Part 2 of The 'New' Labor Relations For Part 1 - http://www.ais.org/~ronda/new.papers/articles/qualitycircles1.txt Some Letters By They Who Remember Mr. Dupont, Owner of General Motors. Dear Sir: I lost my paper the foreman gave me so I write this in the "Searchlight", O.K.? I like my job because it is so much better than it was. Used to be if I wanted a smoke I would have to hide in the toilet. That was not so good as the toilet stunk very bad. Now the union makes the company let me smoke on the job. This isvery good. The foreman likes it too as he can also smoke and does not have to hide. This makes him better natured, but he does not to join the union. I think he is a scab too. So long as you have the CIO to make the company do good things, I like my job. Singed, your servant, Joe. * * * "Says I to Myself, Says I" by Shakespeare Carroll Some say they do Some say they don't Some say they they won't Some say they'll write For me there are no ifs or buts I like my job because I'm NUTS But I dare not let them know I know full well where I would be For they could make but one decision, "Put the chump on Supervision!" * * * MY JOB AND WHY I LIKE IT My Chevrolet; Dear Sir: I like my job because it used to be, when I first worked here in 1927, the foreman would come in in the morning sometimes with a bad feeling. He would say, "You have got to get more production. If you don't get more production there are men at the office who want your "job". In 1936, a guy named Travis told me to "join the CIO and the foreman can't act like this". The reason the foreman is mad in the morning is because his wife bawled hm out. Some men keep a dog to kick when they get bawled out by the wife. Chevrolet foremen gave their men hell. I joined the CIO in 1936. In 1937, the union steward told me we would shut the plant down and sit down and not work until the foreman stopped being so mean and promised not to fire me because he was mad at his wife or other silly reason (such as needing a job for his brother-in- law). We sat down and I liked it as it was the first time I ever sat down at Chevrolet. Kermit Johnson and Gib Rose told me to help keep the scabs out. They helped too. Steve Hodges cooked. He was not a very good cook. I think he used motor oil instead of lard. Tom Klasey got hit on the head by one of your watchmen. Maybe this was a mistake as we are a big happy family. However, the company said we could have seniority. This seniority business is darn good. It means the foreman can't fire me because he is mad at his wife or his brother-in-law wants my job. So I like my job because the CIO told the boss about seniority, and the committeeman has been telling him about it ever since. Yours for more seniority and the pension plan.--John. P. S. If the CIO gets the pension plan, I will write another letter because I will like my job better. * * * I LIKE MY JOB By a Crib Attendant I work hard and never sob From early morn 'til I'm tired out Will you do this? Will you do that? I hear the foreman shout. First I hear the whistle blow I walk about a block If I run, I get a reprimand Trying to make the clock. The week is long, the pay is short I line up coming and going If I don't get a raise as the high cost of living I'll never made a showing The floor is cleaned about once a week The water it is fair But the air conditioning? Well I think it's not all there. More tomorrow I'll bet you think I'm nuts Now stop and think No ifs or ands or buts From Plant News 487 * * * MY JOB Dear old big hearted GM cannot afford to give us a discount on a new car but they can afford to pay out a hundred and fifty grand if we will only write out our death sentence and sign our names to it. Boys and girls if any of you are idiotic enough to fall for this new brain storm of screw ball Wilson's, I hope that the next time you have a grievance that your red apple letter will be thrown at you to show you like your job, with your signature to prove it. That is, if you don't really tell the truth and say you have to work to keep the wrinkles out of your bellies. Out of this brain storm there really should be a lot of candidates for the Liar's Club of America. I wish they would give us credit for having more sense than the moneys in the zoo. But maybe the monkeys have it over us at that. They are not made to work and then asked to lie about it. What next? - Ye Olde Exterminator * * * TOOL RUMORS Len Price Ain't going to have much time for a column this time, I'm going to be too busy writing letters to this M.J.C. thing. Got the garage all cleaned out and ready to drive that new Cadillac into it -- and all for just writing a letter! I feel so grateful that I can hardly wait to get started -- except that I've got to do a little something about my conscience. It makes mee feel sad and sort of conscience-stricken when I realize that supervision can't get in on this contest. I know they must like their job as much as I do anyway. Something should be done about it -- and this is it. Using the same psychology, the power of suggestion plus an ample reward, I am going to start a contest for supervison only. I shall continue to follow the General Motors pattern in my contest and base it on the compliment paid to me in testimonial letters. I shall follow the M.J.C. pattern even further. I will be the sole judge of the letters. Prizes (if there are any) will be awarded on whether or not I like the letters. My decision will be final. I, too, am absolute! The rules of my T.B.C. are very simple. Any member of supervision can enter. Simply write a letter, telling in your own words, why you like the Tool-Rumors column. The prizes will