Sick Leave With Pay Formal company plans covering sick leave with pay for all wage earners were reported by only 4 out of 419 plants. Of these, two were paper-manufacturing establishments, one a consumer plant, and one a paper-box factory. One of the plants allowed wage earners a maximum of 1 week after 2 years' service, another gave as much as 2 weeks after 1 year of service, and a third had a plan for leave graduated according to length of service, with 4 weeks' leave the maximum for 6 months' service and 1 year's leave the maximum after 10 years of service. The fourth plan required 1 year of service before pay during illness was granted, but it had not placed a definite limitation on the amount of paid leave that would be allowed. An additional 15 establishments had informal plans, whereby wage earners were paid for an indefinite number of days during illness, if, in the opinion of management, the circumstances warranted such pay. Paid sick leave benefits were also granted to supervisory and other salaried plant employees in 117 establishments and to office workers in 175 plants. Sixteen of the former and nineteen of the latter had fixed limits, the others being indefinite with each case adjusted on its own merits. Physical Working Conditions In many of the small cities and the newer sections of large cities, the box factories occupied modern buildings constructed especially for them, or had space in large modern fireproof factory structures. Poor factory housing, however, was prevalent in some of the larger and older industrial cities. The very nature of the industry, which requires large space to accommodate bulky goods of small value, tends to locate box factories in places with low rentals, which are usually one or two floors of old loft buildings, often with poor sanitary facilities, no elevator service, and even inadequate light and ventilation. Cellar workrooms were still common in New York City. Some plants did not employ janitors or porters, and factory housekeeping was dependent on the cooperation of the workers. As the factories often consisted of only one large workroom, where boxes were made up and stacked, space was apt to be crowded and fire conditions hazardous. Luncheon facilities of one kind or another were found in about a fourth of the plants in the consumer group, but in a very small minority of both the paper-box factories and the paper and printing establishments. An occasional plant provided a lunch room or lounge, where employees could eat their carried lunches in comfort and relaxation, and some of these even furnished hot drinks at no cost to the worker. Rest rooms and locker rooms were likewise found only in a few establishments. See pp. 74 and 75 for information concerning sick benefits through insuranc and mutual benefit ssociations. Safety Programs 7 Organized safety programs were found in about one-fifth of the plants in August 1935. As regards size of establishment, such programs existed in about 8 percent of the plants with fewer than 50 employees, 26 percent with from 50 to 100, 35 percent with from 100 to 300, and 62 percent with 300 or more workers. The type of program varied widely with the size of plant. Several of the larger companies employed full-time safety directors, but in most instances the work was carried on under the direction of the superintendent, plant manager, or some other official. The usual type of organization consisted of one or more safety committees, generally made up of supervisors and sometimes also of other employees, which met periodically to discuss safety practices, study accidents, and find remedies. Committee members were also charged with carrying out the program and instructing employees in safety practices. Social and Health Activities Planned welfare work is not often found on the programs of small plants, such as comprise the bulk of this industry. Thus, companysponsored educational activities for employees were negligible, and planned recreation was only infrequently encountered. A few of the larger plants of all types had libraries and recreation rooms. Athletics were sponsored by the firm in 18 consumer, 13 paper-box, and 3 paper-manufacturing and printing establishments, and a few companies in each group encouraged social gatherings, such as picnics, dances, orchestras, and theatricals. Health programs were virtually nonexistent in paper-box factories. There were only two fairly large establishments of this kind that employed full-time nurses, in charge of first aid, who supervised health conditions in the plant and visited the families of workers. One large paper-manufacturing plant made similar provisions and another maintained rooms in a local hospital for employees and their families. Health programs were found in about half of the establishments in the consumer group. In 20 consumer plants these plans were concerned principally with first-aid work, usually providing a first-aid room or dispensary with a nurse in charge and a doctor on call. A somewhat broader field was covered by the plans of 15 additional consumer establishments, which employed nurses and either full- or part-time physicians to supervise general health conditions, 'The operation of some of the cutting, staying, and ending machines in this industry is fairly hazardous work. The injury frequency and severity rates for the entire paper-box and container branch of the paper industry were, respectively, 13.30 (per 1,000,000 man-hours) and 1.14 (per 1,000 man-hours) in 1935. These figures give this industry a more or less middle position in a group of 30 industries, placing it above most of those in which women are extensively employed. See the Accident Rates industrial series for 1935, which is published by the National Safety Council, Inc. |