The Sad Story of Volvo

It was really hard for me to read that Volvo was sold to the Chinese. It was back in the 1970s and 80s when I was heavily involved with many other social engineers trying to figure out what to do about increasing signs of blue collar alienation. Increasing absenteeism, drug use and alcoholism seemed to be symptoms of increasing alienation from their work. That created, at least in the US and Europe a whole new concern about how work was being done. That lead to a rediscovery of the fact that most if not all mass production jobs were mindless and stupefying. Having spent a large part of my working life in factories this was not news. I enthusiastically supported the “newly” discovered source of worker alienation.

This lead to the establishment of a whole series of work experiments that were designed to give workers a new empowerment. The general idea was to give employees, at the point of production, greater control and responsibility for their assigned tasks. There were self managing work teams that would plan how they would get their work done. ie, At the Philips television assembly plant in Einhoven every morning a group of workers would gather round a large revolving table and decide how they would proceed to assemble television sets. They had no supervision. They would decide how to rotate positions of the assembly so that no one had to be at the same position through the whole shift. That was an example of a self managing work team. My observations and discussions with the employees indicated that it was quiet successful.

The Swede’s were very enthusiastic about the idea of empowering workers. They created a government sponsored “Work Institute” that would have the responsibility to assist in helping to empower employees. The Institute was instrumental in working with Volvo on the creations of a new assembly plant at Kalmar. What they did at Kalmar was to tackle one of the most difficult alienation sights in all manufacturing, the automobile assembly line. ( Probably more than all the sociological studies of the assembly line Chaplin’s movie “Modern Times” had a greater influence in helping us understand the deadly effect of this kind of work.)

The Kalmar plant was a major investment on the part of Volvo to eliminate the deadliness of the line. In some ways similar to what Philips did at Einhoven they created work stations along the line where assembly teams would gather and decide on the division of labor for the final assembly, Upon visiting Kalmar I was impressed by what the Volvo people were trying to do, Unfortunately. competitively I did not believe it would work. I have always hated to admit it but what Henry Ford invented was an amazing machine called the assembly line. It had as its critical component humans who were an integral part of the machine and completely controlled by it. That’s what Volvo really tried very hard to change. I was sad to learn that from a bookkeeping standpoint it just didn’t work.

It is generally acknowledged that the Volvo is a very good automobile. Probably the safest on the road today. Ford tried to make a go of it but that didn’t seem to work either. Now it goes to China where the Industrial Revolution is just booming away as it did here in the 19th and 20th century. The Chinese are pulling out all the stops to catch up with the capitalism of the West. The tragedy of all this catching up is the fact that the planet will be the victim of the geometric increase in pollution, Our poor globe has had enough industrial development as evidenced by all the changes going on. As China and India race to catch up with America and Europe they may just be creating the tipping point for the health of the planet. After that it may just be to late to save it as we know it. All of this was just to say how sorry I am to see Volvo dumped in there with the rest of the high polluters. A very sad end for Volvo.

PS. Back in 1979 I edited a book titled, “American Workers Abroad” MIT Press The book is about American workers working in new experimental workplaces in Europe. The idea was to help US companies to learn some of the lessons of how to empower workers, There were many workplace experiments going on in the US. An interesting review of these experiences can be found in the book, “The New American Workplace” by James O’Toole and Edward Lawler. Society For Human Resource Management

Pall Over The Land

I have this strange sense like I’m back in the 30ies and there is an overwhelming feeling of sadness in the land as if something has been lost. I think what has been lost is any kind of civility in our political discourse. Political discourse has always had a lunatic fringe that carried things to extremes. There were plenty of hate to go around during the struggles of the 30ies. The dozens of Hearst Newspaper hated FDR. The political dialogue often reached a fever pitch. The thing that was fundamentally different was the presence of a powerful left that could countervail the right. That gave the victims of the depression a real voice. The unemployed had the “Unemployment Councils” lead by Israel Amter and acknowledged communist but a most capable organizer.

Amter was able to bring together thousands of the victims of the economic crisis in city after city getting them to make demands on the governments from the precincts the Cities States and right on to Washington. Yes, working people were the victims but they were able to have a voice through their organizations. Then there was a powerful Labor Movement that used its organized strength to join the battle for a “better world.” All of this lead to the creation of what is known today as, “The Safety Net.” Home Relief Unemployment Insurance, Social Security, Wages and Hours Act etc. All of these reforms came with a real struggle on the part of the victims of the “Depression.” It was the struggles that involved millions of citizens that kept us from sliding into the kind of pall that I sense has now enveloped the land.

