TRANSACTIONS OP SECTION F. 567 



feeling on the part of the men against their employment — mainly on the 

 ground that women are not so physically strong as men, and cannot do much 

 of the work performed by a male piecer, and that they would tend to undercut 

 men's wages. Substitution has, however, taken place, e.g., in Bolton alone 

 the number of women piecers has risen since the war from about 20 to 300. 

 All are members of the Spinners Union. The number of piecers has also risen 

 in Manchester. 



The point of view of the woman is not necessarily that of the man, and a 

 prominent woman Trade-Union organiser of women in Lancashire who is secre- 

 tary to a Lancashire Trade and Labour Council sees no objection to women 

 being employed as piecers save the artificial restriction which prohibits a woman 

 from becoming a spinner. A few women have, however, for years been 

 employed as 'spinners' at Lostock Junction, Lanes, at lower rates than 

 the men. Efforts are being made both by the Board of Trade and the Local 

 Government Board to induce the Operative Spinners' Union to consent to the 

 employment of women in spinning mills. The membership of the Spinners' 

 Amalgamation includes 1.500 women as partial members. The objections by 

 the men to the introduction of women as spinners are stated to be : 



(a) The probable undercutting of the wage rates paid to men spinners. 

 (h) The conditions of the work when men and women work together are 

 objectionable morally. 



(c) Women's dress is unsuitable among swiftly moving machinery. 



One Trade-Union official was of opinion that 'the stoppage of the mills 

 would be preferable to going back to the days of fifty years ago when women's 

 labour was not at all uncommon in the spinning rooms. The work is no more 

 suitable for women than coal-mining.' 



Weaving is done both by men and women, who are paid the same piece- 

 rates, and do the same work, except that 



(a) men work the wider machines (quilts, &c.) 

 [h) men more often work 6 instead of 4 looms. 



(c) men are able to set their own machines, hence they lose less time than 

 the women. 



{d) women do not rise to be overlookers. 



The tendency is for the number of men weavers to decrease. Men prefer 

 spinning and other better-paid trades. As trade has been very slack since the 

 War the need for introducing more women in weaving has not arisen. 



Women and men warpers are paid at the same piece-work rates, but men 

 generally work two machines, while women work 1 or 1^, i.e., two women to 

 three machines. 



Both men and women are employed as twisters and drawers, and they work 

 on the same piece rates. The women earn from 45.S. to 60s., out of which 

 they pay the wages of a reacher, about 10s. Women also pay the men to 

 lift heavy beams, although the men sometimes help the women for nothing. 

 Women are never employed as beamers, the work is too heavy, and the men 

 would object. The number of women twisters and drawers are being slightly 

 increased as the result of the War. 



Women are normally employed in the warehouse section of dyeing and 

 bleaching, in cutting up lengths, silking, ribboning, and folding light materials. 

 Men normally fold the heavier materials and work the lapping machines. 

 The rates of pay vary between time rates — good 16s. to 17s., low 12s. to 13s., 

 and piece rates 20s. to 25s. The Union tries to enforce a minimum of 18s. for 

 women, but this is no more than an aspiration, the agreed scale of wages in 

 1912 for girls of fourteen to eighteen years of age being 5s. to 12s., in other 

 cases 10s. as a maximum. 



Women have also taken men's places in dyeing-machine minding. Women 

 are not normally engaged at all in the dyeing or bleachincr departments, as the 

 work is said (by the men) to be too dii'ty for women. Tbo Trade-Union rule 

 with regard to women's employment in this process is being relaxed, con- 

 ditional on women being paid the same rate as the men. 



Since the War, women have been introduced in some ca.<?es as lapping- 

 machine minders, work which is normally done by men. Though stated by the 



