guangzhou auto union officials.may27.2010
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AUTOMOTIVE INDUSTRY
NORTH AMERICA
May 27, 2010, Presentation to
Guangzhou Federation of Trade Unions
Cathy Walker
Former Director, Health and Safety Department
Canadian Auto Workers Union
中国朋友们
我姓王,叫王慧中
我以前当加拿大汽车工会职业健康与安全(劳
动保护)部长
CHINA AND CANADA ARE OLD
FRIENDS: NORMAN BETHUNE
CHINA AND OUR CANADIAN UNION: OLD FRIENDS,
VANCOUVER UNION LEADERS VISITED IN 1967
AND MET CHAIRMAN MAO
CAW IS THE LARGEST PRIVATE
SECTOR UNION IN CANADA
About 30% of
workers are in
unions in Canada
Better than in the
U.S. but not as
good as in
Europe
CAW REPRESENTS WORKERS IN A
WIDE VARIETY OF INDUSTRIES
Auto assembly and auto parts
Aerospace
Rail
Airlines
Trucking
Marine
Telecommunications
Mining and smelting
Hospitality
Health Care
Fishing
DELEGATIONS FROM
CHINESE UNIONS VISITED OUR
UNION IN CANADA
CHRYSLER BRAMPTON
ASSEMBLY PLANT
I’VE ENJOYED VISITING AUTO PLANTS IN CHINA:
(1974 visit didn’t see auto plants)
1991 First Auto Works, Changchun
2004 Beijing Jeep
2004 Toyota Tianjin
2004 Shanghai GM
2006 Beijing Hyundai
2008 Shanghai GM
2010 Beijing Benz
2010 Beijing Hyundai
2010 Yantai GM
2004 BEIJING JEEP UNION MEETING
BEIJING JEEP: VERY FAMOUS WORKPLACE
GM SHANGHAI: VERY SIMILAR TO
GM OSHAWA, CANADA
SHANGHAI GM UNION LEADERSHIP
REASONS FOR ANITA’S STUDY:
To show similarities between China and auto
production elsewhere
And to analyze the differences and the
reasons for the differences
EARLY MOTOR VEHICLES
NORTH AMERICA EVOLVED FROM
BICYCLE, HENRY FORD’S QUADRICYCLE, 1896
WHOLE VEHICLES MADE BY ONE OR A SMALL
GROUP OF HIGHLY SKILLED MECHANICS,
1901 HENRY FORD
MASS PRODUCTION LED TO
PRODUCTION EFFICIENCY
FORD ASSEMBLY LINE, 1913
INTERCHANGEABLE PARTS RATHER THAN
HAVING TO MAKE NEW PARTS FOR
EACH VEHICLE
Model A, 1903, skilled fitter took 8.5 hours to
build a major part of a car
Model T, 1908, completely redesigned
assembly line so that each job took 2.5
minutes
1913 introduced moving assembly line so
workers didn’t have to walk between
stations, reducing each job to under 2
minutes
FORDISM, MASS PRODUCTION MEANS THAT
JOBS ARE DIVIDED INTO SMALL PARTS SO
HUNDREDS OF UNSKILLED
WORKERS, TOGETHER, BUILD HUNDREDS OF
VEHICLES
WORKERS ARE ALIENATED FROM THE MEANS
OF PRODUCTION, KARL MARX
Capitalist owns the factory
And the workers are simply factors of
production
FORDISM
A term coined by Italian Communist, Antonio
Gramsci to describe a form of production
characterized by an assembly line (conveyor
belt factory system) and standardized
outputs linked with the stimulation of demand
brought about by low prices, advertising, and
credit.
MANY MYTHS AND HALF TRUTHS ABOUT FORD
$5 a day, high wages
Workers should be able to own the vehicles
they produce
But, the reality is that Ford did much to keep
unions out of his factories
FORD USED HIS OWN PRIVATE POLICE FORCE
AND COMPANY GOONS
The company threatened firing and did fire
people for ‘talking union’
Workplaces were full of favouritism and
bribery, eg. Workers needed to give the
supervisors a bottle of alcohol for better jobs
Company spied on workers’ personal lives
Shortage of labour during World War II
meant workers had more power
5 WEEK STRIKE IN WINDSOR, CANADA IN 1945
THOUSANDS OF PICKETS BLOCKADED PLANTS
FINALLY, UNION IS RECOGNIZED AND
COLLECTIVE AGREEMENT ACHIEVED
WE HAVE ACHIEVED A LOT IN OUR
COLLECTIVE AGREEMENTS
Detroit Big 3 bargaining in Canada for 66
years
Each collective agreement has been for 3
years
We have had 22 consecutive collective
agreements
CAW COLLECTIVE AGREMENT WITH
GENERAL MOTORS : 446 PAGES
WE BARGAIN FOR BETTER PROVISIONS
Collective agreements are the laws in our
factories and we try to get provisions in them
that are better than the law
TAYLORISM
FREDERICK WINSLOW
TAYLOR, AMERICAN, 1856-1915
TAYLOR: TASK OF FACTORY MANAGEMENT
determine the best way for the worker to do
the job,
provide the proper tools and training
provide incentives for good performance
TAYLOR BROKE DOWN EACH JOB
into its individual motions
analyzed these to determine which were
essential, and timed the workers with a
stopwatch
scientific management
1910
TAYLOR
eliminated unnecessary motion
thus workers followed a machine like
routine, becoming far more productive
IN MASS PRODUCTION,
WORKERS BECAME COGS IN MACHINES:
BOSS CAN EASILY SPEED UP PRODUCTION
TODAY, TIME AND MOTION STUDIES OF WORKERS’
JOBS MEASURE TINY FRACTIONS OF A SECOND
The effect is that workers no longer can work
ahead on an assembly line to get small breaks
They have no time to rest within their jobs but
must follow the steps laid out by management
precisely or they cannot keep up
CAW BARGAINED UNION- SELECTED, COMPANY-
PAID WORKER TIME STUDY REPRESENTATIVES
The union trains these workers to be able to represent workers’ interests in ensuring jobs are not loaded with too much work
Especially during line balancing periods when new models are introduced, company industrial engineers try to put more and more work into each worker’s job on the assembly line
During line balancing periods when new models are introduced, the time study representatives are extremely busy arguing with company industrial engineers
Eventually either the union time study representative wins completely or at least a compromise is reached and the workload is reduced
LEAN PRODUCTION, TERM BEGAN IN 1988
John Krafcik, quality engineer in the Toyota-
GM NUMMI joint venture in California
Identify and steadily eliminate waste
Continuous improvement
Work intensification
Leading to workers’:
Stress
Injuries
FREE TRADE AGREEMENTS MADE SITUATION
WORSE: DEREGULATION, PRIVATIZATION
Mid- 1990s CAW did studies of workers to
see what effect lean production was having :
16 auto parts plants workers
Also a study of auto assembly plants workers
ANDON LIGHT
WARNS OF PRODUCTION PROBLEMS,
BUT WHAT ABOUT WORKER PROBLEMS?
