Gabriel 150 years - Flipbook - Page 26
Naturally, this influenced wages, and in ±∫≤∫,
celling out of the ±≤ ±/≤ hectares of land was
the textile workers demanded a return to a nor-
completed in ±∫≥∏. In ±∫≥π, when this sale
mal µπ-hour working week and higher wages.
could no longer “improve” the annual reports,
a modest deficit was shown. A turn around
In the factory, the weavers continued to earn the
had occurred by ±∫≥∫; the report for that year
highest wage. In ±∫≤π, the average wage for a
showed a profit of almost ∂∞,∞∞∞ Danish kro-
weaver was ±±π øre per hour, compared to ±±∞ øre
ner, and a dividend of µ% was paid to share-
per hour for a spinner. The male weavers earned
holders.
more than the female. In ±∫≤π, a male weaver
Turnover increased, as did the number of
earned an average of ±≤± øre per hour, while a
employees. In ±∫≥∞, the textile workers’ union
woman earned only π∂ øre per hour. In ±∫≤π, the
listed µ∞ members employed at Kjærs Mølle,
quick fingers of the ∂ female seamstresses gave
and in ±∫≥∫, the number had increased to ∂≥.
them an average hourly wage of ±±∏ øre.
The number of weavers increased from ±∂ to ≤≤
during the same period.
There were apparently few significant conflicts
between the union and Kjærs Mølle in this pe-
The factory continued to make use of foreign la-
riod. The archives of the textile workers’ union,
bour when Danish workers with suitable qualifi-
Tekstilarbejderforbundet, describe primarily
cations could not be found. We know, for exam-
small disagreements. Due to the company’s
ple, that in August ±∫≥∫, the residence-permit of
long period of crisis, the union undoubtedly
a German employee was extended by ∑ months,
saw little hope of negotiating higher wages.
specifically on the condition that his Danish re-
When in ±∫≥µ the spinners expressed their dis-
placement be trained as quickly as possible.
satisfaction with their earnings, the union in-
Foreign labour was also hired at manage-
formed them that their wage, a combination of
ment level. Around ±∫≥π-≥∫, the managing
an hourly wage and a rate for piecework, was
director since ±∫≥≤, V. Bärnholt, retired and
“considerably higher than what was earned at
was replaced by a Swede, Folke Müller. Textile
many other textile factories”.
manufacturing was more highly developed in
Sweden than in Denmark, and it was, therefore,
natural to seek a qualified manager there. But
Progress prior to the occupation
Folke Müller differed from his colleagues in
Toward the end of the ±∫≥∞s, there was again
more than nationality – during the war, his
cause for optimism at Kjærs Mølle. The par-
sympathies lay with the Germans.
1898-1940
27
