Labor and Automobiles E-Book

Robert W. Dunn

• Herausgeber: Edizioni Savine
• Kategorie: Fachliteratur
• Sprache: Englisch

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2016

Beschreibung

“…The purpose of this book is to present the true conditions of workers in automobile plants, and to contrast the wages of the workers in this industry with the millions of dollars in profits made by the corporations. This analysis is of particular importance, since the technical organization of the automobile industry has been held up, the world over, as the model achievement of American capitalism, and since its mass production and "labor management" methods are being copied by European corporations.The problem of how to unionize the automobile workers is one of the most immediate and pressing ones now before the American labor movement. About 450,000 workers in car, body, parts and accessory plants are outside the ranks of organized labor. Why has no sustained effort been made to arouse these speeded-up workers to fight for organization and better conditions? It is vitally important for us not only to suggest an answer to this question, but to point out how unionization of these hundreds of thousands of unskilled workers may be achieved….” ROBERT W. DUNN - February, 1929.

Leseprobe

LABOR AND AUTOMOBILES

by Robert W. Dunn

Author of Americanization of Labor, etc.

(This book is composed and printed by union labor.)

New digital edition of:

Labor and Automobiles

by Robert W. Dunn

© 1929 by International Publishers Co., Inc.

Copyright © 2016 - Edizioni Savine

Strada provinciale 1 del Tronto

64010 – Ancarano (TE) – Italy

email: [email protected]

web: www.edizionisavine.com

ISBN 978-88-96365-77-9

CONTENTS

LABOR AND AUTOMOBILES

colophon

Preface to Labor and Industry Series

Author’s Preface

CHAPTER I - GROWTH AND IMPORTANCE OF THE INDUSTRY

Trend of Automobile Industry, 1904-19251

Types of Companies

Bodies, Parts and Accessories

Company Payrolls

Relative Output of Companies

Distribution of Plants

Canadian Production

Percentage of World Output

CHAPTER II - PROFITS - Financial Growth of the Industry

Ford Profits

General Motors—Money Maker

“Capital Readjustment”

Nash Motors Company

Packard Motor Car Company

Chrysler Corporation

CHAPTER III - BANKERS, MERGERS AND PROSPECTS - The Bankers

Consolidations

Outlook for the Industry

Exports

Fierce Competition Ahead

CHAPTER IV - THE AUTO WORKERS

Machine Tenders

The Transient Worker

The Southerner

Workers from Everywhere

Foreign-Born Workers

The Negro Worker

The Young Worker

Women at the Machine

Lower Wages for Women

Average Earnings per Hour

CHAPTER V - MAN, MACHINE AND SPEED

Labor-Saving Machinery

Along the Belt

Speed-up Samples

More Work for the Same Pay

“Incentives”

The Ford Race Tracks

The “Modern Dance’’

CHAPTER VI - HOURS OF WORK

Overtime

The Ford Five-Day Week

CHAPTER VII - JOBS - Employment and Production

Irregularity of Employment

The Ford Lay-off

Flooding the Labor Market

Employment Methods

Looking for Work—1928

And the day following:

Employment Agencies

CHAPTER VIII - WAGES

General Averages

Money Wages of Automobile Workers

Ford Wages

Real Wages

Workers' Budgets

Comparisons With Union Wages

Wage Cutting

Methods of Wage Payment

Gang Bonus

Uncertainties

CHAPTER IX - HEALTH AND SAFETY - Accidents on the Job

A Major Accident—the Briggs Fire

Health Dangers

CHAPTER X - FOOLING THE WORKERS

General Motors “Employee Activities”

Welfare Work of Other Companies

Ford Plays at Profit Sharing

The Remains of Ford Welfare

CHAPTER XI - THE EMPLOYERS’ OFFENSIVE - Associations

Company Opposition to Unions

Under-cover Men

CHAPTER XII - EFFORTS TO UNITE THE WORKERS

A. F. of L. Attempts

The Machinists’ Union

The Auto Workers' Union

Union Strikes

Decline of the Union

Communists in the Industry

CHAPTER XIII - SOME RECENT STRIKES

A Fisher Body Walkout

Striking General Motors of Canada

Auto Workers’ Shop Papers

CHAPTER XIV - A PROGRAM OF ACTION

Demands

Power Through Union

APPENDICES

TABLE I. PRODUCTION OF MOTOR VEHICLES IN AMERICAN INDUSTRY, 1903-1927

TABLE II. NUMBER OF PERSONS EMPLOYED DIRECTLY AND INDIRECTLY IN THE MANUFACTURE, SALE, DISTRIBUTION, INSURING, REPAIR, SERVICING, AND OPERATION OF MOTOR VEHICLES IN THE UNITED STATES IN 1927 74

TABLE III. AUTOMOBILE PROFITS

Percentage of Net Profits to Net Worth for Nine Companies1

TABLE IV. PROFITS OF GENERAL MOTORS FOR SIX-YEAR PERIOD, 1922-1927

TABLE V. GROWTH IN GENERAL MOTORS

TABLE VI. PER CENT OF FULL-TIME EMPLOYMENT IN THE AUTOMOBILE INDUSTRY

Preface to Labor and Industry Series

This is one volume in a series of industrial studies being prepared by the Labor Research Association, an organization devoted to the gathering and interpretation of economic material for the labor movement.

