floatin factory fears

 here's my idea of defeat
                    as victory

   stop progress
      to save superceeded
                skills and proceedures 


====================================

 actually this openner quote
           is great


  from "jack up" jack  Welch
 former CEO of General Electric
  

 "if I had my  way, 
  i'd put my factories on barges 
and drag them around the world,
in search of the lowest wages 
       and least regulation.  "

thats not progress talkin folks 

thats same jobs for less wages
 and more natural hell

we stop that by buildin 
the plants in iowa 
and alabama 

state of the art 
green and mean plants 

and go for
 wage rate  max
and hour max 

that and a low enough dollar 
will get it done  

that iz
 if we plant 
 real live   job soviets 
inside the gates

and keep plantin' em 
fast
furious and 
as far as the eye can see  

----------------------------------------------------

now for his real tale and pitch


" Jack Welch's dream of infinitely mobile factories 
is
one in which the workforce has been made
irrelevant

 < really? seems they're critical 
   only they're  availible
        cheaperharder and longer
       else where
   and with "state"
         authorities
   willing  to tolerate
  more air water and earth
  stinks sinks and shrinks 
    iincluding 
       more 
     on the job  poisoning
       of  human organs  >
 

where workers have little 
or no control over
the production process

  < ok agree job soviets needed here >

 and workers have all become replaceable cogs
 in
a management-controlled machine
 and have lost key
sources of leverage

< here already 
   the skunk starts to smell
 cogs ?
 so what about the skill content
or individual control

i say 
 better a 25 dollar an hour" cog"
then a 12 dollar an hour
 "black smith" >

In many ways Jack Welch's vision is becoming a reality,
as advances in technology and work organization allow
management to take increasing control over work
processes and ultimately put work on "electronic
barges" 

  < clever but non substantive
out sourcing of service functions
like back office stuff
 presents no new obsticle to organization 
then garments made in losotho > 

(through a combination of computerization and
telecommunications)--moving it around the world at will

< thanks for the redundency pal
new technology always means 
job disruption and de skilling 
or the fuckin bit wouldn't happen
cause it wouldn't up profitz >


The failure of unions 
to take on the restructuring of
the workplace 
is a disaster for workers' future

< truism as oracle>.

New technologies and new ways 
of organizing work are
flooding into our workplaces.

< here comes the horizon tour>

 From global positioning
systems installed in trucks 
to monitor drivers
 < ya ok so by itself what ...>

 to
electronic medical records
 and hospital information
systems 
that are replacing 
health care workers 
and
centralizing control< oh so we want to let health costs rise at the rate of wages per hour
or just let wage rates stagnate
and keep more doing less for longer 
then technically possible
you fucking ludite klown>

 
 to lean production 
and other
programs that standardize 
and intensify work
< ok 
heres a stupid trick
couple  standardize
a code name for de skill
and divide 
which is part of 
the inevitable progress
toward eventual automation
a good thing 
charley brown
with a potentially
bad thing 
  intensification
code for harder faster better 
which may or may not be  ok
depending on wage and hour rate changes
and  which whatever the vredict on go or no go 
is
definitely not a direct result
 of efficiency enhancing 
work design change
and thus is a variable
under the control of a well run
 job soviet >
     

 no sector
of the economy escapes change.
< yes indeed mate
     services will not be spared >

< watch out !
 here comes
 the de rigour 
   cry baby
  poor poor pitiful wageling shit>

Management's workplace offensive 
is devastating
workers' conditions.
 
Stress, 
repetitive strain injuries, 
and other manifestations 
of intensified work
processes 
and on going monitoring
 are 
taking their toll.

< speed em up stretch em out >


But perhaps more importantly,
 these changes are
undercutting 
the sources of worker leverage and power
that are embedded in 
and grow out of the work process

< see where he's going here
 the system now gives more
worker  control 
then its replacement 
fuck this is an ancient lament
 like talk of a long siberian wimter  >
   


The changes undercut 
access to and control over
critical skills 

< does this not seem like gibberish?
why do he gibber?
   cause he's hack obsolete job rescuing here

"access" means
 still used
and "control"
 means keep usinin the future 
translation:
"save our phoney balonge jobs
from technical progress
 like the fireman on the electric locmotive" >

they(the changes in work technique ) eliminate the opportunities
 to
build solidarity 
through interaction in the workplace

< jesus god he's a latter day menonite  
we need to restrict technical progress
to keep our job site community together>


and they (the changesin work technique )
contribute to 
a loss of faith in the union
 as
a voice for the future.

