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LABORERS IN THE PACKING INDUSTRY.

The agents of the Commission investigated 19 representative packing houses, most of them in Fresno, Fowler, and Selma. The data obtained related to more than 2,000 employees, and are thought to be reliable as indicating the various points to be presented in connection with the industry. The foregoing table indicates the race, sex, and occupational distribution of the laborers employed in the 19 packing houses investigated.

It should be noted, first of all, that of the total of 2,055 persons employed in these 19 packing houses, 1,196, or 58 per cent, were females, while 859, or 42 per cent, were males. The occupations engaged in by them, it will be noted, are almost distinct. With a single exception, the women are employed in the various occupations in the packing department-as carton makers and as "packers" in the narrower sense of the term. The number of men engaged in similar work was only 34, or 4 per cent of the total number of males employed. The vast majority of the men are employed as "stemmermen" " and "seeder tenders" (tending machines) and common laborers, box makers, foremen, and clerical help.

Of the total of 2,055 employees covered by the foregoing table, 1,063 were natives, Germans, Scandinavians, English, and Irish-called "miscellaneous whites." The remaining 991, or 48 per cent, belong not only to non-English-speaking races, but to races which, with the exception of the Portuguese, are not well Americanized and are commonly known as "foreigners." Of these two-thirds (655) were German-Russians. They constitute almost one-third of the total number of persons employed. The Armenians, Italians, and Portuguese are less numerous, while Mexicans and Japanese find little place in the industry. In fact, the former were nearly all common laborers in a few establishments, the latter packers in two green-fruit packing sheds. It should be added that all of the races employed, except the Japanese, are represented by women as well as men.

With the exception of a very few packing houses in country places, the laborers are drawn for the greater part from the working classes of the community close at hand. Because of this fact the number of immigrant laborers usually varies greatly with the racial composition of the community. The packing houses in Fresno have a large percentage of "foreigners" among their employees because of the foreign colonies close at hand. In some of the smaller towns, on the other hand, the percentage of "foreigners" employed is very small, for nearly all of the inhabitants are native Americans and well Americanized north Europeans. And even in Fresno some of the packing houses employ the "miscellaneous white" races almost exclusively, while others get only a small percentage of their employees from this class. This fact is explained partly by the location of the establishment with reference to residence districts, partly by the fact that many "miscellaneous whites" withdraw from such establishments as employ "foreigners"-a fact commented on at some length later in this report. It should be added also that the packing houses,

" Of the native-born one negro is excluded.

so situated that they must draw much of their labor supply from a distance, usually have a large percentage of "foreigners," and especially of German-Russians, who do not object to "camping out" in groups. Persons here classed as "miscellaneous whites," on the other hand, find the wages too low and the cost of living at boarding houses too high to migrate in any considerable number to such places in order to find work.

Of more interest is the fact that few persons other than natives and the members of well-Americanized immigrant races, are employed in positions requiring responsibility, skill, or experience. The foremen, weighers, bookkeepers, and engineers are nearly all "miscellaneous whites," and though several of the races employed are represented among the box makers, 78 of 90 of these also belong to that group. Of 495 "miscellaneous white" men, 318 were common laborers, while 177 were engaged in higher occupations. On the other hand, of 348 German-Russian, Armenian, Italian, Portuguese, and Mexican men, 325 were common laborers, while 12 were box makers. The latter, working on piece rates, had an opportunity to make large earnings. The other 11 were engaged in the other occupations shown in Table 6.

The 8" floor ladies" were all members of the group of "miscellaneous white" races commonly known as "Americans." Yet, because women of these races were the most numerous group employed in the establishments investigated and because practically all were "packing" they constituted 47 per cent of those engaged in that occupation. There is, however, a material difference in the kind of packing done by the different races. The natives and other races denominated "miscellaneous white persons," constituting 47 per cent of the packers, were more than seven-tenths of the laborers packing layer raisins, but only about one-third of those packing seeded raisins and figs. The differences in the work have been commented on earlier in this report. The native and north European elements have largely withdrawn from the more disagreeable work, leaving the fig packing to be done largely by Armenians and Italians and the seeded raisin packing to be done chiefly by German-Russians.

HOURS AND EARNINGS OF LABOR.

Having indicated the occupational distribution of the laborers in the packing industry with relation to race and sex, we shall now turn to the hours of labor, rate of earnings, irregularity of work, and related matters.

Ten hours constitute the regular working day in the packing industry for both men and women laborers. All the work which is done beyond the ten hours is counted as overtime and paid for at the regular rates or at a higher rate per hour. Overtime work is, however, generally restricted to the male laborers and even in this case it is not of very frequent occurrence. Save in very exceptional instances (chiefly in green-fruit packing) no work is done on Sundays.

