And Workers are no longer uprooted and strangers to their communities…?
Posted by: adonis49 on: September 29, 2012
And Workers are no longer uprooted and strangers to their communities…?
There is this line of thought (Simone Weil) that says:
“Fundamentally, when workers revolt it is subsequent to the recognition that, for those many years working at a particular factory, they are still casted out of the real community of men, a feeling of being uprooted and strangers to the community, not being admitted in the real existence…”
The shift from the condition of being exploited to feeling oppressed is due to the workers realizing that they had not been admitted in the community where they spent most of their healthy years among…
The more the Gravity of accumulated miseries and injustices degrades man’s quest for universal truths of fair appreciation and just acknowledgment of a job well done, the more the worker feels uprooted, legs flapping in the void…
This article is an attempt of offering conditions that may give the workers the full extent of their worth and self-confidence, and waking up happily ready to face up to a long day of work.
Suppose a worker:
1. Is trained to fabricate and assemble an entire object or product by himself, using all the facilities available in the factory, giving the worker this feeling of owning the product, a work of art, a very talented worker…
2. Is trained later to “find destination” (sell) his products by connecting and communicating with clients…
Basically, the worker is trained to be an independent “subcontractor” in the factory…
Suppose that 5 workers were trained identically, and working as subcontractor, using the same facilities.
Suppose that each one of these trained workers can produce a single object per day.
Do you think that the 5 workers will be able to generate 5 objects per day, trying to share the same equipments and machineries?
Suppose that the 5 workers are encouraged to work as a Team: meeting every day, discussing, scheduling their working day, managing their efforts…
Do you think that this team has the opportunity to produce more than 5 objects per day?
If not, then synergy is lacking in the team efforts, and the workers must be trained to cooperate and function as a team. Figuring out who is the most talented and skilled in producing parts of the product, finding out the bottlenecks in the entire operation…
The team may decide not to follow all the suggested idea of the training course: They are free to reflect on their own, pick and choose, and decide on what works and what would not work within their environment…
Suppose the team is extended enough budget to decide on updating equipments and replacing non-performing bottleneck machines, hiring assistant on part-time basis…
For example: The team has this option to re-design the product, make it safer, easier to use, requiring fewer parts, faster to manufacture certain parts…and they need the assistant of a designer to draw the object, an engineer to study the feasibility of the re-designed product, an experimental analyst to collect data on what the clients want, need, and prefer…
The team has the option to hire from inside the institution or selecting their assistants from outside the mother company…They are independent contractors…
Do you think that production will increase far beyond the initial single subcontractor situation?
The owner of the factory started the training program and extended the facilities for the worker to produce quality products, because the worker feels that he owns this product and any defect is his own responsibility and has to pay the price for a buckled product…
Do you think that this alternative beats the top-down systems where the worker has to obey and follows the planned, scheduled…work procedures? Obeying managers who never worked on the floor and are disconnected from the workers’ environment and state of mind?
There are many businesses trading in products that can be manufactured by trained workers, if training sessions are available, and do not need a masters or Ph.D level of knowledge…and the worker can feel an integral part of the community…
Suppose the team is to manufacture a refrigerator. The team knows the defects and malfunctioning of refrigerators, and can repair the object better than any other repairman: The team has the full facility and means to even fabricate a simple part not available in the market, and deliver a functioning repaired refrigerator with guarantees…
Would you agree that this team of 5 workers:
1. Would feel integrated in the community?
2. Feeling wholesome and worthy skilled workers of great utility to the community?
3. Will be waking up ready to go to work and feel of value to the community, and be valued by the community as a productive member, sharing the ups and downs of a community’s sustainable life?
Note: For clients, all the products are the same if they satisfy the purpose, and the price is right…But for the independent worker, ever product has its individuality, a piece of art: The worker can remember the particular difficulties, aches, and pains that this product generated within a particular mood environment…
Adonis Diaries 
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