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Auto Workers Need High-tech

Auto Workers Need High-tech image
Parent Issue
Month
November
Year
1988
Copyright
Creative Commons (Attribution, Non-Commercial, Share-alike)
Rights Held By
Agenda Publications
OCR Text

The development of computer technology and its impact on the workplace is one of the most important issues currently facing the United States. Yet both the Republican and Democratic parties have refused to discuss this issue publicly. Both parties agree that managers of U.S. companies must have a free hand to "be more competitive." In other words, workers' wages need to be cut, workers' rights need to be restricted. But history shows us that the development of computer technology cannot be left in the hands of management alone. Jobs at low wages, with long hours, and under conditions of psychological manipulation, not only harm workers but are also a disincentive for technological investment. Thus we hear that it is no longer a question of productivity, meaning new technology, but of "individual productivity," meaning speed up. In 1976-79, the UAW won a reduction in the work week in their contracts with auto companies in the form of paid personal days. This provided the stimulus for the auto companies to invest over $80 billion in new machinery by the end of 1983, and was a step forward for the U.S. auto industry. Now, however, the companies have withdrawn the reduced hours and are working auto workers 50, 60 or more hours a week, removing the incentive for updating technology. In place of a shorter work week, the auto companies have pulled from the mothballs, the economic program Alfred Sloan Jr., former President of GM (1923-1947), presented to the Economic Club of Detroit in 1943 as the panacea for today. In that speech, Sloan explained that U.S. management must be cautious about spending stockholder capital on new technology. Instead, he proposed improving management's ability to get more labor out of workers without making any new investments. To do this, he proposed research into diverse methods of wage distribution, labor relations and personnel psychology. Though his program was defeated in 1947-48 by GM workers, it has been resurrected with such experiments as "labor management cooperation," "partnerships," "quality of work life," as well as "two-tier wage scales," "profit sharing," and "bonuses." All of these are efforts to lower wages and get workers to do more intense work for longer hours. When a similar program of bonuses, called the "Scanlon Plan" or the "My Jobs Contest," was attempted by U.S. industry after WWII, the economy was sent into a tailspin. The lower the wages of workers and the longer the hours they worked, the less incentive there was for a Corporation to part with its profits and invest in new technology. Productive capacity contracted and shortages developed, further constricting capacity. By 1947, factories in Flint and Detroit were forced to shut down for a day at a time because of fuel oil shortages. GM had to restrict production of cars because it couldn't get enough steel, as steel capacity had been cut back. Prices of scarce goods were fueling inflation. Both the U.S. Congress and the Michigan legislature tried to fashion anti-inflation legislation. Thus Sloan's program only led to ever worsening economic conditions. UAW workers in Flint, however, solved the problem. They went on the radio, put out a press release, and wrote articles in their local trade union newspapers, calling for a Cost of Living Escalator Clause (COLA) in their upcoming contract. Officials of the UAW International Union opposed them, accusing the Flint workers of anti-union activity. And GM management was opposed to COLA as well. But the Flint auto workers prevailed. COLA and the Annual Improvement Factor, an annual percentage wage increase called the AIF, were introduced into the GM-UAW contract in May 1948. That meant that GM was required to maintain a level of wages that provided a continual inducement for it to invest in new technology. And based on that gain, other labor management rules like arbitration procedures and bidding rights were established. These rules provided the auto companies with further incentive for technological investment. The automotive industry utilizes some of the most advanced technology available. The connection of computers and machinery on the shop floor represents a significant, necessary technological step. It is not the "workerless factory," GM President Roger Smith's dream, or the "workerless state," Michigan Governor James Blanchard's dream, that will solve the problems of technological advancement. The use of computers requires people who can operate them and, more importantly, people who can program them and understand their limitations and strengths. The development of computer technology needs to be in the hands of workers, not in the hands of management alone. Discussion and debate that welcomes the voices of workers, small business people, farmers, amateur computerists and hobbyists on the issues of computer technology are necessary. None of this is happening in this election. None of this will happen until a way is found to expand the limits imposed upon the political process by the narrow agendas of the Democratic and Republican parties.

Ronda Hauben edits The Amatuer Computerist, Box 4344, Dearborn Ml, 48126. 

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Old News
Agenda