The
largest straw hat in the world, c.1905 [Z1306/75/17/45]
Saturday
6th October 1917: A meeting of the Luton Chamber of Commerce
was held last night at which a report was made on a proposal to introduce
common working hours throughout the Luton hat trade. The suggested hours would begin earlier, have a fixed dinner hour,
miss out the tea hour, and close earlier in the evening. The proposal was
favourably received, but it was decided to refer it to separate committees for
detailed consideration. The general principle of shorter hours was supported,
but there was some concern that fixed hours would cause problems for companies
with very few employees, where considerable overtime was often worked during
busy seasons. Limiting hours might put some of these firms in a difficult
position, and the loss of extra wages would be unpopular with their staff. In
response to this concern it was pointed out that it was not right for any man
to work from 4 a.m. until as late as 10 p.m., doing a fortnight’s work in a
week.
Source:
Luton News, 11th October 1917
No comments:
Post a Comment