Japanese and American workers face the same problem: Greedy bosses

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lanti, but on 5400 workers in other Ironically, last year GM made over $2 In stark contrast, top GM executives ations. Robert Eaton, GM's president of are being pensioned off with "golden European operations, has just signed-up parachutes." Roger Smith, past GM pres- to take over from Lee laccoca at Chrysler ident, was retired with a $1 million per next year, no doubt at a tidy sum.

GM is being very selective about the Toyota, which out-paces U.S. producers plants it will close-for obvious reasons. in its trucks. Several autoworkers openly Preference has been given to its Arling- criticize GM for its poor design and engiton, Texas, plant, where UA W Local 276 neering when stacked up against Toyota. agreed to three crews of workers to rotate Many blame the decline in sales on the on two 10-hour shifts tour days a week— perks, privileges and obduracy of GM agree to the new work schedule. Arling- Reaction to the announced GM layoffs ton is a town built almost entirely around has been mixed and uneven. Recently, GM, with a younger work force. Workers UAW Local 1776 began a campaign at Ypsylanti are much older, with longer against Ford's Classica model, produced seniority and militant traditions, and in Canada and used by local state and city GM, however is also an international an Auto Workers Local 222V at the GM wheeler-and-dealer. Capital goes where plant in Oshawa, Ontario, voted down a the money flows. The maquiladoras proposal for scheduled forced overtime (U.S. companies set up in Mexico to pay and an additional shift, stating that they workers a fraction of U.S. workers' refused to be part of a campaign that wages) in Matamoros, where GM has would allow GM to close plants elseAs GM lays off workers in the U.S., it super-exploits workers in Mexico.

Workers in these border towns live in This act of solidarity is precisely what large shantytowns paying $50 a month is needed to combat GM's assault on the $1 billion loss on its 1991 earnings. But rent, and earning $11 a day. The Mexican UAW. Ypsilanti Local 1776 sent 200 GM's rationale for laying off tens of goverment, notorious for its bureaucracy members to the March 22 UAW rally in DETROIT-After five weeks of thousands of workers doesn't stack up and graft, has still built only 500 hous- Peoria, Ill., to support the striking Caterrumors, General Motors (GM) very well when you consider the $9.5 bil- ing units for this influx of workers. announced on Jan. 26 that it will close lion in profits the four previous years. GM also has a joint venture $100 mil- from their treasury. down its Ypsilanti, Mich., plant, where As the history of capitalism has lion investment with China in Despite the dismal political climate and 4700 auto workers assemble GM cars. demonstrated, immediate returns are the Shenyang-in the industrial north-to the uncertain economic times, American This is the first phase of GM's plans to only criteria these profiteers go by. The build pickup trucks. In Hungary, where workers are in a combative mood. Unforlay off 74,000 workers in its U.S. plants. fact that it was the workers who earned workers accept lower wages as a result of tunately, they are still hamstrung by a Shock waves are now reverberating them these profits is of little concern to years of Stalinist intimidation, GM has a union bureaucracy that refuses to mobithroughout the union ranks. them. $193 million investment with Hungary's lize this combative mood into decisive Ostensibly, GM's assault is due to a The axe fell not only on United Raba factory to build Opel Astras for the action. • SQCIALIST ACTION. APRIL. 1992 World-wide, the capitalist system is in trouble. Recession (depression?) is hitting country after country. Competition has sharpened for markets, trade, and profits.

Along with the trade war has come a war of propaganda. In this country, we are bombarded with "Japan-bashing," In Japan, politicians and businessmen are bashing American workers as lazy and overpaid.

Big business, in Japan and in the United States, is promoting an "us-against-them" mentality among their people. But who is "us"? And who is "them"?

Meanwhile, in the real world, General Motors announced in February that it will close plants employing 16,000 production and salaried workers-the first step in the company's plan to lay off a total of 74,000 employees.

