Piecework, repetitive work and medicine use in the clothing industry

Abstract

This study was designed to examine the potential effects of severe time constraints on workers' health. Medicine use is considered to be an indicator of non-specific morbidity that is worthy of interest in industrial health research when it is possible to compare workers who share the same culture and socio-economic characteristics, but are submitted to different work conditions. In the clothing industry, our hypotheses were that (1) piecework paid operators would have a higher percentage of medicine users than the hourly paid and (2) operators who did repetitive work would have a higher percentage of medicine users than those who did non-repetitive work. Women selected into the study were between the ages of 45 and 70, natives of Canada, spoke French and lived in the metropolitan region of Montreal. The occupational data came from the files of The Ladies' Clothing Joint Commission. They encompass the 30-year period 1956-85. Data on socio-economic characteristics, smoking status and medicine use of the 800 respondents were obtained by questionnaires administered by specially trained nurses. Among currently employed women, the probability of using stomach medication was higher for pieceworkers than among women who received an hourly wage: OR = 2.57 (1.19-3.96). The probability was also higher for women who did repetitive work than for women who did non-repetitive work: OR = 2.43 (1.26-3.60).