The automobile factory that survived twice (2)

In 20 19, the film "American factory", invested by former American presidents Obamas and directed by bogner and Reichel, which took three years to complete, caused a sensation all over the world and won the 92nd Oscar for Best Documentary.

In American Factory, the first conflict originated from the senator's speech at the completion ceremony. On 20 16 10, a senator encouraged Fuyao employees in the United States to form trade unions at the completion ceremony. This appeal made Fuyao's American local manager want to "behead" warily, because Fuyao agreed not to "trade union factory" before setting up the factory.

A China worker said to the camera, "The boat capsized and everyone lost their jobs." .

Cao Wangde expressed a clear attitude towards this: "As soon as the trade union comes in, I will close the door."

Less than a year after production, Fuyao 1 1 workers filed a complaint with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration of the United States, accusing Fuyao of failing to maintain the safety production of factory workers. In addition to the toxic gas leakage, the management did not provide gloves, which caused many people to cut their hands in the production process.

Under the premise of Fuyao's strict prohibition, there are still American employees wearing UAW (United Auto Workers' Union) cultural shirts to advertise in the workshop.

Because the UAW of the internal division of the company must be voted by more than 30% of employees before it can be declared, after UAW infiltrated Fuyao, Fuyao began to seek anti-labor organizations to lobby employees to vote against it, and the hourly salary of all employees also increased by 2 dollars.

In addition, several corruption cases involving UAW, such as the bribery case of alfons Eco-Bailly, the former CEO of FCA Automobile Company, have also been reported by Fuyao many times. It was not until the voting ended with 444 votes in favor and 868 votes against that the motion of Fuyao Glass Factory to establish a trade union was successfully shelved, and Boss Cao won!

Cao is a capitalist. In fact, he did not save an American factory destroyed by a trade union, but saved the employment opportunities of thousands of American workers.

An American worker who stayed in Fuyao said, "I understand that trade unions are sometimes needed. But now someone has given me a good job and a good salary to come to work every day. I don't need anyone to interrupt! "

The haunting nightmare of the American auto industry is the Auto Union, which led to the closure of GM's fremont plant.

In the United States, trade unions are a political issue. We don't talk about political issues, but only analyze why the fremont factory died.

UAW is the largest trade union in the United States. The original intention of UAW is to seek better working environment, more reasonable working hours, fairer treatment and welfare for workers (at that time, the working environment of many automobile factories was extremely bad, with a six-day working system, working more than 12 hours a day, and even not allowed to go to the toilet during working hours).

1 93665438+1October1,UAW organized the first strike against GM, and "defeated" the auto tycoon in one fell swoop. So that GM, Ford and other auto giants have signed welfare systems for ordinary workers, including minimum hourly wage, medical insurance, paid vacation and so on.

In 2005, GM had 6.5438+0.4 million employees in the United States, who enjoyed a high hourly salary of $70. Nearly 500,000 retired employees, including 338,000 retired hourly workers and 65,438+065,438+6,000 paid retired employees, enjoy lifelong pension and medical insurance provided by General Motors. It is worth mentioning that the medical insurance plan for GM employees and their families has covered 654.38+0.075 million people. Besides, GM jobs? The bank project also supports more than 8,000 laid-off workers who receive full wages. As long as these people "go to work" on time every day, as long as they read newspapers, chat and play games, they can get an annual salary of as high as 1.4 million US dollars.

2006? In, the average annual salary of American GM workers was 14. 1? Ten thousand, Ford is 14.6? Million, Chrysler is 15. 1? Ten thousand, the average annual salary of workers in these three major automobile companies exceeds 14? Ten thousand dollars, compared with the average annual salary of American university professors in the same period (9.6? Ten thousand dollars) is 46% higher.

UAW does not allow American auto companies to restructure their business or introduce new technologies to improve efficiency and reduce costs, let alone lay off employees. Even if laid off, the treatment of workers has hardly changed. UAW signed contracts with GM, Ford, Chrysler and other companies. It is stipulated that unemployed workers can also get 95% of their wages, with the same benefits and no time limit.

Micheline Maynard, a journalist from The New York Times, wrote in The Decline of Detroit that the huge benefits of workers "virtually increased the cost of each car 1200 dollars". In the period of rapid development, the huge profits of car companies can offset the increasing wages and welfare costs of workers. However, with the intensification of competition, development has entered a platform period, and this model is unsustainable.

