Conditions of Employment
Hours will average 54 a week. Wages have increased about 10 per cent in the past two years, and there has been some tendency to shorten hours.
The wages received by box makers vary from 15 cents to a maximum of 40 cents an hour. Crate and basket makers, many of whom are women and boys, receive less. Cabinetmakers get from 20 cents to 75 cents an hour, according to the skill required. As a rule in the planing mills, where the men are organized, wages are higher, but these are offset by the fact that the planing-mill operators do not have as steady employment.
Men in this occupation are employed quite regularly and do not move about much. In planing mills and to some extent in other factories, men remain year after year at the same bench, and there are many old men who have worked at the trade for 50 years. They are quite certain of steady employment at a living wage. But there is not much opportunity for advancement and independence unless the workman can become an owner of stock in the factory.
PLAN No. 932. SPECIAL OPPORTUNITIES FOR DISABLED MEN
In this field there are positions which will appeal to men with certain sorts of disabilities. Some of these occupations require a knowledge of materials and processes and the ability to direct men, but demand little in the way of mechanical training. Among these may be mentioned the following:
Foreman of cabinetmakers and assemblers.
Foreman of shipping room.
Yard foreman, in charge of dry kiln and yard.
Cost estimator for planing-mill.