Workers remaining with GM will be laboring under a regime of forced overtime and grueling, round-the-clock shift work. According to the Feb. 26, New York Times, GM Chairman Robert Stempel "has vowed to make maximum use of plant capacity by adding a third work shift to most U.S. assembly plants or by scheduling two 10-hour shifts a day, six days a week."

The article continued: "Since GM's capacity exceeds its sales, it is able to shut entire plants and still meet demand."

According to a newly published book, it's not only the GM workers who are either laid off or overworked. "The Overworked American," by Juliet B. Schor, documents how paid laboring time for the average American worker has increased by 164 hours a year (the equivalent of a month) between 1970 and today. At the same time vacation time for U.S. workers has decreased.

Schor notes that employers prefer to have fewer employees working longer hours, even at overtime pay, because this saves them costs of fringe benefits and training. And large numbers of unemployed workers is also good for business, because it makes people scared for their jobs and willing to work for less.

Japanese capitalists are no different from their U.S. counterparts. And Japanese workers face the same problems we do. The March 3 New York Times, carried an article titled "More Japanese Workers Demanding Shorter Hours and Less Hectic Work." It noted that Japanese workers typically have to work the equivalent of a month more than U.S. workers per year.

For example, during good times Japanese auto workers generally work 12 hour shifts, with work over 8 hours paid at only time and a quarter. White collar workers typically work 13-hour days with no overtime pay.

But you can't even trust these figures, William Dee ay/Detroit cree cre Ron Watts/Black Star because companies regularly lie about the amount of overtime they require of their employees. "A recent survey," notes the article, "found that 55 percent of employees worked unpaid—and unrecorded—overtime."

A big problem for Japanese workers is that what are called "unions" in the private sector are almost all company unions. Union officers are company employees, Michigan GM plants as well.

year salary. a non-too-subtle name for speedup The Ypsilanti workers had refused to recession.

therefore, are prone to resist an attack on goverments. their standard of living. parts plants, are not their only out. paid to dampen worker militancy.

The Times article cited a Nissan worker who "said that at the height of car production in 1987, the company speeded up the work and the unions did nothing. He said that pauses of 10 seconds between tasks were eliminated and that workers had to carry parts on their belts to save the time taken to get them from the shelf.

"The workers were totally uninterested in what the union does," he said, "because the union is useless and powerless.... They just do whatever management wants."

In this country we desperately need stronger unions as well. The number of unionized workers continues to decline. The union officialdom does little more than tell us to "buy American"— that is, to help our own bosses get richer.

I work in an automobile assembly plant that is a joint venture of GM and Toyota. My bosses are both Japanese and American. My coworkers come from throughout the world—the United States, the Philippines, all over Asia, and the Middle East.

Due to a cut in orders, the company plans to adjust its production schedule downward for the rest of this model year.

To do this, it will increase the time that the vehicle is at each work station from 60 seconds to 64 seconds. Then more work will be added to the job at some stations so as to eliminate other jobs altogether.

There is going to be a lot of little battles over how much more work the company can get away with adding to our jobs to be done in those four seconds. Japanese auto workers fight these same little battles as we do-day in and day out.

The real "us against them" in the real world is not the "American people versus the Japanese people." It is the working people of all countries up against the rich capitalists of all countries.

This is the reality in our daily lives, and working class people need to recognize it and create bonds of solidarity with our brothers and sisters in all countries to fight together for a decent life.

As a first step, the United Autoworkers Union should go to other auto-producing areas like Japan, South Korea, Europe, and Mexico to coordinate with and learn from autoworkers there, to build a powerful united struggle against all the bosses for a workplace free of forced overtime, speedup, low wages, abuse of our bodies, stress and intimidation.

billion in profits from its European operOddly enough, auto workers respect management, as much as on the current On the other hand, on Feb. 26, Canadiwhere, like in Ypsilanti pillar workers. They contributed $2300

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"The real 'us against them' in the real world is not the 'American people versus the Japanese people.? It is the working people of all countries up against the rich capitalists of all countries." GM continues assault on auto workers Autoworkers (UAW) Local 1776 in Ypsi- European market.