Friedman pointed out in his book Free Choice: Trade union leaders often say that wages can be raised by reducing profits, which is impossible because there is no surplus profit to raise wages. Even if all the profits are invested, it is almost impossible for everyone to get a high salary.

Fremont factory is a long-standing unit of General Motors, with powerful trade unions and tense labor relations. The daily absenteeism rate of workers reaches 20%, and the factory environment is as dirty as a garbage dump, with extremely poor economic benefits and losses year after year. Finally 1982 closed and 5000 workers were laid off.

Eric Rice pointed out in Lean Enterprise: How High-efficiency Organizations Innovate on a Large Scale: "No matter the product quality or the relationship between managers and workers, fremont factory is the worst in the general system, and the production efficiency of this factory ranks at the bottom of the general system; Labor relations have almost completely collapsed. Trade unions file 5000-7000 labor disputes every year, demanding arbitration. Workers can drink, gamble and even go whoring and take drugs during their work, and there is nothing the management can do. If severely punished, it will anger the trade union and may strike within a few minutes and stop production across the board. "

Motown by Arthur Harry: "Matt ZaLaiszky likes Wednesdays for a simple reason. It has been two days since Wednesday left Monday, and Friday will come in two days. "

"Monday and Friday, in the garage, are the most nerve-racking days for the management department, because there are many absenteeism. On Mondays, hourly workers don't come to work, more than on other days; Friday is almost the same. This is because usually on Thursdays, as soon as wages are paid, many workers start a long weekend by drinking and taking drugs. After that, Monday is either a day to catch up on sleep or a day to wake up. "

"The result is inevitable. Many cars produced on Monday and Friday were carelessly assembled, which planted a curse on the owners, and the insiders avoided it as if they had met a rotten piece of meat. Dealers in several big cities are aware of this problem, and large sales will also have an impact on the factory. So they insist that cars sold to big customers must be produced on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. Sometimes, customers who are familiar with the inside story will go to a big dealer for this. Company managers and their friends' cars are always scheduled to be produced on those days. "

The observer of the Economic Observer once published an article "I used to be a member of the American Automobile Union". This "I" is a female member of the United Auto Workers' Union (UAW) mentioned in American Factory, and has worked in Deco Electronics for seven years. However, the article did not specify the name of the female worker.

Female members introduced some rules about trade unions:

1. Workers are UAW members when they enter the factory, and there is no choice not to join the trade union;

2.？ The wage of workers entering the factory is $65,438 +03.9 per hour, with an increase of $65,438+0 every six months; I don't know how much I can add at most (I can't ask the other party);

3.？ Union dues are voluntary, 1 to 3 hours' salary/week;

4.？ According to the length of service, the type of work can be selected again every three months;

5.？ Reward more than 8 hours on Saturday and working day 1.5 times salary, 2 times on Sunday and 3 times on holidays;

6.？ Overtime opportunity is the workshop director's inquiry to the employees with long service. For example, at that time, two overtime places were needed, starting with employees with long service until both of them could work overtime. Allow cross-workshop overtime;

7.？ During the strike, the trade union will pay 75% of the wages;

8.？ There is a discount of 13% for employees to buy company cars. Buy other UAW cars, such as Ford and Chrysler, with a 10% discount;

9.？ The pension is calculated in calculate length, with an annual service of $50. For example, I have seven years of service, and I can get a monthly pension of $350 from the company after retirement. The company has to pay insurance to the U.S. government. Once it goes bankrupt, employees' pensions will be paid by the government.

10.？ UAW members who entered the factory in advance still enjoy the original pre-retirement medical insurance after retirement. As the company gradually makes ends meet, 1999 employees who enter the factory do not enjoy medical insurance after retirement, and 1993 white-collar workers who come from the company do not enjoy medical insurance after retirement.

Female trade union members said: "I once went on strike, and each workshop allocated places according to the number of people, and then arranged shifts." Let's put up a sign in front of the factory and stand for two hours to finish the task. The length of time depends on the outcome of the game between the two sides.

The strike lasted about two or three days, and the two sides quickly reached an agreement. I don't remember the specific reason for the strike, but personally I think it was really unnecessary at that time. If we supply GM late and let GM stop production, the company may be fined millions within 1 minute, with huge losses. "

She said: "I have experienced several things personally, and I am afraid I can witness the example that the trade union led to the gradual decline of the company."

