9

Whistle While You Work:
Industrial Relations and Personnel

Industrial Relations

Thile everyone who worked at GECO agreed that peace in the world superseded any personal agenda, both management and employees had their own particular motivations, problems, and expectations. GECO created their Industrial Relations Department as a liaison between its employees and management.1 Industrial Relations staff handled employee queries pertaining to employment, working conditions, fair wages, recreational activities, and they were responsible for publishing GECO’s employee newspaper.2 The department also dealt with any complaints or grievances that could not be resolved to the satisfaction of employees and management at the production level of the organization.3 The adage “whistle while you work” rang true for GECO workers. Instead of the grime and roar of machines found in other war plants throughout the nation, songs sung by female operators filled the air at “Scarboro” in surroundings that were just as clean and quiet as their own homes.4

Personnel

The Personnel Department, housed in Building No. 2 on the dirty side of the plant, and in the clean-side office in Building No. 153 in the Danger Zone, was mandated to hire the very best employees that could be found, and to make their stays at GECO as “pleasant, profitable, and prolonged as possible.”5 The three “P’s” sounded easy, but it took a constant and applied effort to retain employees who were willing to stay regardless of other perhaps more lucrative employment elsewhere, including other war industries. “Workers who move from one plant to another lose time from work,” Bob Hamilton said.6 “Time is wasted in training them for new jobs. This is a hindrance to Canada’s war effort and a help to the enemy.”7 There was an initial period of employee flux early on when GECO struggled to replace employees who could not adjust to the conditions of war work.8 Thankfully, for all concerned, the workforce stabilized in the latter half of 1942.9 In August 1942, GECO reached its highest level of employment with 5,324 men and women working around the clock.10

Department staff handled employee questions, resolved problems, and provided information on all company and community resources.11 The personnel team also welcomed constructive suggestions that could help improve morale or production.12

There’s Got to Be a Better Way

Management encouraged and welcomed constructive suggestions from employees on all aspects of plant life,13 and was particularly interested in ideas that could save time, labour, or material.14 Listening to their largely female employee base for suggestions was innovative and a huge improvement from the attitudes around women’s war work in the Great War, when women were treated like children, thought incapable of advanced thinking. “Engineering mankind is possessed of the unshakable opinion”, a First World War worker stated, “that no woman can have the mechanical sense.”15 If women challenged the men, however humbly, during those years, they were told gently that if any improvement could be made, a man would have made it prior to her arrival. “As long as we do exactly what we are told and do not attempt to use our brains, we give entire satisfaction, and are treated as nice, good children. Any swerving from the easy path prepared for us by our males arouses the most scathing contempt in their manly bosoms.”16

At Scarboro, to help employees offer suggestions for improvement at GECO, suggestion boxes were set up at convenient locations around the plant.17 When an employee saw an opportunity to create a better tool, a more efficient way to fill fuses, a way to make a “better” (more deadly) fuse — anything that would help to move an “empty” through the plant more cost-effectively, or shorten the steps to fill it — they were encouraged to write the suggestion down and place it in the box. By April 1944 more than one thousand suggestions had been received, and more than half of those had been implemented and their owners suitably rewarded.18 Names of award winners appeared in GECO’s newspaper; however, only names of the winners were listed because “details of the nature of the work done in this plant would be revealed which come under the heading of military secrets.”19

Show Me the Money

During the time Scarboro operated, the Canadian government established all policies regarding wage rates and employee benefits.20 However, Bob and Phil Hamilton were eager to facilitate training and advancement of their employees so that they could qualify for and receive the highest authorized pay rates as quickly as possible.21 In 1943, wages started at thirty-five cents per hour.22 A Cost of Living Allowance wage adjustment occurred annually. The Cost of Living Allowance during the war reached 17 percent at one point.23 A typical GECO operator could expect her average weekly pay to be from $17–$19.62 to start.24 Remarkably, handling explosives in munitions work paid less than other wartime industries such as aircraft manufacturing.25 Unlike their American counterparts, Canadian munitions workers did not receive an additional six cents per hour in hazard pay.26 Dorothy Cheesman, in her opinion, received very attractive wages for her age, earning between $15 and $17.50 per week.27 Typical wages for a female clerk in 1941 were $731 per annum, or $14.06 per week.28

As for GECO’s executives, the Canadian government needed the very best available men and women to fill the top-level positions. It awarded the plant’s chief staff healthy monthly salaries. Dr. Jeffrey, head physician, earned $450; Mr. Flexman, plant manager, made $625; E.H. Smith, plant consultant, earned $516; and Mrs. Florence Ignatieff, cafeteria manager, received $350 monthly.29

The Canadian government granted six paid days of vacation — an important dispensation established during the war — to employees after they had completed one year of service, according to terms set out by the government’s National and Regional War Labour Boards.30 However, if the employee took an unauthorized absence from work, their vacation was docked one half day for each transgression.31

GECO and Its Books of Many Colours

As a top-secret munitions plant, security and safety were paramount at Scarboro, not only to GECO’s success as a producer of ammunition, but also to victory overseas. GECO, like other Canadian war plants, issued many small booklets — small enough to fit in handbags and men’s shirt pockets — which outlined rules and regulations relating to particular aspects of plant life. Each employee could count on receiving one or several guides, depending on their responsibilities. The front cover of each booklet was a different colour for easy identification.

