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Salient. An Organ of Student Opinion at Victoria College, Wellington, N.Z. Vol. 7, No. 10 October 4, 1944
Vacation Work Returns — Psychology Division Analysis
Vacation Work Returns
Psychology Division Analysis
Sixty-four per cent, of the students who sent in returns found their vacation work on their own initiative. The jobs usually had to be confirmed by the man-power authorities, and a not too attractive job was sometimes chosen for fear that man-power might direct to an even less attractive one. On the whole students who found their own work came off the best, or at least avoided the worst.
Hours and Fatigue.
While in general hours worked by students were not unreasonable, a minority had to work, or at any rate did work, excessive hours. 56 hours a week can be taken as a rough guide to the upper desirable limit for continuous working. The most serious cases occurred in domestic work. Some girls were working up to 91 hours a week. One third of the girls engaged in domestic work were either completely exhausted or very fatigued by the work. The close personal relationship to the employer in domestic work, and the fact that the employer may herself be working Just as hard, makes it difficult or a girl to say "no" when she is asked to carry on long after she has done a reasonable day's work. Domestic work in hospitals did not entail such long hours (up to 50 hours only), but the work was hard and three-quarters of the girls were more than slightly or temporarily fatigued.
Hours of work on farms were sometimes long—occasionally reaching 72-80 hours a week. But very few of those employed on farms, either men or women, were unduly fatigued. Work in gardens and orchards was different, and particularly the women seemed to find it somewhat strenuous, though apparently in only one case was health adversely affected.
Freezing Works.
Some very bad cases of excessive hours occurred in freezing works. One student worked a 13-hour day for 12 weeks, the hours each day being 2.30 a.m. to 5 p.m. It is not surprising that he was "done in." Another man (aged 19) worked 12 hours a day and sometimes more for 13 weeks. He writes of "loss of weight, a great drop in physical efficiency, mental depression and lack of sleep." 36 out of 103 students employed in meat works had at some time of their employment to work over 56 hours a week. In only 18 of these cases, however, were the long hours continuous. Perhaps one sixth of the students employed in freezing works had to work longer hours than desirable.
Fatigue was nearly universal in dairy factories. This was due to the strenuous nature of the work and adverse working conditions rather than to long hours. A number of medical students who were directed to dairy factories were emphatic that the work was quite unsuitable for persons occupied on sedentary indoor jobs for most of the year.
The hours in wool stores were in general 44-48 per week. But in some stores hours ranging between 59 and 70 were worked and fatigue resulted.
Wages.
Far more students were satisfied with their wages than dissatisfied.
The returns, however, brought out the extraordinary irrationality of our present wages structure. Wages for students ranged from 15/- for skilled engineering students paid as first-year apprentices (I have excluded two students who received no wages, only letters of thanks. I assume this was their fault!) to £14 a week for unskilled labouring. Wage anomalies and inequalities were not unnaturally a source of some dissatisfaction. For instance, in some gardens a student of 18 (male) could earn £5 a week; in another garden a man of 19 might get only £2 2s net. Some girls objected with justice that men on similar jobs got twice as much pay for less (according to the girls) work.
Forty-seven students expressed an objection to having had to pay union fees—a remarkably small percentage of the number who had to pay them. So we must conclude that students as a whole are quite prepared to contribut to the unions, even if they have to pay a year's fee for three months, work.
Accommodation.
Two hundred and eighty four students (37 per cent, of those who sent in returns) lived away from home while on vacation work. Of these 236 were reasonably satisfied with their accommodation, and many, particularly those on farms, were obviously very well treated.
| 1. | Students working at dairy factories were generally badly accommodated: "Filthy living conditions," "accommodation the poorest possible," "poor food, largely lived on stale bread and fat," were comments from different localities. The cost of meals and accommodation was high in relation to the low wages. 27/6 or 30/- might be charged for meals alone per week, which leaves almost nothing out of a wage which may only amount to £2 12s 6d for the younger students. |
| 2. | Students working in mines were usually unable to get satisfactory accommodation: the local hotels being little more than drink shops and there being no alternative accommodation. It is only fair to add that most of these students went into mines of their own accord and presumably realised the disadvantages. At some freezing works the accommodation provided was poor and the food expensive and apparently nearly inedible. |
General Observations and Advice.
As students are likely to be required for vacation work during the coming summer the following points may be worth keeping in mind.
| 1. | If students cannot get work closely associated with their vocations it would seem that outdoor work, particularly on farms, is likely to give them the greatest satisfaction. |
| 2. | Work in dairy factories is unsuited to student labour. The work is too gruelling for persons not accustomed to hard physical labour; the working conditions are trying (steamy and wet) and are likely adversely to affect the health of a student who has been indoors all the rest of the year; the pay is low—impossibly low if board and lodging have to be found from it—and there will certainly be nothing over for the coming year's expenses; the accommodation for casual workers in rural areas is likely to be bad. Avoid going there if you possibly can. |
| 3. | Some jobs in freezing works where very long hours are worked are likely to be exhausting. The same applies to some domestic jobs for girls. Make careful inquiries before taking up work of either variety. Unless you are exceptionally robust it is unwise to work regularly in poor working conditions for more than 56 hours a week on jobs involving effort or concentration. By working 56 hours or less you will not be adversely influencing the war effort, since researches have shown that efficiency and output usually decrease when longer hours are worked. |
| 4. | Stand up for your rights. One student put the matter well: "There may be cases where students have been imposed on while working during the vacation, but surely they should have enough gumption to learn to stand on their own feet, and to seek redress through the unions for any wrongs suffered. I object to students being treated with any distinction from other sections of the working community." Needless to say the right to object when unfairly treated implies the obligation to pull your weight when decently treated. |
| 5. | Your jobs may not be interesting in themselves, but they can provide a valuable opportunity for studying working conditions and methods, types of organisation and human relationships. You can learn a good deal if you keep your eyes open, enter into the general life of the place and don't form student cliques. If you can record your impressions and experience accurately it will prove a useful exercise in "Mass Observation." |
Thanks are due to Miss Gwen Jolly for her assistance with some of the. "donkey work" involved in the analysis of the questionnaire returns.
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How to Spend Vacation.
Provided there is sufficient support a vacation sub-committee of the Executive will be arranging tea dances every few weeks, starting December 2, with the idea of keeping local students together.
The tennis and other sports clubs will be especially interested, as this will give them further opportunities to gain new members amongst prospective freshers. Watch notice boards and "Sports Post." Picnics of the Sunday, Moonlight and Always type may be a possibility. Some sort of V.U.C. Victory Celebration can be regarded as certain.