The working week is six days. The six-day week prevails in Shanghai also, but in Hankow the workers get paid for seven days, the extra day being paid for at the average rate of earnings for the week. Conditions and wages of women are somewhat below that of men. The trade union is giving special attention to the problem of women and children, but in the six months of its existence has yet made few improvements in this respect.
A set of demands has been formulated by the Union, which indicate their immediate desires regarding improvement of conditions. These include: 1. eight-hour day; 2. One-hour lunch period; 8. Minimum daily wage; 4. Punitive overtime for night work; 5. Enlargement of lodgings; 6. Improvement of toilets and health conditions; 7. Dining rooms and rest rooms in mills; 8. Abolition of child labor under 12 years, etc., etc.
The few improvements that have so far been achieved in the conditions of women and children are, briefly: women get six weeks vacation with full pay at childbirth; special schools for the children have been established by the Trade Union; factories provide special rooms for feeding children; special departments of the Union have the duty to attend to the needs, demands, and grievances of women and children from day to day.
In the administration of the Union, the women are taking a constantly increasing part. Although women in China are only now emerging from the terrible fetters of feudalism, bound-feet, and double-oppression, they are displaying a remarkable talent which already has given them a position in the trade union movement of China at least equal to that of women in the United States.
This union above described is, of course, one of the best organized unions in the newly-acquired territory of the Nationalist Government. Some unions, which existed before for many years during the illegal period, are stronger and more solid. Others of the new organizations in the trade union movement may not yet make such a good showing. But on the whole, the Textile Workers Union of Wuhan may serve as a good sample of the Chinese Labor Movement.
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