WORKPLACE UNDEMOCRATIC IN CANADA
Only 17% reported that it would be easy to change the things they did not like about their jobs.
35% reported they had little if any opportunity to vary the pace of their work during the day.
31% had to find a replacement worker before they could go to the washroom.
48% reported they could train someone to do their jobs in a few days or less.
19% reported receiving some classroom based training in the last three months.
35% reported management was now collecting more information on their work performance.
WORKLOAD
There were strong indications that workload was both excessive and increasing in the industry.
61% of those surveyed (61% of women and 61% of men) reported that their workload was either too fast, too heavy, had to be done by too few people, or in too little time.
52% of those surveyed (59% of women and 48% of men) reported that in the last two years their workload had increased, becoming either heavier, faster, or having to be done in less time. (6% reported their workload had been reduced.)
WORK MORE STRESSFUL AND UNHEALTHY
51% of those surveyed (58% of women and 47% of men) reported high levels of workplace health risks. The health risks were considered to be high if workers reported at least two health risks from a list which included: working in pain at least half the days in the last month, working in an awkward position at least half the time, feeling tired after work most days, or being tense at work. *
41% of those surveyed (50% of women and 34% of men) reported their work had become less healthy in the last two years.
UNHEALTHY WORK
40% of those surveyed (42% of women and 39% of men) reported working in pain or physical discomfort half the days in the last month.
37% of those surveyed (40% of women and 35% of men) reported working in physically awkward positions at least half of each day.
44% of those surveyed (50% of women and 40% of men) reported that compared with a couple of years ago, their current job was more tense.
45% of those surveyed (56% of women and 38% of men) reported that compared with a couple of years ago, they were more tired lately
UNION RESPONSE TO LEAN PRODUCTION’S
WORK INTENSIFICATION AND SPEED-UP
We bargained union chosen, company paid
for union ergonomics representatives to
investigate ways of making jobs
easier, redesigning jobs to make them more
comfortable and less likely to produce
injuries
ERGONOMICS IN GM SHANGHAI
FOLLOWS PROCEDURES BEGUN BY
UNION IN CANADA AND US
CONFERENCES AND TRAINING ON ERGONOMICS
Union ergonomics representatives from the plants get together once a year and share their problems and solutions
Union developed a one week course for all auto union leadership on ergonomics so they will understand workers’ strains and sprains problems and the ways of solving them
Ergonomics conferences so more people will understand the problems and solutions
Ergonomics manual for workers, posted it on our home page
UNION RESPONSE TO LEAN PRODUCTION’S
WORK INTENSIFICATION AND SPEED-UP
We bargained more time off during the year so workers have more vacation time, from 2 weeks paid vacation time per year for new workers up to 6 weeks paid vacation per year for older workers
We bargained more long weekends so workers will have more time to rest
We bargained longer rest periods during the day
CURRENT ISSUES FOR WORKERS IN CANADA:
JOB LOSS
Contracting out, ie jobs go elsewhere to
other plants in Canada or to other countries
Free trade agreements and de-regulation
have hurt workers, allowing companies to go
where they want, when they want
IMPROVING PRODUCTIVITY IN AUTO ASSEMBLY
If an auto assembly company can reduce the
number of its direct employees by sub-
contracting out or in (using dispatch
workers), its reported productivity goes up
And since it is seen as a productive
company, the price of its shares goes up
Today, a plant producing 250,000 or more
cars per year is considered efficient and
productive
WORKERS RESIST,ED LED BY THE UNION
OCCUPATION OF GM FACTORY, 1996
ISSUE, CONTRACTING OUT, 5 WEEK STRIKE
CRISIS OF OVERPRODUCTION:
ENDEMIC TO CAPITALISM AND A MARKET
ECONOMY, EXACTLY AS MARX DESCRIBED
Late 2008, GM and Chrysler faced
bankruptcy in US and were bailed out by US
and Canadian governments
BUT WE RESISTED THE LEVEL OF CONCESSIONS
THE COMPANIES WANTED, THE GOVERNMENT
FORCED SOME EROSIONS TO VACATION
PERIODS BUT WE MAINTAINED OUR WAGE
STRUCTURE
THE MOST IMPORTANT THING IS
Unions must be on the side of the workers at all times
It is our role to defend workers collectively and individually
In the workplace
In the community
In the country
And internationally
THANKS VERY MUCH
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