There is no comparison between our present situation and the 1930ies. For all good intensive purposes, at the present time there is no organized left in this country. Oh yes there are some small groups here and there as well as some left publications like “The Nation,” “American Prospect” or “the Progressive” that are making a valiant attempts to keep a left leaning spirit alive. As for any real organization? There just ain’t none and that includes what is left of the Labor Movement. Not much. So what’s this got to do with the “Pall” over the land?

The ideas, the philosophy, the causes as represented by our two major parties centrists gets to be revolutionized by the orthodoxy on the Republican right. For example the the pro-life idea the life begins at conception can be argued about. But when the extreme orthodox take it over they believe in blocking access to clinics or shooting doctors who perform abortions is “the work of scripture” they are Jihad terrorists. That’s what orthodoxy lead to.

Most unfortunate in our times is the acquisition of a major television network by the Australian Ruppert Murdock. That Network is in full throttle support of the most avowed right wing nuts out there. Yes I am referring to Glenn Beck and many of his cronies on the Fox network. Listening to Beck raving about the “secret codes” of the “progressives” where he admonishes his viewers to beware of the term “social justice as it is a code for progressives to take over the government.” To any rational person this sounds like pretty cuckoo stuff. Yet I am reminded of all the tin horn fascists in the thirties who pedaled the exact same scare em to death stuff as a way to power. In the fifties it was MaCarthyi who was the master of this scare tactic as a way to gain control of the body politic.

It became clear to me during the health care debate that the scare tactic was once again out in full force. Now while it didn’t manage to defeat the legislation it has created a deep pall of fear that is effecting how people conceive of the public good. We are losing any compassion we had for each other in this endless meat grinder of propaganda of hate being churned out of the Fox “News network.”
The Tea Party folks have stolen the Dems thunder against Wall Street. Can you believe that? Yes I can in the same way that the Nazis took over the word socialist and called themselves “The National Socialist Party.” And then there’s the demonization of Black and Latino Congressmen, calling them N------ because they support the Health Care bill. All civility is being lost as a result of the takeover of the Republican Party by the extreme ORTHODOX right.

The present danger in the US body politic comes solely from the right. Unfortunately there is no left that might have been a countervailing force from the left to stop the cuckoos. They have the field all to themselves and that’s what makes it so scary. And once again we are confronted with the question, “can the center hold.” That's also the source of the Pall Cloud that has engulfed the land.

Wassily Leontief on Jobs

It was in my years working as a Deputy Manpower Commissioner for John Lindsey that I first encountered Wassily Leontief. He was a Noble Laureate in Economics. He had that sad look of a unhappy Bassett Hound. When you got to know him there was a most happy fellow behind those sad eyes. Talk to him about trout fishiing or watch him twinkle when a good looking female entered the room. I had occasion to meet him both professionally and socially.

He had received the Nobel Prize for Economics in 1972. His work was the development of an Input Output Analysis that became an essential tool for major manufacturing companies. He was frequently consulted as the job market changed regarding the kinds of jobs that would be available It was in that capacity that we became friends.

In Washington he would often participate in various meetings regarding the training and job placement for unemployed youth. At these meetings he was always very professional and careful in his labor force projections. Early on he predicted the demand for computer literate people to meet the demand of that fast growing industry. He also acknowledged the growth of the service sector and its advantages for women.

It was in the more informal New York City social settings that he would express a very different kind of concern. It turned out that a mutual friend lived in a loft in SOHO. Meeting Wassilly there I told him that these lofts, that were now home to artists, used to be the workplaces of many of the members of my Local of the Machinists Union. He was very interested in the kind of manufacturing that was done here. “It was mostly small parts manufacturing as well as specialized plants for making all kinds of fastenings, screws, nails, washers, lamp parts etc.” Wassily wanted to know what happened to them? “ I told him that most of that stuff was automated. I had the pleasure of participating in eliminating dumb jobs like hand feeding punch presses. “Lots of fingers were lost in those operations.” “But you were eliminating jobs by doing that. Weren’t you?" he asked?” “Yes of course” I replied. “But nobody should have to do that hazardous dumb work when we can automate it.” That really caught his attention.

