A pathetic appeal has been addressed by organizations representing 900,000 women workers, ineluding those who took part in the recent silk filature strike, to the Civ Governor of Kiangsu, imploring him to reduce their hours of labour.
The women state, according to the "Minkuopac," that their hours of labour are nominally 11 per day, but in practice usually 14.. Under these conditions in summer time their health is seriously affected. Therefore the strikers' demand for a reduction of working hours is surely reasonable. It is pointed out that the Washington International Labour Conference of 1920, at which Dr. Wellington Koo represented China, decided upon an eight-hour day and 48-hour week. This decision has been ignored by the silk filatures. Should the Civil Governor use his influence to effect a reduction in the women's hours of labour ''we will never forget your kindness," the petition concludes.
It may be recalled that at a recent meeting of the guilds, they were unanimous in their opinion that only silk of an inferior quality had for some time past been turned out by the women. This is not surprising when, as the women state, 14 hours' labour per day has proved detrimental to their health.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.