CONTENTS - ouroboros ponderosa

IXX ()H( ;,'\NI/I'IJ J.,\ IIC IH \' S ""' 111, 1, 1'\' 111'1 i\li,\JN\1' \-\i1 1l'1\."
exchange fur cash and fringe hem'lits." i ', Ach.ll()wkdging the disciplillary
function of the union, he cluboralcJ on this tilllc-hollored bargail1ing:
"Companies have been willing to give up large amounts of money to the
union in return for the union's guarantee of no work stoppages." Danid
Bell wrote in 1973 that the trade union movemcnt has never challenged
the organization of work itself, and summed up the issue thusly: "The
crucial point is that however much an improvementthere may have been
in wage rates, pension conditions, supervision, and the like, the condi­
tions of work themselves-the control of pacing, the assignments, the
design and layout of work-are still outside the control of the workcr
himsclf."17
Although the position of the unions is usually ignored, since 1970 there
has appeared a veritable delugc of articles and books on the impossible
to ignorc rebellion against impossible work roles, From the cove rs of a
few national magazines: Barhara Garson's "The Hell With Work,"
Harper's, June 1972; Ufe magazine's "Bored On the Job: Industry
Contends with Apathy and Anger on the Assembly Line," September 1,
1972; and "Who Wants to Work?" in the March 26, 1973 Newsweek,
Other articles have brought out the important fact that the disaffection
is definitely not confined to industrial workers, To cite just a few: Judson
Gooding's " The Fraying White Collar" in Ihe Nation of September 13,
1971, Marshall Kilduffs "Getting Back at a Boss: The New Underground
Papers," in the December 27, 1971 Sail Francisco Chronicle, and
Seashore and Barnowe's "Collar Color Doesn't Count," in the August,
1972 Psychology Today,
In 1971 The Workers, by Kenneth Lasson, was a representative book,
focusing on the growing discontent via portraits of nine blue-collar
workers, Ihe Job Revolution by Judson Gooding appeared in 1972, a
management-oriented discussion of liberalizing work management in
order to contain employee pressure, The Report of the Special Task
Force to the Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare on the
problem, titled Work in America, was published in 1973, Page 19 of the
study admits the major facts: "",absenteeism, wildcat strikes, turnover,
and industrial sabotage [have J become an increasingly significant part of
the cost of doing business," The scores of people interviewed by Studs
Terkel in his Working: People Talk About What They Do All Day and How
They Feel about What They Do (1974), reveal a depth to the work revolt
that is truly devastating, His book uncovers a nearly unanimous contempt
for work and the fact that active resistance is fast replacing the quiet
desperation silently suffered by most. From welders to editors to former
executives, those questioned spoke up readily as to their feelings of
,
hllltllh:di()1\ ;uIII truslratitl1l,
.
" , " I " )\ "the reyO t dg,lIIlS . '
l ll1tlSI pi Ih l · lllU tl lilt (
1 HI)
. I . . . . \ work" has ten the tlniOll
. ' k t , ' t'e'lturcs of spccillC worker
. " .' . ' hncl lun ' a some ( ,
oul "t Ihl'lI dlSrllSS'O"S,
a ct l O1lS Inull I l nll lh l ou g
,I
h I
;:.b' ,'(' C()\1cerlllng H
': I t: ':
....
. 'nl will help underline the comments made
·. 1 ' t '- unl ' ()n na ture of this revolt.
,
tl ' I 'cessan Y an I '
,
. 'h 1970 a WIldcat stn e 0 P , , , '
"
tr mployee an I-S n e ,
" bl' st offiecs in morc than 200 CitIes
'
I " the country dlsa 109 po
h the strike began an e Igy 0 u,
,11,,1 \(lwns " In New Yor, w e
'
'
\iers union local there, was hung at
a
l where the national union leaders
.1 t 1IIflultUOl' 1S
mehng on
" 'f , ,
e S ,,19 In many locations, the workers deCIded
were called rats and cre '
I" not handle buslOess mal , as par
d
f N' fonal Guar smen e '
ec ff of large numbers of workers and
"t' which were the pro ao J
71 ew York po stal workers tried to renew
'
lIlethods of work 1n July"
f a contract proposal made by the new
I heir strike actlVlty m the :ace
0
S b tto At the climax of a stormy
,
'd t VlOccnt om ro '
Idter carner presl en "
mbrotto and a lieutenant werc chased fr?m
meeting of 3,300 workers, So
I escaping 200 enraged umon
I d 33rd Street narrow y , 2.0
\ he hal own
'
hem of "selling out" the membershIp,
"
.
members, who accused t
, 970 100 000 Teamsters in 16 cIties
Returning to the Spnng Of 1 '
d M t o ' verturn a national contract
'
wildcatted between
" d t Fitzsimmons, The ensuing violence 10
signed March 23 by 1BT Pres,
:ast was extensive, and in Clcveland
the Middle West and West
d blockade of main city thoroughfares
involvcd no less than a th,rty- ay
21
'II' dollars in damages, '
and 67 ml ,on
k'
rou of hard-hat constructIon wor ers
On May 8, 1970, a large g
wP II Street and invaded Pace College
10 a
demonstrators f t
assaulted peace
, ' dents and others suspected 0 no
and City Hall Itself to aa; t:
,
t Vietnam war. The riot, in fact, was
supportlOg the prosecutlo
d d ' ted by cons rue I
supported an ,rec
I ker hostility away from them-
,
II I'k I'h od to channe wor
leaders 10 a , e I a
'
I'
,
h
I ' its compre cnsmn
selves, Perhaps a one 10
television (WNET, New r
1; :t, A segment of that producllon
Machine" program a,red
,
'ces that aparentlY underlay the aHair.
uncovered the real Job gneva '
"
eale d 10 a very v , ,
Intelligent quCS!lomng rev '
, of their outburst, as an outpouring of
punks" were not wholly the caus
'f s the strain of the work pace, the
gripes about unsafe workng con " on ,
n moment, etc" was recorded,
fact that they could be hred at any g,ve
t )lInll!'. Male "
," IIl1ill" o"icrs, PU ) Ie e
',t" ,'at across '
I "h llson, preSident of the
lise of thousands 0
aI
d 1
March an ay 0
.k f ostal employees, in defiance
t' t 'k law and federal IOJunc!lons,
. .
ff' f G s
t of their work action, and only the
nded the strike major issues
t t'on fl'rm executives and umon
of the incident was pub Ie
Y k) 'nd its "Great American Dream
f"w minutes that "commie