Wassily went into a lengthy explanation of what he thought was ahead for the job market. Yes there would be a big increase in the computer sector as well as the service sector, including health care. “Machinist” that’s what he called me, “as you and I and all those baby boomers age we are going to need a lot of care. That will create Health Care as the number one employer in the country.” Okay, I understood that but what about all those members of my old Machinists Union? What about jobs for them?

He paused for a long time, as if he did not want to give me the bad news to come. He spoke slowly as if measuring his words very carefully. “You see, Machinist, we are now in our second part of the Industrial Revolution. First part created jobs, second part is eliminating them through automation and now computer controlled manufacturing.” “Yes I have experienced that when I was still working in a plant.” “Yes” he said “But the pace is now picking up and we are looking toward a time when we simply wont need all those workers of yours anymore.” “Wassily” I said. What are we to do?” “He smiled laughed a little said, “Your job Robert Machinist is to find things to do for all those workers we don’t need in the factories,” “Are you serious." I asked,"or are we drinking to much at this party?” He looked around at all the artists gathered, shook his head said, “These folks are all just trying to get a piece of work accepted into the Modern cause the curator is here. Maybe some of your old Union members could take up painting? Anyhow that’s your job now? Good luck,” As his wife came to drag him away from all that, “shop talk.”

I have often thought about that conversation with Leontief back in the 80ies. With the unemployment rate sticking around the ten percent or 15 million out of work and not to promising future is Wassily’s prediction finally coming true? What do you think?

"Come Along"

This is a little ratchet and cable machine that is used for pulling or lifting heavy objects. My present usage is for trees knocked over in our recent Noreaster. Kate and I hook the Come Along CA to the base of another tree or knock a stake deep into the ground. We then hook one end of the of the CA to the tree base or stake. Other end goes to downed tree. Then using the ratchet we slowly begin to pull the tree back up. Slowly is necessary to give the roots a chance to go back into their original position. We now have the trees back up in the original positions and we hope they are happy enough to maintain life there.

I began to see the CA as a metaphor for President Obama’s attempt at consensus. Because the CA is a machine it is in the realm of reality. Maybe that is one of the reasons I need to spend at least some of my time with machines. Yes they can fail, God, I sure know that. Yet compared to human behavior they are far more predictable.
Which brings me to the Tea Party affair.

Is it believable that these folks are protesting Obama’s Wall Street big bank bailout? These are the very same champions of the FREE MARKET ECONOMICS that got us into our present stink hole. "All you government regulators should just get out of the way of the MARKET!" Well they did and now we have 17 million out of work and millions of homes foreclosed and the Tea Parties are up in arms over it. “It’s all Obamas fault” so they just want to elect some more marketeers so we can get on with the the economic free for all that will mostly benefit the Goldman Sachs bonuses.

The Tea Party folks have stolen the Democrats issues. They have done this by turning the present highly justified anger and resentment that is out there in the land against the Dems. That happens to be an old right wing strategy. Karl Rove didn’t invent it but he sure knew how to use it. It boils down to this. Keep your ear to the ground and pick up any collective grumbling, resentments, anger, hostility etc. Then just blame it all on those socialist minded left wing Democrats. When the facts, as in the present case, are exactly the opposite. This has been lost on the Obama White House. They are only beginning to learn the art of fighting back instead of still dreaming of some kind of human "Come Along." Some months back I wrote a blog in which I pleaded with the White House folks to wake up and start playing hardball instead of “reaching across the isle” as there is NOBODY ON THE OTHER SIDE. Unfortunately there is no human effort that can do what the Come Along does.

Well, hopefully now the Obama team will wake up to their dire situation and just use that Come Along on their own side of the isle to begin to pass some serious legislation. Here are some down trees that will need the Come Along for November 2010 and 12.

Get that unemployment rate down whatever it takes. Pass the health Care Reform legislation whatever it takes. Get some control over the financial markets ending deficit default swaps. Banks need either to be in banking or investments. Bring back the Glass Steagull Act. That will put an end to the banks playing craps with peoples savings. Obama this agenda is your only hope for a future in the White House. Otherwise we might just end up with Sarah Pailin. No don’t laugh it could happen. Remember George W. He wasn’t much brighter than her.

Many times over in my long life I have learned a terribly important lesson. No matter the catastrophe, humans have the unique ability for continuing every day life. That’s precisely what millions of unemployed are doing right now. No, I don’t thing it’s good. It is just a way of not thinking that the world is coming to an end because I am out of work. I do want to make an exception to that rule. If the planet is threatened then in fact everyday life as we knew it may begin to come to an end. Subject for another blog.