be any incidental prizes (not including the Cadillac) which I might receive in the course of the M.J.C. orgy. (Notes: Like the M.J.C. letters will be judged for their sincerity and originality: Honesty is not an important factor -- just think of the prizes.) There! Now my conscience is less troublesome. It's still bothering a little in anticipation of what I'm likely to say in my M.J.C. letters, but I'll just ignore it and go on. Now let's see -- how will I start? Dear General Motors: I like my job because it bears a faint resemblance to tool- making and I think I would like toolmaking. I like tool-work because it is interesting work wherever you find it -- at Fords, at Chrysler, at independent shops or even at Chevrolet. Please send the Cadillac to the above address. Sincerely, Len Price Something tells me that one isn't too likely to win. Hmmm. I wonder what's wrong with it? Le-see,--it tells why I like my job---hmmm,---it doesn't mention how nice it is working here, though --- that's probably the trouble, I'll try again. Dear General Motors, I like my job here at Chevrolet because of the atmosphere in which we work. The feeling of security which has been ours ever since the inception of the Union into your shops is absolutely wonderful. The fact that we have recourse to the intervention of a committeeman in any disputes which may arise has improved the morale of the men beyond measure and has naturally resulted in an improved product -- to the betterment of all. We know that this arrangement is in accord with your way of thinking, for like all good employers you like your employees to follow your example. Since you, in all your various branches, went in for 100 per cent membership in that great Union the N.A.M. we were certain that your employees would emulate you in 100 per cent membership in the C.I.O. The realization that this mutual adminiration exists is why I like my job. Please send the Cadillac to the above address. Sincerely, Len Price. I dunno, -- there's something about that one I'm not too certain will win. Maybe I better try again. Dear General: I like my job because of the wonderful opportunities attached to it. My friends all feel the same way about our fortunate circumstances. Many of them have waited eighteen months or more for a new car, and are still waiting -- but now through the wonderful opportunity offered by our job we are in a position to get one by merely entering a contest. Many other luxuries which we have been unable to afford are now within our easy grasp. Never before have we worked at a place where we could thrill to the letters M.J.C. Before we knew their glorious meaning, we thought they were in the interest of something unimportant, like maybe a cancer drive or something, but we were gratefully surprised to find that our employers were now willing to give us grand prizes for merely putting on paper the many complimentary remarks we have undoubtedly been keeping to ourselves. It has opened a new era in etiquette of buying compliments. I like my job, it's stupendous, it's colossal - it's O. K. Please send cadillac to above address. Sincerely, Len Price Now allI gotta do is keep my fingers crossed till December. * * * Dutch Winker's rection to the M.J.C. was unique: "Gott en Himmel!" He said, "Key ain't sadisfied wid keeping me poor -- now dey want to make a liar out of me!" * * * The gang were kidding Carl Gabrielson about foreman Kennedy spending a little time one evening talking to him. Carl was exposed to all the accusations which usually accompany an incident of this kind. Finally Don Stephenson spoke up. "Don't let them kid you," he said, "I remember the time when we were nice to a foreman 'cause we HAD TO BE -- not 'cause we wanted to be!" That is the unions case in a nutshell. Better relations. * * * IN MY LAND AND YOURS When you get old and feeble and have no place to rest your weary head Just ask MJC and they will give you a nice soft bed, They wrote to me and told me to fill out my MJC But dreams do not come that way to you and me. I did not sign my MJC and it kind of got their goat For if I did, I would cut my own throat. The other night as I lay a dreaming, wondering if dreams come true I dreamed I won a Cadillac all trimmed in red, white and blue. We heard of the promises good and true That MJC made to me and you. We are the toilers that make the things we eat and wear But they take it all and call it their share. They shake your hand and then they rave To get more power than big men crave. They swell their profits of selfishness and greed When little children are in need. Hitler was old Satan's tool Oh, you brothers, don't get fooled. Even our nickels won't go far, won't buy the children a candy bar. Now in this land of milk and honey We will live on hay and give them all our money. Now, if they had to work for it that would not be so funny. More merchandise they give away, less taxes they have to pay. - H.J. Yaster * * * THE OLD JALOPY AINT SO GOOD Robert (Bob) Hampton The pride of workmanship which once characterized the men who build Chevrolet cars is now a thing of the past and it was destroyed by the Corporation itself in one fell swoop. These men were once inordinately proud of the fact that for almost a decade of years the product of their hands and the sweat of their brows the "Chevrolet Car" led the entire world in volume of sales. That pride of accomplishment is a thing of the past and has been replaced by a "Who the H----- Cares how they are built or what goes in them. We can't buy them." This attitude is certainly justified as there are hundreds of employees who have given as much as 25 years faithful