEDING

Washington, D. c. (ILNS) Work
ers-many of them-are not getting
good food on the job and this is con-
tributing to absenteeism and inffi-
cheney, Secretary of Labor Frances
Perkins 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
80 minutes time, 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.
15-Minute Lunch Periods
"In a recent survey of 183 war
plants, bureau agents found that 123
gave 80 minutes for lunch, not paid
for in the workers wages. A total of
1/5 of the plants paid for lunch pc
riods, ranging from Is to 80 minutes.
Of 1T plants reporting on facilities,
about 60 percent had cafeterias or
mobile canteens serving hot food of
some kind. The findings reflected
wide variety of conditions, some meet
ing fully Women's Bureau standards.
| But these statistics don't tell the
whole story. Here's what the bureau
also discovered:
Thousands of war workers have no
hot food during working hours.
Thousands of war workers must
eat lunch in Is minutes.
Thousands of workers eat in the
open, exposed to all weather varia-
tions.
Thousands of workers eat in un-
sanitary rest rooms.
"And the results? Lately people
have been calling it absenteesm. Per-
sonnel offices call it anemia, indiges-
ton, nervous debility and work lag.
! You can see it in the girl at an ordin-
ance plant who doesn't even attempt
to eat in her 15-minute dinner hour
she cat-naps on bench in the hall.
Number of Causes
conditions such as these have a
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 or do not want to take ra-
toned items from the family group.
Thirdly, peacetime service facili-
ties simply cannot cope with the huge
increase on top of labor shortages and
rationing. The rapid conversion of the
production setup to war economy
has brought in it's wake dislocations
in essential civilian establishments
that cannot be easily overcome"
Miss Perkins went on to cite the
hypothetical case of metal shop that
in 1910 employed 100 men and women.
Then the shop had the 40-hour week
with an hour for lunch and eating IA
cilities were adequate. Now the firm
employs 1000 persons, working in
three shifts, with 15-minute luncheon
periods. Dining car restaurants that
in 1910 took care of the workers de-
mands for food are utterly 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 plants
officials and community interests and
summarized steps that could be taken
to establish better eating facilities.
In ending, Secretary Perkins
stressed that flood will win the war;"
and declared:
Gas demands on Americas food
supply increases, citizens will be
: forced to concentrate on quality
: rather than quantity. The good health
of the nations labor force is of pri-
mary Importance. Any serious break
l down in the physical well-being of
5 that force will be a weakness in the
E home front. Through the concerted eff
forts of the workers, his employer, his
E community and his government,
Americas soldiers on the production
front must be kept on the job.'