She used also to carry her material from a table
near the yarding machine. Boys now bring the material except where at the
yarding machines for heavier stuffs it is pushed along the table. The
hours, as for almost all of the bonus workers, have been shortened by 45
minutes. The wages which were $7.50 a week are now between $10 and $11 on
full time. Almost all the workers here said they greatly preferred the
bonus system and would greatly dislike to return to other work.
But in dealing with the heavier materials the work was tiring, and more
tiring under the new system than before, as the number of pieces lifted
had been increased. It was said while there was every intention of
fairness on the part of the management in arranging the work; it was
sometimes not evenly distributed in slack times, the same girls being
laid off repeatedly and the same girls chosen to work repeatedly instead
of in alternation.
In the further processes of folding, some of the work and the lifting to
the piles of the sheer, book-folded stuff is light, but requires great
deftness; other parts of the work and the lifting to the piles are
heavier.[53] The wage before the bonus was introduced was $7.50 a week,
and with the bonus rose to $11 a week, in full time.
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