Good Grief!

Much to the chagrin of the esteemed Navigator, I am somewhat skeptical of unions. However, here’s a cool union factoid (via the current Mental Floss newsletter):

In the early 1940s, Boeing Aircraft Company once sent home 53 women for wearing tight sweaters on the job. When the union objected, Management enlisted the help of the National Safety Council, who claimed that sweaters were a fire hazard because they attracted static electricity.

Did my best Google and couldn’t determine how it turned out in the end. Though I did find a more detailed explanation of the safety “issues:”

Their union objected that what was considered perfectly moral attire in the office should not be considered immoral on the shop floor. Management brought in the National Safety Council into the dispute by claiming that sweaters caught fire, attracted static electricity and were a dangerous hazard because they might snag in rapidly turning machinery.

Wouldn’t tight sweaters be less likely to get caught in machinery? BTW, this information is attributed to James R. Petersen’s The History of the Sexual Revolution. People who buy this book also buy Inside the Playboy Mansion: If You Don’t Swing, Don’t Ring.