service who not only do not get 10 per cent off as do the foremen or exempt salaried employees but have had their orders in for as long as two years and cannot even find out when they may expect delivery, yet some upstart with a year or two service, if he is a member of suprevision or an exempt salaried employee can get immediate delivery. I met a friend a short time ago who is an inspector with 25 years service in the motor plant. He was intensely bitter about the conditions I speak of. He was compelled to lay off for more than six weeks and undergo a serious operation, the third in his family in less than a year and a half. Yet when he came back his vacation pay was held up for three weeks after other employees were paid off and he was compelled to borrow money from a loan shark to pay pressing bills and avoid having his wages garnished. I spoke of the gyp contest they are running known as "Why I like my job contest" in which ninety-five per cent of the prizes are bumper jack, rear vision mirrors or accessory kits. His reply was that he wished they would run a "Why I don't like my job" contest. "Do you know what I would tell them," he asked? Not waiting for an answer he said "I'd tell them I didn't like my job because I didn't like working for the filthiest corporation headed by the filthiest most corrupt group of men who ever lived. Filthier by far than any Jap or Nazi whoever stepped on a gallows trap." When you realize that this merely voices the opinion of many thousands of fellow employes you cannot help but feel that you would much prefer to have a "Ford in your future." Yes, from what we hear from people who have recently purchased new chevrolets its an indisputable fact that the "New Jalopy Ain't What She Used To Be." An automobile is only as good as the workmanship and material which are buiit into it. Here is a fair question. Why should we care how good the Chevrolet car is when the people we work for do not consider us good enough to buy them? * * * MY JOB CONTEST And Why I Like It or Can Lump It- They ask me why I like my job And offer several prizes. Some household things, some odds and ends And cars of different sizes. They all look good from where I sit Say! Maybe I could lie And tell 'em how I love my job And give 'em reasons why. For instance, I like my job Because the boss is kind. (He reprimands me from in front And kicks me from behind). Or else I like my job because My wages here are greater, (I have bologna once a week And with it, boiled potater). I like my job because they keep The plant so clean and purty. (The flies don't come in anymore, The diningroom's too dirty.) They look out for my comfort, too. At least that's how I feel, (In summertime I slowly melt, In winter I congeal). And, gentlemen, I quite forgot, (While we're in sweet communion), To thank you for your dirty work Which helped to build our union. Your mail will surely bulge with notes That praise you to the skies, Delude yourself how much you may You'll know it's simply lies. And guys like that should stop and think, They'd see the whole thing's funny, For Judas did the same damn thing For a hell of A LOT LESS MONEY! R.E. McDONALD (Ruby "hoss buster" McDonald) PLANT 4 NEWS OF POVERTY FLAT By George Carroll "MY JOB CONTEST" Why he liked his job---Ye Gods, What ghastly travesty Is this, the latest brainstorm From the skull of old C.E. A prisoner in a hellish place, Of din and stench and grime Where old John Workox labored Oft times ankle deep in slime. Wan and pale as any convict And as hopeless of release Til death removes his shackles And he gains eternal peace. While a spectre stands beside him, Ghost of future pain and want A faithful goaler forsooth, This ever present haunt. Yet oft in wistful retrospect John dreamed of bygone years Ere hell spawned mass production Brought it's blood and sweat and tears. But alas! Dreams are a luxury That seldom long endure Just brief respites from bondage For workoxen, ever poor. And of late John dreamed of prizes Rear-view mirrors, bumper jacks It's too bad he wasn't dreaming When he felt the headsman's axe. For his dreams were rudely shattered When he somehow failed to win John just couldn't understand it For he's surely lied like sin. Til the day they gave him two jobs To keep up instead of one Low he bowed his head in anguish He knew then that he was done. He had sined his own death warrant When he wrote to them one day And said, "My job is so darn easy I'd gladly take a cut in pay." So John soon worked himself to death His sole estate, some unpaid bills And he's pushing up the daisies now Out there in Sunset Hills. So you who dream of Cadillacs Had best get on the beam Ere you're whisked away to heaven By the magic of your dream Moral: While two heads if they have anything in them, may be better than one, two jobs are not ...period! * * * "WHY I LIKE IT" If United Auto Workers boss Walter Reuther ever calls a strike at General Motors, president Charles E. Wilson will have 174,854 testimonials that union members like things as they are. To show how much and incidentally to win a Cadillac convertible or 4,999 other prizes worth $150,000, three out of five assembly liners and office workers turned essayists. GM's My Job and Why I Like It contest was a big success. Enchanted by this new twist in labor-managment relations, Labor Department officials last week wondered if Reuther could draw so much prose for "My UAW and Why I LiIke It." from Art Woods Column * * * When General Motors speak of "increased productivity," they are speaking of the individual worker and not of potential productivity of their plants. Pretty hard to sell the