"My first impression when I entered the company was surprise: Is this capitalism? The workers go to work on time because they have to punch in. But after punching in, almost every worker brings his own radio and listens to music all the time during working hours. "

"The machine is broken, and the workers only need to register on the computer and find a mechanic to repair it. At first, I didn't find a mechanic because I taught automatic control in China and I could solve some small problems. Later, their boss (not the boss, but also the mechanic) politely asked me not to take their jobs. Technicians and their own trade unions, our workshop is next to them, and we often see them sitting there without repairing. Sometimes the task is tight, and our workshop owner has to invite it himself. "

"Because of the waist injury, I switched to the work of repairing circuit boards. This is a relatively free job with no quota limit. Later, the boss told me that I repaired more than ten times as many boards as others in one shift. Those workmates told me that if we all worked like you, we wouldn't have a chance to work overtime on weekends. Our circuit boards were stacked on the wall and failed after six weeks of offline. No one is distressed. "

"My first new partner was a black man, about 30 years old, who came to work drunk every day in violation of the company's regulations that drunken work is not allowed. Besides, I've been sleeping, and I've done the work for both of them by myself. I talked to the workshop owner several times, and she said, I talked to him countless times and also talked to the trade union, but nothing has changed. It didn't take him long to get drunk. "

"A worker in another workshop beat his workshop boss and was fired by the company. However, UAW negotiated with the company. As a result, the employee not only came back to work, but also violated the regulations of the trade union. No matter how long he worked, he could choose his job at will. Our workshop collectively opposed accepting him, and he didn't come to our workshop. There are many such examples. I talked to the trade union representatives of the company afterwards, and they also understood that at this rate, the company would close down sooner or later. But the representative himself is about to retire. He has generous retirement benefits and no longer cares about the life and death of the company. "

20 10 American national radio produced a program "American life" by Ira glass (IRA? Glass), tells the story of fremont factory.

Ella glass (ella? Glass)

The host said: "This is a modern automobile factory, just like a huge entertainment city. The automatic gear is whispering to remind you that it is running. Driverless cars shuttling through the aisles carry doors or other accessories. When driving, they will play music to remind you to avoid. The story of this factory is especially famous among autobots-even used as a case of business school teaching. "

Bruce Lee? The head of the western region of the Auto Union, who is also the union leader of the fremont factory, said: The workers there are considered to be the worst among American auto workers, and indeed everything there is a struggle. Workers spend less time on production than on complaining and protesting. They always go on strike.

Dr. Jeffrey Rick, a professor of industrial and operational engineering at the University of Michigan, said: "Although the average level is not good enough by Toyota standards, the fremont factory is worse by general standards, so this factory was really bad at that time."

One phenomenon is that you can buy anything you want in fremont factory. Drugs, alcoholism, sex, whatever you want, you can provide it there. Whether it's a break or lunch time, it's okay to gamble a few times.

Frank Langfitt:? Sounds like a prison.

Jeffrey Rick:? In fact, prison is a good metaphor. With their education and skill level, they can't find other jobs with such salary and welfare level, so they are trapped there and protected by trade unions. This job seems to take a lifetime, so these illegal acts have appeared, as if they were entertaining themselves in a difficult situation.

Rick Madrid (factory employee, responsible for tire installation): There is a lot of wine on the production line, which is incredible. As long as you are working, the management doesn't care.

Frank Langfitt:? What kind of wine do they drink?

Rick Madrid: Whiskey, gin. We drank while loading tires. I brought a pot of cocktails to work at that time, but I never touched drugs.

Frank Langfitt:? What about women?

Rick Madrid: Great.

Frank Langfitt:? Have you ever done it in a factory?

Rick Madrid: Yes.

Peter Ross (Peter? Ross, the maintenance worker on the assembly line:? There is also a marijuana seller in the workshop. I walked through the workshop with tools and radios, and you could see clouds of smoke. You don't want to inhale, which will lead to passive inhalation of second-hand drugs.

Frank Langfitt:? I guess you want to know why workers can keep their jobs by doing this. At that time, trade unions were very powerful. Under the protection of the trade union contract, it is basically impossible to dismiss a worker. If the management doesn't respect the union, the workers may immediately paralyze the factory. In this case, the absenteeism rate becomes a bit ridiculous. Under normal circumstances, the absenteeism rate is above 20% every day, and Monday is even worse.