The seasonal character of the work has already been indicated. Aside from the seasonal character there is also the element of irregularity in the work connected with the packing industry which must be pointed out. Except for a few weeks, when the packing is in

"full blast," the work is intermittent. Not every day in the week nor, indeed, during every hour of the day are the laborers continuously employed. This irregularity of work is less true of the work of men than of the work of women and is confined to "packing proper, and especially the packing of green fruit. The work of the packers in this branch of the industry depends largely on the promptness with which the fruit is hauled from the vineyards and orchards to the packing houses or sheds. Not infrequently it happens that the women are obliged to wait for the arrival of a fresh supply of fruit to work with. This is not true of the packing of dried fruit and raisins, where the fruit is already in store in the packing houses and the work is not interrupted on account of lack of supply of fruit. The irregularity which is common to all branches of packing is that the work depends on the condition of the market; that is to say, upon the rapidity with which the employer is able to dispose of his goods. In case the employer finds some difficulty in obtaining orders, he discontinues the work until the market conditions improve. This phase of the industry, which affects the laborers quite seriously, has not been of any great importance until within the last few years. Until recently the industry was conducted on more speculative principles and the employer usually kept his plant running in the hope of receiving orders in the near future. The depression of 1907, however, brought about an unsettled condition of the market, with the result that the work in the packing houses has since lacked continuity in some instances. Some of the employees, such as superintendents, bookkeepers, and engineers, work regularly during the entire season. Others lose much time.

With reference to the rate of earnings in this industry, it should be observed that both time and piece wages obtain. Nearly all the packing, which is done by the women, is paid for on a piece basis. The few exceptions are seen in the case of "facing" fruit, and in some instances, in the case of "green-fruit" packing, where time wages obtain. The instances of "green-fruit" packing referred to here are those in which the women are obliged to go away from home for a few weeks and pack in various places near the vineyards. The women are paid time wages in these instances to protect them from loss of time often incurred because of delays in supplying them with fruit to work on. In these cases the employer bears the loss of time due to such delays. On the other hand, practically all of the work done by the men, except that of box makers, is paid for on a time basis.

Table 7.—Number of employees working in fruit-packing establishments earning each specified amount per day, by sex and race.

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a Not including 12 children under 16 years of age (4 Miscellaneous white, 1 Italian, 1 Armenian, and 6 German-Russian).

The question of board and lodging, which plays a rather important part in the grape and fruit growing industry, as we have seen in the last chapter, is not important in the packing industry. In neither department of labor, as described above, are board and lodging furnished to the laborers in addition to wages. The reason must be quite obvious when it is remembered that, except for a few "greenfruit" packing sheds, nearly all of the packing houses are located in Fresno and the smaller towns and within convenient distance of the homes of the laborers. Most of the "green-fruit" packing sheds are located sufficiently near town to enable most of the packers to live at home. The packing companies usually furnish transportation for the workers to town or to the nearest car line each night and out again in the morning. In those cases where the employees can not reach their homes, the burden of arranging for board and lodging is thrown upon them and each laborer solves the problem for himself.

In the foregoing table the rates of earnings of both male and female laborers, reduced to a common basis of time wages, are given. The piece rates in packing fruit vary from 2 cents to 8 cents for each form or carton, according to the fruit packed, and the rates in box making vary from 50 to 75 cents per hundred, according to the size of the boxes.

Comparing the earnings of male and female employees, it is found that the largest number of men (566), about 70 per cent of the entire number, in fact, are within the group receiving $2 and under $2.25 per day. Two hundred and seventy, or almost 23 per cent of the women, are in this same group. A larger number (423), or 36 per cent, are in the next higher group ($2.25 and under $2.50), while an equal number (270) are in the next succeeding group ($2.50 and under $2.75). About 70 per cent of the men earn $2 and under $2.25 per day, 16 per cent $2.25 or over per day, and something less than 14 per cent less than $2 per day. Twenty-three per cent of the women earn $2 and under $2.25 per day, 69 per cent $2.25 or over, and something more than 8 per cent less than $2 per day. Almost 6 per cent of the women as against a little more than 2 per cent of the men, however, earned less than $1.75 per day. Yet to counterbalance this, almost 10.5 per cent of the women, as against 7.2 per cent of the men, earned $3 or over per day.

From these comparisons it is quite obvious that the rate of earnings of the women laborers is slightly higher than that of the men. The immediate explanation of this difference is found in the difference in the methods of remunerating the different kinds of work done by the two sexes. Practically all of the women, and only a few of the men, are "packers." With the exception of some some" fruit facing" and the packing of green fruit in sheds in connection with vineyards and orchards, practically all of the "packing " is paid for by the piece. With the exception of box making, on the other hand, practically all of the work done by men is paid for by the hour, day, or month. The earnings of men depend upon the moderate efficiency required for holding their positions, while the earnings of the women depend directly upon the amount of the work done by them, with the result that most of the women put forth a maximum effort in order to earn a maximum of wages. The larger earnings of women are due to the greater effort expended in their work. The difference in earnings would be still greater were it not that the packing industry requires the services of a number of men with a considerable degree of skill or of executive ability. Such employees, of course, receive relatively high wages and tend to raise the level of earnings for all male employees as a class.

The earnings of male and female employees thus reviewed, those of the different races may be compared. Taking the earnings of male employees first, such differences as appear are due chiefly to differences in occupations, as shown in Table 6, but to some extent to different wages paid for the same kind of work. That the few Japanese all earned the lowest rate is explained by the fact that they were paid only $1.50 per day for work which other races were paid for at much higher rates. In two packing houses a lower scale of wages had been adopted for Italian laborers than for laborers of other races. In the vast majority of instances, however, the Italians are not thus discriminated against. No other instances of such discrimination were

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