worker on increased productivity when they only get four day per week. Not much "profit" in that for us and we, too, must profit from our job, (a pat on the back is enough) if we are to live. * * * GM GRAND STRATEGY Why I Like My Job Contest By Jimmy Kiger The newspaper columnists and so-called "Friends of Labor" have been telling us for years that there should be labor- management cooperation. When we ask them how to go about getting it they blame the unions for being too aggressive. During the greatest profit-making in the history of the world -- these people keep silent. Men in the factories are penalized -- sent home -- threatened with being fired. Silence on the part of the calamity howlers. Our wage dollar buys one-half of what it did in 1937. Not a word from our would-be advisers! Speedups are instituted thorughout the plants. After all, they claim, you're lucky to have a job! Then on top of all this, the largest industrial corporation in the world -- General Motors -- pulls one of the dirtiest sneak attacks on record. It's all glossed over with sweet-smelling stuff-- but it's a poisonous and vile attack on the union. They initiate a contest. They offer costly and wonderful prizes. They tempt their poor wage slaves who have never been able to earn enough to buy a new automobile with Cadillacs, Buicks, Chevrolets, plus hundreds of other costly gifts. If you're a good writer and a Grade-A liar, GM will take a few crumbs from the mountains of profits you've made for them -- and award you with an exquisite prize. You gotta be good at it, though becuase your chance is 1 in 10,000. These contest letters will be used against you and everything you've worked and fought for to build better job conditions through your union movement. They will be submitted to Congress as evidence against the UAW-CIO...GM will demand more crushing blows against the unions! If you have a grievance that goes to the umpire, your contest entry with YOUR signature will be produced to prove how much you love your job and why! In the circulars and pamphlets GM mailed to you they are dirty enough to ask you to get your whole family to help cut your throat! Now how in damnation can you have labor-management cooperation with cut throat snakes and their sneak attacks on their workers? Let the peace-howlers, newspaper writers and "friends of Labor" tell us that! If they've got an ounce of courage and decency om yjrot carcasses let them haul General Motors off to prison for using the Government mails. * * * Tool Rumors By Len Price It's very disappointing. I wrote three letters for the My Job Contest and submitted them through the medium of this column and haven't heard the good news that I am the winner ofthe Cadillac. Besides, I went to all the trouble to set up a special contest for supervision and not one of them have sent in an entry! It's very disheartening. Oh, well, -- I've got till December -- I can wait. * * * Next - MJC Dear Clem! I suppose you have heard by this time about cousin vernon gittin a noo autimobile for riten a price letter to pappy wilson's MJC advertizment bizness. Heshore is a smart boy. I always sed that boy would never be sorry for graduatin' from the therd grade, and to show you how he believes in educashion, he's sending his boy to G.M. Tek to learn how to bea shop man. Yew know, Clem, it is a lot better than picking cotton for 50c a day, but that kind of work was intended for slaves...and we don't have them here no more. Yew know that union took care o that in 1937. The wages look big but after you pay the prices the shisters in this town want for everything you buy, there isn't much left to help out the foreign countries. Of ocurse we do it, and help out the Red Cross, Salvation Army, Old Newsboys, and lots of other things here in this country. Getting back to cousin Vernon, I shore am glad hes got lots of good tools and gadgits to work with. This makes his work easier fer him to put out more perducshun at less cost, eliminatin some other poor man's job, thereby cutting the cost of the cars, which are risin in price every year and makin more profit for someone who doesn't need it, and so it goes, on and on. Now, some of the boys here wrote into that MJC racket and I don't mind saying they had some purty nice letters and I (don't- ed) understan why some of em at our plant didn't win an auymobile, unless someone reminded the judges that the CIO of G.M. was born at the Chevrolet Motor Co. I, for one, have always reguarded Eddie Guest as a right guy and have read his poems in the Free Press many times and fer the life of me, I can't understan his humar, when he judges cousin vern's letter as a price editorial. We must be wasting our efforts at sending our children thru high school and sacrifisin to send them to college. Waal, Clem, it won't do no good fer one little machine opeator like me who has to run 24 pieces a minute, to complain, because as cousin vern says, this GMC is a great organization, and I mean not only in making cars and gadgets. Did you know that a lot of people own stock in GMC? Wy shore, about 90% of GM stocks are owned by a few millionaires and the other 10% is owned by a million other good, hardworking citizens. Yep, its a great organization. Now I will close and let me advise you to stay out there on the farm where there is plenty of sunshine and fresh air and enjoy life and live to be agood old man. They are carrin em out of here every day with hear trouble and some of em haven't reached middle age yet so don't let cousin vernon invlence you even if he did fool five of the smartest men in the country. Yers for more honesty in the next MJC. -end-