Enterprise Unionism In Japan by Hirosuke Kawanishi

Author:Hirosuke Kawanishi [Kawanishi, Hirosuke]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Language Arts & Disciplines, Journalism
ISBN: 9780710303417
Google: J40FAQAAIAAJ
Publisher: Kegan Paul International
Published: 1992-01-15T05:07:33+00:00

D Problems on the shop floor and their resolution

The problems associated with overtime, annual leave and the standard times set for various production processes (which were perceived as serious problems in most other han) were not perceived as being all that serious by workers in the foundry han. Because the work in the foundry involved lots of heavy physical labor, and management was mindful of the fact that excessive fatigue would lead to unnecessary and disruptive accidents, management strove to limit the amount of overtime which was being performed. Accordingly, overtime was kept to an average of about forty hours per month. Many employees wanted more overtime in order to supplement their income, and attendance was higher on days when overtime was scheduled than on normal days without overtime.

As for annual leave, the situation was potentially rather good. Compared with other areas in the factory, it was possible for management to find slack periods and to rotate members onto annual leave without much disruption. However, the chairman of the han committee has stigmatized persons taking annual leave as ‘bludgers.’ As in the electricians’ han, the foundry workers tended to show a certain reluctance to take their holidays.

As for the standard times, the situation was somewhat less acceptable for some of the workers. Those in the finishing section were given contracted work loads as a group. Because there were a lot of manual operations, it was easy for the group to ‘get ahead’ in their work and to have a sense of ‘being on top of their jobs.’ In the technical section, however, contracted work loads were decided on an individual basis and the standard times could be fairly rigorously enforced. The union members in this section felt some unhappiness. Nevertheless, the union itself remained unconcerned with the situation and each employee would, on his own, have to approach the foreman in his own workshop and negotiate his own work load on an individual basis.

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