This is what a job in the U.S.’s new manufacturing industry looks like

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2014/03/09/this-is-what-a-job-in-the-u-s-new-manufacturing-industry-looks-like/



By Lydia DePillis March 9 at 10:00 am

The truck line. (courtesy of Nissan)

SMYRNA, TENN. — Chris Young's pain is in his wrists. It started about a year ago — at first a numbness, and then sharp pains, all the way up to his elbow. He'd injured the left wrist in a long-ago motorcycle accident, but it didn't act up again until he spent months moving heavy pieces of metal, again and again, at Nissan's manufacturing plant in Smyrna, Tenn. Managers transferred him off that part of the line. Still, there's no way to make it stop completely.

The month of February had been particularly painful for Young. Nissan was scrambling to fill orders before the end of the fiscal year on March 1, ordering 10-hour shifts on Saturdays and Sundays — that meant getting up at 3 in the morning to drive the 45 miles from his home to the plant, for weeks on end with scarcely a break. A couple years ago, Young had gotten into a car crash, after dozing off at the wheel during a similarly intense run.

"No one's really worried about the fact that you're so exhausted from working seven days a week, you're dependent on some drug to stay awake, or dependent on some drug to go asleep, or for pain," he says, relaxing after shift on an L-shaped leather couch at the home he rents in Columbia. His 37-year-old body is powerful, built like a football player's, but no longer impervious. "That's the most common thing people are addicted to. And everybody I work with has some type of pain, whether it's hands, fingers, back, feet, something."

Young doesn’t actually work for Nissan — he works for Yates Services, an in-house contractor that's hired thousands of people over the past few years to ramp up production as people started buying vehicles again. It’s a big difference.

FULL story at link.

[stage left]

1. Use them up and throw them away.

[Jack for Sanders]

2. Looks cleaner and safer than this

Built a good middle class with those jobs too.

[freshwest]

3. The story of many's lives, the body cannot be forced without being ruined, no matter what drs. do.

Assembly line work of any kind is one of the most punishing kinds of work there is. They need to hire a lot more workers, seven days a week is way too much for that kind of pain. The overtime changes may force the factory to do the right thing and add more shifts.

But Tennessee's Corker has made it plain he'll break any law to keep workers down. A union or one of the 'working groups' would have recognized this problem. But even unions can go so far, because pain, not the kind that is respected, is literally in the job title.

In the Carter administration, ergonomics and repetitive injury disabilties were taken seriously and OSHA got involved. But then short sighted people voted Ronnie in office since they were unhappy with Affirmative Action.

We can thank Reagan Democrats for the destruction of the lives of working people. That and too many Republicans in office, period!

[baldguy]

4. No union at Nissan

[MysticHuman]

6. Unions don't necessarily prevent over worked employees...

They should of course but here in the U.P. of Michigan we have unionized iron mining. The workers are highly paid and solid benefits but sometimes are worked to the bone to keep up with production.

My own brother as an electrician worked over 2 months straight working mandatory 12 hour shifts.

I don't know if the over work caused his brain tumor which ultimately took his life but he never got to enjoy the retirement he had worked his entire life to get. That was over 5 years ago....

Today... not much has changed in the industry. A friend of mine has been put on mandatory 12s a few months ago.... not having to work without a day off...but life is not fun working and sleeping.

I do have to say the company CCI did back off with all the mandatory OT when 2 employees were killed a couple of months ago. One fell off a tank and one had a heart attack while driving to work one morning.

I am as pro union as they come but in my opinion the unions up here have lost the battle when it comes to prolonged hours.

MH

[Skeeter Barnes]

9. They have voted the UAW down twice in Smyrna.

[Demo_Chris]

5. I'm sure it's hard work. Lots of jobs are brutally hard...

On those lucky enough to have them. Perhaps this guy is simply not cut out for this.

[Skeeter Barnes]

8. I'm sure you have no idea what you are talking about. That plant is known for being a

meat grinder. Nobody should have to work 7 days a week to keep their job.

[Demo_Chris]

11. I kinda doubt Nissan plans on permanent seven day work weeks...

In the meantime, many jobs require that level of dedication. Our soldiers in Afghanistan for example, or fishermen, or ranchers, or me on occasion.

[Skeeter Barnes]

12. None of those maintain the pace reqired at that plant. Every single second of every operation, you

are doing everything as fast as you possibly can. If you drop a washer or a bolt, the time it takes to bend over and pick it up will mean you can't finish your op on time. The line moves that fast and they don't tolerate people who slow it down.

Oh, and before you even start on the job, you train for weeks and receive no pay for it. I'm willing to accept the idea that there are people out there who have to work harder. There's certainly a lot of tough jobs out there. That still doesn't mean that the article isn't a convincing argument on the sad state of affairs for the working class.

[dflprincess]

7. And there are those who want to raise the retirement age to 70 or even 75. n/t

[Skeeter Barnes]

10. A lot of people in Columbia / Maury County have to drive to Rutherford Co. or Nashville for work.

What jobs we do have here don't pay very much. And many of the blue collar type job openings are through temp agencies that will fire you at the drop of a hat.

[rbixby]

13. The manufacturing company has this in its code of ethics:

FREEDOM OF ORGANIZATION
We support and will not interfere with our employees’ freedom to voluntarily establish and join organizations of their own choice, including labour unions.



Its definitely a rarity these days, but this is a company headquartered in Denmark

[Brigid]

14. There is just no way to force better employer behavior?

It's so frustrating to read stories like this!