Image provided by: SEIU Local 503; Salem, OR
About The Oregon state employee. (Salem, Oregon.) 1944-195? | View Entire Issue (Jan. 1, 1945)
11 Over the Editor's Desk W HITE COLLAR WORKERS Because "white collar” workers have been slow to organize, their weekly earnings are among the lowest of all groups. The | senate sub-committee on Wartime Health' and Education has re cently issued’ the report of its investi gation on "W hite Collar and Fixed In,-1 com?' Croups in thejW ar Economy.” It finds that some 2O,O.0Q;;QiQ’O white col lar workers, including those in offices, retail and wholesale stores, insurance, service industries,- banks, real- ''estate, ¿government enaploypekilfstate and ¿lo-' cal/, nurses, teachers and' other tech- ifiC'a,! and professional employees, "have not enjoyed rises in income commen surate with the m ost conservative esti mate of the cost-of-livihg increase.’’ The subcommittee states also: "We found that before the War a large pro portion of th pse, j^ople had substandard Ssb^^y^-suk'-is^rfd^'-level^ncdmes; We fotind that }the hardships imposed upon them -bv the war greatly exceeded those T d^db/^oth'’ I croups. We believe that such inequality of sacrifice>i3^rijust, unnecessary 1 2nd ¡¿detrimental to the health, morale and efficiency .of a' don at- war.” The subcommitt-ee/found that $150 a month for single persons and “$200 a month for married persons is the mini mum income which could provide an adequate living,, th a t isQ?$35 and $47 a week respectively. Y et in 194 31® group of 4*/^ 'million white,, collar ^workers averaged o h ly r$ 2 8 .69 a week; some 3 million workers in retail trade aver-, aged only $24.8 8 ;£ 2 million non-school 'state and local government employees '$'28.8 5 ;v£nd the estimated average for all public school teachers in the 1943-4 >sdhdol, year was about 4$3'2 per ,week. The report also notes that ",after de- ductidh.^ are made I f or income ¿a'xes, war bonds, social security-and company ‘'retirement funds, the amount';oi the weekly pay check is reduced by about 22 per'cent.”- Here is. a group of 20,000,000 intelli gent, well educated citizens who will not be able to enjoy an American stan dard of living after the war or to have their rightful share of the good things of life niil/ss their salaries are raised-* From 1939 to/ 1943, yearly income of mechanical workers .increased 69 per cent, of white, collar , workers only 29 per cent. EXCERPTS FROM "MESSAGES OF G REETING” SENT T O TH E CIVIL SERVICE ASSEMBLY HELD IN CHICAGO, NOVEMBER 1-2-3 President Franklin D. Roosevelt "Productidri by civilian employees in the arsenals and shipyards of the Feder al - Government yhk/skept pace with its counterpart in private, industry. In vi tal military and production areas throughout the-qoun-try, I also know;, employees of-,-s'tate„ and local I govern ments have .provided many .-services es-' sential to the prosecution of' the war. These are demonstrable facts, and the- merit system of personnel administra tion in Government hats helped to make them possible:” I Governor, Edward J. Thye, Minnesota "We in Minnesota are p ro u d o f our civil service« .system. Although our Civil Service Department has functioned for only fivet years, it is already considered an integral and important part of our state administration.” ' Governor Thomas E. Dewey,,- N ew Yprk, the first state to have adopted the merit system for its* employees. "Here in- the IEmpire State we are constantly striving to improve the merit system. We have reason to know that (Continued on page,20-}\