Billy Hagarty (engaged in the installation of light shield and mud shield): Some mornings, because there were too few people coming to work and the line could not be opened, the management went to the streets to find someone.

Frank Langfitt:? What kind of people can they find?

Billy Hagarty: They went to the bar across the street to "catch" the workers who were still hung over.

Frank Langfitt:? Workers will complain to the union management about all kinds of things. Someone other than your boss asked you to clean the station? Hit him and complain about him. Has a manager ever done a job that does not belong to him? Complain! ? The strategy is simple, no matter whether it is true or not, create thousands of complaints and use these complaints to obtain compensation or concessions from management.

Meanwhile, workers in fremont have another way to attack management. They deliberately destroyed the product, stuffed the coke bottle stopper into the door panel, or deliberately loosened the screws in the door panel, making the car make abnormal noise when driving, annoying customers, and they also deliberately scratched the body.

Richard Aguilar (factory quality inspector): A guy let the front hanging screw loose on purpose, which is dangerous. I immediately reported to the managers, who checked the finished products outside and found that the front suspension of almost 400 cars was deliberately loosened by him. This man is crazy because he was suspended from work because of drinking.

Frank Langfitt:? GM has finally had enough. 1982, they closed the factory and thousands of employees lost their jobs.

Robert Fitch, a member of American trade unions, wrote in a book, "Like feudal lords, more than 20,000 local trade unions in the United States mostly have their own monopoly sites, many of which are infiltrated by gangs."

five

Since the 1960s, Japanese automobile companies began to enter the United States.

Aware of the adverse impact of UAW on American car companies, they chose to stay away from the "embroidery zone" where UAW forces are deeply rooted and set up factories in the inland areas of the United States. Honda in Marysville, Ohio, Nissan in Smyrna, Tennessee, Mazda in Fretwork, Michigan, Mitsubishi in Nomore, Illinois, and Toyota in Georgetown, Kentucky. ...

In those years when the Japanese arrived, UAW tried to infiltrate Japanese car companies in various ways, but all ended in failure.

In March, UAW members smashed a Toyota Corolla. The sign in front of the car reads: "If you want to sell a car in America, you have to make it in America!" " "

Honda is the first company to set up a factory in America. The leaders of UAW tried to sign an agreement with Honda's senior management in Japan to enter Honda's factory, and it was almost successful. But this secret negotiation ended in failure because Honda's managers and workers in Ohio intervened, because they didn't want to? UAW is also involved. And after that? Within 25 years, all other Japanese automakers have followed Honda's footsteps and established more than 24 factories in the United States, but none of them have cooperated with Honda. UAW signed the contract.

Honda requires employees not to drink carbonated drinks, smoke or eat snacks at work, which is common for workers in Detroit. Workers can put forward ideas to improve the workflow at any time, and if they are adopted, there will be material stimulation and spiritual encouragement. These measures made there no sharp opposition in the factory.

According to statistics, around 2007, GM paid $73/hour for each worker, while Toyota only spent $48/hour. Such a big difference also makes Japanese cars cost-effective

In 20 16, fremont approved Tesla's expansion plan. After the expansion, the factory will double in size and create thousands of new jobs. That autumn, UAW rented an office not far from the Tesla factory, and the union organizer stayed in a local hotel, and the room cost thousands of dollars. According to The Wall Street Journal, UAW also hired a public relations company specializing in political issues, and officially joined the ranks of complaints against Tesla to the US Labor Committee.

On 20 17, the media reported that the battle between Tesla and UAW was "open". Musk rebuked a worker named Moran for accepting UAW's remuneration and incited other workers to join the trade union in the factory.

UAW quickly denied the accusation. Dennis Williams, president of UAW, told the media that they didn't pay Tesla fremont workers to complain publicly about factory safety, wages and overtime. They are open to whether the Tesla factory establishes a trade union, and the decision whether to establish a trade union should be made by the workers themselves. But Dennis Williams admitted that he had contact with Tesla workers such as Moran.

Moran complained on the Internet that in order to achieve production, Tesla workers even work 70 hours a week, and the time spent working in Tesla factory has exceeded the time at home. Moran also criticized Tesla's poor working environment, and the machine design of the factory was not ergonomic, which was prone to work-related injuries. In particular, he expressed dissatisfaction with the salary issue, arguing that the cost of living in California is high, while the hourly wage of Tesla workers is at the "lowest level" in the industry. He called on the workers to join UAW.

