Girls who start as feeders are sometimes promoted to the supervision of simple ruling machines. Men look upon this with disfavour, as it used to be considered their work. One firm is said to have only two men now employed where there were once forty, and the two that remain are tenters, who supervise the girls and the machines. Machine ruling is paid at time rates. Wages rank as high as 17_s._ a week, where men formerly got 28_s._ For more complex machines girls would need to be specially trained, but managers think they could easily be prepared, as intelligence rather than strength is necessary. The girls themselves believe they would succeed if given a chance.
No type founding is done in Glasgow, and no women are employed here in stereotype founding. Such work is considered unsuitable for women, and there seems no likelihood of their taking it up.
This work has always been done by women. There is no formal apprenticeship, but it takes a couple of years before the girls are thoroughly initiated. They are taken on at thirteen or fourteen at a wage of 4_s._ a week, paid 5_s._ at the end of the first year and 6_s._ at the end of the second. Afterwards their wages range from 12_s._ to 14_s._, with an average of about 12_s._ 6_d._ per week. There is no piecework and no fines are exacted. The working hours are 56 per week, distributed as follows:--
6 a.m. to 9 a.m. 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. Saturdays, 6 a.m. to 9 a.m. 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Work is plentiful all the year round. No dangerous machinery is used, and there is no special trade disease. The girls remain on till they get married. They are drawn from the "better sort" of working-class families, and some were reported as coming to the factory on cycles. They have no trade organisation, and there do not seem to have been any attempts on the part of the girls to supplant men in the allied processes. No machinery has yet been devised capable of doing the work of the girls.
Girls come from school and begin by dabbling about the shop and running messages. Presently they become "spreaders," and in two or three years' time "coverers," the highest position open to them. The cutting of the paper and cardboard is done by machines, which men operate. The material thus prepared to the required sizes is passed on to the girls to be glued up into boxes. The girls use no machinery, and stand to their work at benches. At the height of summer, and despite the gluey atmosphere of the workrooms, the girls have the usual reluctance to open windows. Wages start at 3_s._ or 3_s._ 6_d._ Spreaders are paid from 5_s._ 6_d._, to 7_s._ 6_d._; coverers, 10_s._ and 11_s._ Hours vary from shop to shop. Some begin at 8 and finish at 6.30 (Saturdays, 12.30), with a meal hour at 1 o'clock. Others allow an hour and a quarter for dinner, so as to enable girls to get home. The week is then arranged as follows: