manufacturing and materials
Where's the Dirt? Chemicals Run Amok in the "Clean Room"
expose by dennis hayes
In cramped change rooms, they enjoy their last casual chatter before the crescendo. They snap on vinyl surgeon's gloves and don white and pale-blue dacron: hoods, jump suits, veils, and booties. As they shroud themselves in nearly identical bunny suits, the workers, or rather the images they present to one another, shed their distinctness.
A Day In The Life of Employee #85292
A tale of toil by Hewlett-Packard manufacturing worker Jay Clemens in California, 1985.
The acrid aroma of warm ketchup and vinegar revives me as I step into the cool rose-hued early morning air. I crawl into my tin-plated subcompact and rev the engine into a dull roar. I'm gliding onto the Nimitz Freeway, past the ketchup factories and canneries, past the "outdated'' industrial plants, the factories and warehouses.
Total Refinery in Dunkerque occupied
Striking workers occupied Total's refinery in Dunkerque after management refused to meet an ultimatum over negotiations.
At least 150 workers stormed the buildings this morning, forcing their way past security guards and at one point using ladders to gain entry to the offices on the higher levels of the buildings. Workers took the action after union demands for a mediator in negotiations and for the removal of security guards from the site were ignored.
The laws are for exploitation and there is freedom to exploit beyond the law
Interviews with factory workers in Gurgaon, India, about their conditions and whether they meet legal requirements.
The law: wages for a month of work have to be paid by the 7th to 10th of the subsequent month; the daily working-time is eight hours, the maximum overtime allowed is 50 hours in three month; overtime has to be paid by double rate; the minimum monthly wage defined by the government of Haryana for an unskilled helper-worker is: 2, 484.28 Rs; this is based on an eight hours day and four days off per
The Stopwatch and the Wooden Shoe: Scientific Management and the Industrial Workers of the World
Mike Davis on the introduction of Taylorist management techniques to break up workers solidarity, and the response of the revolutionary Industrial Workers of the World union.
TAYLOR AND THE "ART OF SWEATING"[1]
Bad vibrations at China's extended workbench, 2008
A report on working life and the possibilities for struggle from a machine plant in Brandenburg, Germany in 2008.
"Of course, I am able to order three pints in Chinese! The only problem was when there were four of us. Well, we first went up north, the factories are really run-down there. Then we went to the special export zones in the south, to the Mazda plant. They have rather splendid avenues and palm-trees in front of the factories".
1949-2007: Women workers in China
Wildcat analyse the situation, role and struggles of women in China from the Cultural Revolution until today.
Female Workers under Maoist Patriarchy
States of emergency: Cultures of revolt in Italy from 1968 to 1978 - Robert Lumley
The complete text of one of the definitive books on the mass social movements in Italy in the 1960s and 70s, States of emergency, in which author Robert Lumley traces their development, growth then recuperation and decline. Being added in instalments...
Reproduced online with permission from the author, for which we are very grateful.
OCRed for libcom.org by Linda Towlson.
Further chapters coming soon - watch this space.
China: The generation of unhappy workers, 2007
Wildcat analyse the history and current situation of urban state workers in China, the employer attacks on them and the workers' responses.
Situation and protests of urban workers and unemployed
China's migrant workers
Wildcat's history and analysis of internal migration in China from the 1950s until today.
Article translated from German supplement "Unrest in China", wildcat #80, Winter 2007/08
Faces of Migration