< no need of that 
this jack assery here does
the trick all by its lonesome >


DE-SKILLING
< out of the closet at last
heres where we been headed all along>


Despite promises of high skills and high wages, most
workers will tell you that with computerization and
work restructuring, their jobs are becoming less
skilled and they are becoming more replaceable.
  < right face it and  live with it 
get the highest wage rate 
and lowest hour min 
you can >

Computers gather information on how the job is done,
and then use that information to standardize and
control the work process.
 Automated teller machines
lead to automated check-in 
at the airport 
and automated
check-out at the supermarket
 with fewer workers doing
more work 
controlled by more machines

< aahh progress
should lead to shorter hours 
and more per hour right?>


Lean production techniques 
use kaizen (continuous
improvement) 
< shit jap talk>


and other forms
 of employee involvement 
to harvest workers' knowledge 
and build it into 
the processes of production 
and service delivery

< and whats so wrong with that dopey
by itself it only creates more for less
i.e higher value added per hour 
handled right
 the new wage  force 
may well " de-skilled"
 but then 
this
" de-skilled" remnant "harvests"
 a higher wage rate 
i.e.
makes more then de-skilled used to make>


< remember 
once the job soviet system
  grabs the reins 
the innovation lay off lottery
makes the leavers  the winners>

 thus
standardizing and intensifying work.
  < clever to claim worker involvement 
in process improvement
is just helping "the other side"
 the profiteers straw men
 to speed ya up
  cut ya back
lay ya off 
and thats true and important
but the answer is not shut yer trap 
its seize control by job soviet contract>

LOSS OF SOLIDARITY

Critical skills are well recognized 
as a source of
union and worker strength.

< god is this ever the cry of the labor better offs
 their"skill"
needs preserving cause they'll use it
to protect theit skilless mates
bull shit
they need u
not u need them

their endangered listed
skills are gonzo unless u fight 
to preserve em
like snail darters
we at the tute
 say 
maintain their phonus balonus 
old hat  bag of  out  dated tricks 
as socially  progressive  jobs?

 why baby why 
honest sweat is just stupid if its not necessary
 so is keeping around
a pack of ancient  
skillheads
 that are ready for the  stripper> 

 But with changing work and
advances in technology, 
a new workplace is created
where sustaining solidarity 
becomes increasingly
difficult.

< ie common wagery sez
hey fuck that skill head >

 As workers are increasingly 
monitored and
work is computerized 
and intensified, 
direct
human-to-human
 communication is diminished.
  < actually the mechanized depersonalized factories 
proved far  easier
 to  org  then offices>


A robot used in office settings to deliver mail
replaces a person who was often a key source of
interconnectivity and an important distributor of
workplace information. Automated communication funneled
through computer systems is limiting and controlling
the nature of worker interaction.
   < non sense total silly non sense>




"Flexible" schedules, new shift patterns, mandatory
overtime, and temporary/contract arrangements are
making social interaction difficult 
even outside of work
 

Shift change--historically a critical time for
socializing and sharing work--has diminished in
significance as fewer workers change shift at the same
time,
< heres a real point
the flex creates a new set 
of org requirements

but so what >
more workers are in a hurry to get home (in part
because of long hours of work),
 and workers are simply
too tired to relax at the end of the "day." 

 


Technology has a role to play 
in this arena as well.
Because of automated dispatch technology in the
trucking industry, service drivers in utility companies
are being allowed to "home garage" company vans. For
these workers, the single significant opportunity for
interacting with peers and sharing experience is
eliminated.

< the home work menace 
we'll all end up doing small meaningless
 bits
at home and letting the machines run the deal
     we need to be forced each job day to congregate 
or we'l never get it together to get it on >
 
Unions' failure to take action on work restructuring
and technological change means surrendering core
sources of union strength that allow workers to exert
power and feel solidarity in the course of their
working day.