The aim of this series is to present a picture of the development of the important American industries in relation to the workers employed in them. Other books dealing with American industries have been written from the viewpoint of the employer, the personnel manager and the technical expert. But they have all been interested in perpetuating the present system of exploitation and in piling up more profits for powerful corporations.

The present series gives primary emphasis to the workers and their problems. What does the future hold for the workers in these industries under capitalism? What is the trend of production? What are the wages, hours, and conditions of employment, and how do these compare with those in other industries? What is the extent of unemployment and the job insecurity of the workers? What profits are the companies making? What mergers are being carried out? How are the corporations organized to protect their interests as opposed to those of labor? To what extent are the workers organized—in company unions, in real labor unions?. How far has the “welfare” and “enlightened industrial relations” propaganda of the employers succeeded? What are the prospects of effective unionization? These are a few of the questions we shall attempt to answer in this series of labor studies.

Written from an avowedly labor point of view, these books will emphasize not only the specific grievances and hardships of the workers in a given industry. They will also attempt to make clear to the worker-reader the character of the forces operating in all American industry against the development of strong, militant unions and for the maintenance of the capitalist system.

It is hoped that these studies may serve as useful manuals for those who seek to put an end to the present conditions, and those who take seriously the frequently voiced phrase: Organize the Unorganized.

Besides presenting graphic pictures of the workers’ lives and struggles in particular industries, these volumes will also suggest concrete programs of action to meet the offensives of the corporations.

To those workers who desire a brief and simple analysis of the complicated structure of American industry, who wish to know the conditions that must be overcome before workers in America can be organized into a powerful and victorious labor movement, these books are dedicated.

Labor Research Association.

“On the Belt”

Author’s Preface

Two years ago the American Plan Open Shop Conference, an organization of employers devoted to fighting labor unions, held its semi-annual convention in Detroit. An article in a Michigan financial journal reported Henry R. Leland of the Cadillac Motor Car Company as telling this convention, “that Detroit was a prosperous city, that there are many millionaires here, and that most of them have the Open Shop to thank for their success.” Another article in a national magazine, about the same time, was entitled, “Croesus Moves to Detroit and Creates a City with a Soul.” Similar articles have referred to “Detroit the Dynamic” and “The Wonder City.”

All these characterizations may be correct from the viewpoint of the real estate operator or the company stockholder. But the writers for business magazines do not stop when they have glorified the prosperity of the great automobile corporations. They have glibly referred to “high wages,” “shortness of hours of labor,” “splendid conditions of work,” and the complete absence of the “capital and labor problem” in the motor cities.

This volume challenges such facile descriptions. It refutes the declaration of the president of the Detroit Employers’ Association that there are “almost ideal labor conditions in Detroit.” The purpose of this book is to get at the facts behind these comfortable phrases, to present the true conditions of workers in automobile plants, and to contrast the wages of the workers in this industry with the millions of dollars in profits made by the corporations. This analysis is of particular importance, since the technical organization of the automobile industry has been held up, the world over, as the model achievement of American capitalism, and since its mass production and “labor management” methods are being copied by European corporations.

The problem of how to unionize the automobile workers is one of the most immediate and pressing ones now before the American labor movement. About 450,000 workers in car, body, parts and accessory plants are outside the ranks of organized labor. Why has no sustained effort been made to arouse these speeded-up workers to fight for organization and better conditions? It is vitally important for us not only to suggest an answer to this question, but to point out how unionization of these hundreds of thousands of unskilled workers may be achieved.

In bringing to light the actual conditions experienced by automobile workers, the writer is indebted to a score of special students who have worked in motor vehicle plants during the last three years, and who have prepared factual reports on the day-to-day conditions of the workers. Three of these men who have been specially helpful in furnishing information are Robert L. Cruden, Cecil Hedrick and William E. Chalmers.

The writer has also been greatly assisted in his investigations by officers and members of the United Automobile, Aircraft and Vehicle Workers’ Union of America, as well as rank and file members of several other unions in the automobile centers. Scores of workers in the factories of Detroit, Pontiac and Flint have provided invaluable source material for this study.

A special obligation is owed to Ruth Budinoff who collaborated on a number of chapters, especially those dealing with wages and profits. In the preparation of the manuscript, the writer has, of course, received the active cooperation and critical help of fellow members of the Labor Research Association.

Robert W. Dunn.

February, 1929.