[PRCo] Re: Pgh Railways Street Car Operators Wanted Ad

[Schneider Fred]

Phil:

A lot of people were proud about the jobs done by women during the  
war.   There were still a lot of prejudices too.   We can't have  
women because they get pregnant and quit.   We can't teach them how  
to run a trolley or drive a bus because they'll be watching their  
kids next year.    So we fired them and hired men instead.

Now that we have lived through several generations (ours and our kids  
and now our grandchildren's) who have made having our wife work  
somehow fit in to our livestyles, if only because we found we needed  
someone else to pay the taxes or because they needed to feel  
fulfilled like we did and we learned that it did work.   How would  
most of us on this list be doing today if our wives didn't have  
pensions of their own?    But back to Phil's comment....

You could not legally keep a woman after the war if retaining her  
prevented a former employee who had enlisted or been drafted, from  
claiming his job back.

My statement was that some places continued to employ women  
regardless.  They were there and they kept them because not enough  
people wanted their jobs back.   Some stayed in the military to get a  
pension.   Some went to school after the army.   Some were planted in  
graves in Normandy and Luxembourg and France.   There were more jobs  
than there were returning veterans.   The Pennsylvania Railroad did  
not furlough block operators if sufficient men did not reclaim their  
jobs.    But they generally deep sixed all the women in heavy jobs  
and took any man back.   You didn't see men in the shops after the war.

We also need to acknowledge that the G. I. Bill put a lot of people  
through college after the war who could not have otherwise afforded  
it.  This, and a need for help to produce civilian goods after the  
war, put quite a strain on the labor force.   Four years late those  
kids were out of college and the factories had caught up with  
consumer demand.   By October 1949 unemployment had skyrocketed to  
almost 8 percent of the work force.    The auto manufacturers, for  
example, had to advertise their 1949 cars for the first time in order  
to sell them ... the salesman had to work their tails off to move  
cars.   We needed another war to bring unemployment back down and we  
ran off to Korea for a few years.   It had the intended affect.   
Around 1957-1959, which no wars to fight, unemployment went up  
again.     (Why do you think Argentina invaded the Falkland Islands?)

fws


On Oct 25, 2009, at 1:28 PM, Phillip Clark Campbell wrote:

> Mr.Schneider;
> During the 'war' the PO was probably like the railway;
> women were hired because men were in short supply.
> Some of the women operators continued their careers
> after the war;  they probably did the same with the PO.
> I remember the public speaking proudly about the
> women operators.
>
>
>  Phil
>
> ________________________________
>
>
> ________________________________
> From: Schneider Fred <fwschneider at comcast.net>
> To: pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org
> Sent: Sat, October 24, 2009 12:04:56 PM
> Subject: [PRCo] Re: Pgh Railways Street Car Operators Wanted Ad
>
> That's kind of what I thought ... and they had to get rid of them
> when women had be hired.   I remember female letter carriers at least
> as early as 1963.
>
>> On Oct 24, 2009, at 2:35 PM, Phillip Clark Campbell wrote:
>
>> Mr.Schneider;
>> I concur that the PO most likely had such requirements
>> possibly well into the 1960s if not later.
>>
>>
>>
>> Phil
>>
>>
>>
>> ________________________________
>> From: Schneider Fred <fwschneider at comcast.net>
>> To: pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org
>> Sent: Sat, October 24, 2009 10:55:23 AM
>> Subject: [PRCo] Re: Pgh Railways Street Car Operators Wanted Ad
>>
>> I thought at one time USPO did have some restrictions.   They may
>> have ended about the time women were hired.
>>
>>
>> On Oct 23, 2009, at 10:51 PM, Mark McGuire wrote:
>>
>>>  I was unaware of any height or weight restrictions in the Post
>>> Office. I have seen everything from the very obese, to the scrawny
>>> little woman. Even healthy young bucks have come in to the system
>>> and are unable to do the job. We had a friendly bet going about 12
>>> years ago about how long this very obese guy would last. He's still
>>> there to this day. He's still obese, but he lost quite a bit of
>>> weight from when he started the job. I consider him a friend and he
>>> knows about the bet.
>>>
>>> ---------- Original Message ----------
>>> From: Schneider Fred <fwschneider at comcast.net>
>>> To: pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org
>>> Subject: [PRCo] Re: Pgh Railways Street Car Operators Wanted Ad
>>> Date: Thu, 22 Oct 2009 22:02:24 -0400
>>>
>>> Why does the post office or the police department have weight and
>>> height standards?
>>>
>>> I suspect it would be difficult to run a streetcar if you were not
>>> around 68 inches tall.  It isn't just standing behind the controller
>>> and the brake valve and making change.  Remember, you have to reach
>>> up to attack the destination sign crank up on the canopy of a yellow
>>> car.   The canopy switch (600 volt main switch) is above the
>>> windshield on many older cars.  It is called a canopy switch because
>>> on many older cars it was mounted on the roof canopy.    On a 4300,
>>> the transfer switches used to change ends are in a case above the
>>> front left side window ... you have to be tall enough to reach it.
>>>
>>> Philadelphia lowered the destination sign boxes during the war so
>>> that women could reach them.   As I've aged I'm shrunk from 70  
>>> inches
>>> down to 69 inches.   Even at full height, without the collapsed
>>> vertibrae in my back, I could not reach the heater switches on a
>>> Philly double-end car (like 5326 at Arden) without having a stool on
>>> which to stand.
>>>
>>> Eventually, and I don't know what year, Pittsburgh Railways  
>>> painted a
>>> 1400 as an advertising car asking for women to apply for motorman's
>>> jobs.   It was sometime during the war.    When you can't get men,
>>> you take women.   Even the military does that today.   And guys ...
>>> no I am not a guy who rejects women ... just a realist.  Frankly I
>>> think its great that Bob Dietrich's daughter is enjoying working  
>>> as a
>>> bridge inspector.
>>>
>>> Did I answer the question with sufficient clarity?
>>>
>>> On Oct 23, 2009, at 1:35 AM, Mark McGuire wrote:
>>>
>>>>  Makes perfect sense...in that era. Could you imagine posting an ad
>>>> like that these days?
>>>>
>>>> ---------- Original Message ----------
>>>> From: robert netzlof <wb3iqe at rocketmail.com>
>>>> To: pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org
>>>> Subject: [PRCo] Re: Pgh Railways Street Car Operators Wanted Ad
>>>> Date: Thu, 22 Oct 2009 18:20:50 -0700 (PDT)
>>>>
>>>> --- On Thu, 10/22/09, Mark McGuire <macmarka at netzero.net> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>>  Interesting that if indeed a woman,
>>>>> you'd have to be fairly tall by womens' standards. I'm
>>>>> wondering why you had to be 5'8" or taller.
>>>>
>>>> So as to avoid hiring women without coming right out and saying so?
>>>>
>>>> Bob Netzlof a/k/a Sweet Old Bob
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