 < non sense 
set up job soviets 
even if its tupperware orged
  will succeed once the wage sea rises
lets get goin
existing 
org cadre need 
to get the hang of the job soviet system now
and more cadre need to be  recruited
 and the national  "org" orgs need building
testing perfecting>
 
LACK OF RESPONSE

Why isn't there more of a reaction when management
makes changes that have such profound impacts on union
members and on their leverage against management? Why
aren't unions more concerned and prepared? Why don't
they have a strategy?
  < check out the fucking hole in your fucking head
           dildo 
u got the wrong goals the wrong methods the wrong people >
 
The surrender of the "shop floor"--of decisions about
work--to management is a disaster for working people and
for the future of collective action.
  < hey fella now yer talkin 
  why not drop the boo hoo
da man strppied my skil my benes and my manhood
  and figure out
 what it will take 
to grab control 
of these job site's work floors >


Labor's focus on periodic contract bargaining and
ongoing contract enforcement, combined with an
acceptance of management's right to introduce new
technologies and restructure work, are out of synch
with the reality of ongoing change in the workplace.

 < right on brother richardson>

Conceding today's decisions about work process and
technology sets the stage for defeat in the future.

  < in the future ?
   how about already
for 30 years at least >

One local union president, who was facing an Electronic
Medical Records system in the hospital she represents,
said: "The members are really being taught that they
should just put up with it, that there is nothing that
the union can do."
  < shoot that president she's a virtual yellow dog >

This despite the de-skilling, monitoring, job
disruption, and job loss that will result. She said
that members had been taught over and over that things
not settled by the contract are up to management. And
the result is that "the members are losing faith in the
union because we aren't winning the big battles."

When members call the union with their concerns about
restructured work and technological displacement, their
question is, "What should I do?" Unions often respond
with information about re-training and bumping
procedures, and a large dose of, "We're not sure."
 

The members are not asking, 
"What are we going to do?",

< what in hell is his point here?>

and the union is not prepared to change the question
into an opportunity for organizing and struggle.
  < which question ?
the one rankers aren't asking
shit cadre act not react
they don't pay dues to solve their own problems alone 
u dudes are supposed to have answers to situations not questions> 

CONTINUOUS BARGAINING

A framework of "continuous bargaining" is critical to
the future of unions and working people. This means
inserting the voice and interests of workers into every
decision about new technologies and the restructuring
of work.

< right thats the job soviet system>

Unions need to treat every discussion between labor and
management as bargaining, whether it is called a team
meeting, a problem-solving session, or a steering
committee meeting. The union should insist on being
notified about every kind of change in the way work is
done, in advance, and insist on discussing the
specifics.

< no the job soviet is a ranker outfit
they'l call on cadre if needed 
this is bottom up stuff
empowerment
 not biz agent hand jobbing stuff >

According to the NLRB, 
the union has the right to
bargain over any change in wages, hours, and conditions
of employment unless there is a "clear and
unmistakable" waiver of that right in the contract.

< big fuckin deal
u get  not a flea hop closer to realizing 
  job site worker control 
 just cause the stinkin'
N L R B GEEZERS 
   seez its kosher>

BARGAIN OVER IMPACT OF CHANGE

Even where management has the right to make a change
(such as implementing a new technology), the union has
the right to bargain over the impact of that change.
But these rights exist only if the union takes action
and demands bargaining.
  < JESUS >


Unions can use formal information requests as a way to
monitor the implementation of new technologies, educate
and communicate with members, and bargain over
technological change.
< LIKE THATS THE ISSUE
GETTING THE FACTS OUT >

For unions to win in the future, they must begin using
such tactics to reclaim the shop floor."
  < WHAT TACTICS
YOU HAVEN'T SUGGESTED ANY TACTICS
ONLY
A  "CONTINUOUS BARGAINING" STRATEGY

PRECISELY
 WHAT WE NEED IS 
THE TACTICAL DISCUSION
U DON'T GIVE HERE
WE DON'T NEED 
 THIS BROAD BEAMERS 
GAS RELEASE 

SHOW US THE WINNING PUNCHES PAL
NOT THIS  SHIT >

Charley Richardson