Musk pointed out to the media that Tesla's fremont factory is the only surviving automobile factory in California, and the original factory was destroyed by UAW. Moran doesn't actually work for Tesla, but for UAW.

Tesla mentioned: "In the past seven years, UAW has exhausted all methods to disrupt the lives of Tesla employees and mislead them. Now, the UAW with poor technology has begun to make unfounded accusations against Tesla in a common way and publicly vilify Tesla's good reputation in the media. "

This conflict has aroused national concern. Because of the industrial structure, the expansion of trade unions in California is weak. Trade union organizations are mostly rights protection organizations where weak blue-collar workers unite to compete for personal interests, while California is dominated by technology enterprises, with white-collar employees with strong skills and no worries about employment. But Tesla has its own car factory and needs a lot of blue-collar workers.

On 20 18, UAW filed a complaint with the National Labor Relations Committee, accusing Musk of illegally threatening to deprive employees who joined the trade union. UAW claims that Musk violated the National Labor Relations Law, which prohibits employers from preventing employees from joining trade unions through threats or inducements.

Musk said: Nothing can stop Tesla employees from joining the trade union, but "since there is no interest, why pay membership fees and give up stock options?"

Tesla said in a statement that Musk's comments are only recognition of other automakers who do not provide stock options to employees who join UAW. "UAW organizers have never admitted that the value of Tesla shares is part of our salary."

In another tweet, Musk accused UAW of contributing to the bankruptcy of General Motors and Chrysler, resulting in "more than 200,000 jobs lost to the people they were supposed to protect". Obviously, Musk refers to the crisis of American automobile industry during 2008-20 10.

At the end of 20 18, the US Labor Committee began to hear a series of lawsuits filed by UAW against fremont factories. With more than 65,438+/kloc-0,000 employees in fremont, Tesla has created more than 50,000 jobs in California, radiating the entire industrial supply chain.

Harry Shaken, a professor specializing in labor issues at the University of California, said: "The labor dispute ruling between UAW and Tesla will be of historic significance. I think what happens here will not only affect Tesla itself. It will become one of the few high-tech companies to form trade unions. It is just a start-up in the automotive industry, not a traditional Detroit automaker. "

This means that if UAW wins, Silicon Valley technology companies will also suffer.

The judge in this case said that this matter may last for many years, and it is inconclusive-Tesla successfully prevented UAW from forming a trade union in the automobile factory for the time being. However, the following year, the trade union organization took a look at Tesla's solar panel factory in Buffalo, new york. Under the joint organization of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers and the united steelworkers union, some employees of Tesla Battery Factory began to form trade unions and filed a lawsuit with the Labor Committee, accusing Tesla of illegally dismissing and monitoring employees.

Instead of responding angrily on Twitter like last time, Musk became an old friend of China: Tesla went to China to build a factory.

In 20 19, nearly 50,000 workers went on strike for 40 days, resulting in heavy losses of GM's 33 manufacturing plants and 22 parts distribution warehouses in US 10 states. General Motors reached a new agreement with UAW, which cost 2 billion dollars and brought 48,000 workers back to normal work. Workers have lost $654.38 billion in wages and gained some benefits, but they may lose more job opportunities in the future; UAW has nothing to lose. They have a stronger sense of existence and announced that they will concentrate on dealing with Ford next, and then Chrysler.

Musk said that UAW destroyed the once brilliant American automobile manufacturing industry, and he couldn't stand UAW entering Tesla's factory. Musk has publicly pointed out that UAW has brought GM and Chrysler to the brink of bankruptcy, resulting in the loss of more than 200,000 jobs, while Tesla has created more than 65,438+00,000 new jobs without trade unions.

On the Zhihu, someone asked: Why did Tesla set up a factory in China?

Someone solemnly replied: The answer is that the automobile industry chain in China is very developed, especially after there are no gearboxes and engines. China has the most perfect industrial system in the world, a world-class automobile industry chain and a world-leading new energy automobile industry chain.

These answers are of course correct. But if UAW didn't commit crimes, would Tesla set up a factory in China?

This article comes from car home, the author of the car manufacturer, and does not represent car home's position.