The Employees’ Guidebook — brown in colour — presented a series of “articles” covering everything from secrecy, ID passes, and change house regulations, to attendance expectations, pay regulations, vacation plans, and training.32 It further addressed safety directives, industrial relations, medical help, cafeteria services, awards, service badges, and enrollment in the plant’s Recreation Club.33 The book outlined processes and procedures that would help make employees at GECO more comfortable and positive.

The Hamilton brothers and the Canadian government were eager to instill a sense of loyalty and pride in their workers from the moment they were brought on board. “The products of this Plant constitute a vital portion of Canada’s war effort,” wrote Bob and Phil Hamilton in the guidebook’s introduction.34 “They are now being used by the Active Service Forces of the United Nations. Your work in this Plant is therefore a real contribution towards the winning of the war. Attend regularly and put your best effort into your job so that YOUR war effort may be a source of pride and satisfaction to YOU.”35

100 Percent Club

Despite encouraging patriotism and dedication, the Hamilton brothers and their management team struggled with chronic employee absenteeism at Scarboro. Major causes of absenteeism included sickness, childcare needs, household duties, shopping, and shift fatigue.36 GECO’s absenteeism rate in 1942 was more than 25 percent, three times higher than that of the War Industry Average (WIA) of just over 7 percent.37 GECO’s absentee rate dropped over the next three years, to its lowest point in 1945 at slightly over 10 percent, but remained almost double the WIA.38 Bob and Phil Hamilton emphasized that the high percentage of absenteeism was due to “employing a very large proportion of women with home duties.39 It was necessary to do this in order to absorb all the labour available,” they explained, “and due allowance was made for this in determining the force required.”40 Was this explanation reasonable and legitimate? Absolutely. Even if there was any question as to the loyalty of their employees, the Hamiltons defended them, nevertheless.

GECO management employed both the “carrot” and the “stick” approach to absenteeism. Posters hung up around the plant “shamed malingerers,” pointing out that taking a day off meant one more “round our Boys Won’t Get.”41 On the other hand, instead of focusing on the negative — berating those who did not show up for shifts — management also adopted a more positive and proactive approach. In 1944, the plant introduced the “100 Percent Club.”42

Admission into the club was simple — show up for every shift. For each three-month period of perfect attendance, management awarded an operator a blue chevron badge she wore on the left sleeve of her uniform at her wrist.43 A thin red chevron replaced four blue chevrons, earned non-consecutively.44 Workers who “put in full time without absence, misconduct, or lateness, for twelve consecutive months”45 merited a wide red stripe, the highest awarded emblem.46 The 100 Percent Club was exclusive, and the fifty GECOites who earned their wide red stripes wore them with pride.47

An Urgent Need — the Guns to Feed

War plants in Canada faced several hiring crises during the Second World War.48 Despite Toronto’s large population being situated only a few miles away, severe worker shortages kept GECO striving to meet their production quotas. The Hamiltons and their staff, never shying away from a challenge, strove to overcome the persistent unavailability of labour.49 Every year, the munitions-filling factory ran massive hiring campaigns in tandem with Canada’s National Selection Service.50 They made provisions to address worker childcare needs and to offer flexible shifts. The plant relaxed their employment standards, allowing anyone from seventeen to seventy to apply, and hired part-time and lower-graded workers.51 With the introduction of bulk assembly line production, increased efficiency was evident on many fuse-filling lines, calling for fewer trained personnel.52 They expanded their hiring radius as far as British Columbia.53 Management educated their entire workforce about the plant’s need for more women.54 Plant manager Major Flexman spoke to every shop on every shift to communicate the need for more employees, and handed out referral cards and “GECO News” pamphlets.55 GECO even went so far as to offer its employees GECO bumper stickers to help advertise. The stickers apparently had “a smart appearance.”56 Robert Simpson Co. set up a pair of window displays at its store for two weeks to promote both GECO and D.I.L. at no cost to the plants.57

In addition, at the end of June 1944, the Toronto Daily Star ran generous articles highlighting GECO’s pressing employment needs. In the first of a three-series set of articles, the Star considered GECO workers “life savers,” equating them to a battlefield nurse in her crisp white uniform who saved lives with her tender care.58 Of course, GECOnians were saving Canadian lives by “nursing” deadly fuses that would blow up the enemy.

War plants in Canada faced several hiring crises during the Second World War. GECO geared employment advertising toward women, and appealed to their sense of patriotism. “Ammunition Saves Lives,” one ad read. “GECO Needs 1500 More Women to Fill Fuzes [sic] to Save Lives. Tell Your Friends. Tell Your Friends to Tell Their Friends.” Courtesy of Barbara Dickson and the Scarborough Historical Board.

Bob Hamilton is quoted in the article:

Unless we in Canada can tremendously increase our production of shells, our Canadian soldiers are going to find themselves short of artillery ammunition, and when they haven’t enough artillery they have to attack with bayonet or rifle alone, and that means heavy casualties. Artillery saves lives. Every girl at General Engineering feels that the lives of her brothers, or sons, or husband, is in her hands, and they really are. If we can keep a steady stream of shells going overseas, we will bring back many more of our boys alive and sound.59