Evening star., 1943-03-14
Associated Press Writer.

, peak on Fridays traditional British pay
day., were high on Saturdays and Mon
days. Married women tend to take
Saturday mornings for shopping" says a
Labor Ministry official
About tWo-thirds of the daily absences
were accounted for by Illness. Absence
through this cause has increased since
the replacement of younger men by older
workers and those of lower medical
grades. In seven factories checked by
the British Medical Journal colds and flu
were found to be the greatest causes of
time lost. Fifty per cent of all the male
workers and 45 per cent of the women
lost some working time during the six
months of 1912 under review.
Numerous differences make, conpari-
sons between the American and British
situations difficult, but one factor tend
ing to make absenteeism an even more
acute problem in Britain is a longer
work week, taxing health and endurance.
The British war industry week is Sc
hours. Latest OWL figure for United
States is 479 hours as the average for all
Woodworking Industry
The British Medical Association warned
the government at the end of 1912 that
industrial fatigue due to excessive
working hours was filling the consulting
rooms with thousands of war workers
suffering from minor ailments" and
pressed for an immediate inquiry.
Government investigators used no rose
c0Orp6
and cures. One reported What must
be accepted is the psychological factor
that thousands Of workers see in their
job the complete disruption of their
home life. Married women with the full
time job of looking after husband, chill
dren and home are working long hours
in factories and shops. Mems homes are
disorganized by the fact that wives,
daughters, other relations, parents in
some instances, are all going to work, or
because they have been sent right away
from their families to work.
Another noted that the lack of real
interest in the joo and lack of conviction
about its Importance and urgency are
mainly due to ignorance. 1T is too
readily assumed that workers generally
are only concerned with the money in
centive whereas experience shows that
workers in general respond in an in
creasing degree to the incentive of in
terest when they are made aware of the
part their job plays in the final product"
(The supply ministry in recent cir
cular emphasized lit is part of the busi-
ness of good management to keep the
work people informed of the use of their
products in battle" The ministry itself
helps with thousand day and night
cinema shows, mostly of news films,
demonstrating to the workers the re-
suits of their efforts. Ten-minute pep
talks" are another feature)
Many workers" commented another
report particularly women, cannot be
expected to work 5l2 days weekly and
long hours, week in week out, if they
have to spend an additional two or three
hours daily or even more in travelling,
possibly by crowded bus or train, in all
weathers. 1t must be remembered that
a high percentage of today's war workers
are not used to factory life"
Most workers. it was added were away
from their homes or billets about IL
hours, calculating the average travelling
time plus work-shift.
Another contributory cause noted was
"idle time" when workers are forced to
stand about for hours, even days, held
up by some cause usually completely be-
yond their control
significant point noted by inveSti-
gators was the gulf in the factories be
tween those who know and those who
don't" blamed by many for loss of out
put through Stacking and absenteeism.
Labor Minister Bevin summarized:
"The majority of the absentees stay
away occasionally because of exhaustion,
and the best way to reduce that is to
limit the call upon human energy. There