11
advancing years because of overwork
and insufficient rest. Accidents on the
job are less likely to occur when em
ployees are not over-tired. The office
and professional employee is subject to
nervous fatigue, .often in addition to
physical fatigue. A sedentary employee
needs more time in the open air, more
sunshine, more physical exercise, to keep
him healthy and efficient because of
the enervating effect of desk work.
The 40-hour work week has been
recommended by the Oregon State Civil
Service Commission for all state em
ployees except those on institutional
staffs. The O.S.E.A. has submitted a'
resolution to the Commission asking
that this time be worked in five days,
with a partial staff on Saturday for
those departments which must be open
on that day. The major objection to this
arrangement seems to be the fear that
the public' would not be adequately
served because key employees would not
be scheduled on Saturdays. At present,
key employees—supervisors and admin
istrators—must at times be out of their
offices; Under.'*: the present system,
schedules are worked out so that all
supervisors in a given department will
not be away on state business or vaca-r
tions at the same time. This same ar
rangement could be adopted with a
scheduling of partial crews on a sixth
working day;
| The adoption of a 40-hour, 5 -day
week is becoming even more generally
accepted since the end of the war. Fol
lowing is a summary of some fields of
employment in which this working
schedule has been and is now being
adopted, ft will be noted that this list
is not complete.
Laborers, workmen and mechan
ics on public projects in New York
state).
Many department stores and other
retail establishments.
State employees, including Cali-
fbrnia and New York.
City employees, including Port
land, Ore., Los Angeles, Milwaukee,
Wis., Washington, D.C., Minneapo
lis, Providence, New York, Grand
Rapids and other cities.
Federal employees with certain ex
ceptions. ■„
Employees engaged in or produc
e s goods for interstate commerce,
as required by the Federal Fair Labor
Standards Act of 1938. -
Printers, building trade employees,
clothing workers, and employees of
service industries.
Equal consideration for one group of
employees is especially long overdue.
The tendancy? among institutions which
function 24 hours a day has been to re
quire employees to work 48 to 60 hours
per week. A careful look at the work
ing situation and demands made, on
these employees reveals the unfair phy
sical and mental burden placed upon
them.
The work of institutional employees
is extremely confining and often phy
sically' hazardous. Most of these em
ployees are dealing directly with pa
tients' who are physically or mentally
ill or who are socially maladjusted. To
work successfully with these wards of
the state, employees must be patient and
understanding, physically fit and men
tally alert. Overwork and resulting fa
tigue lessen all of these qualities. In
some institutions overworked employees
have, not given adequate care to pa
tients or inmates because of their own
physical/ and mental weariness. Em
ployees of state institutions have as
great a need for maximum time for
off-the-job-living as do other workers.
There are now approximately 5 50 state
eniployees Working 48 hours and over.
Many of them axe institutional em
ployees,
- One circus elephant commented to
another: "I’m getting sick and tired of
working for peanuts!”
—Soriano in Colliers