There is something going on around the globe and it smacks of a worker revolt.
Battered by layoffs and cuts in promised pay and benefits, a growing number of employees are saying “No! You’re not going to treat us like yesterday’s trash any longer.”
A group of workers at the famed Waterford Crystal factory in Kilbarry, Ireland, were told they were out of jobs when the plant shut its door in January. Instead of heading home to cry in their beers, employees stormed the factory gates, overtook the security guards and are now occupying the facility.
From the New York Times today:
Like the employees of the Waterford Crystal factory here, which ceased operating in January, you can go to your workplace, occupy the building and refuse to leave.
“We said, ‘You’re not going to stop people from coming to the place they’ve worked all their lives, where their family worked, and where they have built up the brand themselves,’ ” said Tony Kelly, 51, describing how a crowd of angry employees prevailed on security guards at the headquarters to unlock the front doors and let them in, on Jan. 30.
Sounds familiar? In December, hundreds of workers from Republic Windows & Doors were abruptly fired without notice and without their promised vacation pay.
The employees staged a sit-in at the Chicago plant to protest their former employer’s actions, and to everyone’s surprise, they got were they were owed, and also ended up getting jobs with the new owner.
And this fervor of worker sick-and-tiredness goes beyond just hourly workers.
Retired salaried employees at auto parts manufacturer Delphi, in bankruptcy now, felt they got the shaft when their former employer decided it wanted to cut promised health care coverage to 15,000 of its workers. In response, the retirees formed a coalition to fight for what they’re owed.
A bankruptcy judge has sided with the company but the retirees have appealed the ruling and a decision is expected today, according to HR trade publication
Workforce Management magazine.
It’s unclear whether Delphi’s retirees or the workers in Ireland will win their fight, but these pockets of protest may point to a growing desire among workers to not take cost-cutting measures that destroy employee livelihoods lying down.
What if workers en masse started questioning layoffs, benefit cuts and plant closures? What if they took matter into their own hands?
Right now, things just happen to so many employees. I get endless letters from readers who are beaten down and disgusted.
Is there anything they can do? Some workers are turning to mutiny, not just waiting for the Captain Bligh’s of corporations to suddenly become nice guys and treat them with respect.
March 10th, 2009 at 9:42 am
And what about when restaurant chain Bennigan’s abruptly closed its doors, without so much as a whisper to its employees? (Although I don’t know that there were any attempts to fight back.) However, the key here is how the employees were treated. Layoffs and benefits cuts are bad enough as it is, but simply kicking employees to the curb only pours salt in the wound, and no employee deserves that kind of disrespect. And what about the employers who will need to rehire once (if) they bounce back? Don’t they realize the damage they’re doing to their reputations? Hopefully, more companies will catch on to the fact that this isn’t how you treat people before many more workers ‘decide to take matters into their own hands.’
March 10th, 2009 at 11:44 am
Very interesting article. The current crisis is often compared to what happened in 1929. Whether it’s a worse one or not still remains unknown. What might make a difference is the fact that 80 years have passed, and most people are probably more educated than the average worker of 1929. They are probably more able to express an opinion about whats’s going on beyond their own particular situation and make judgments about management errors. While the 1929 worker was (probably - if there’s a historian in the place, he/she could confirm or not) more fatalistic and relying on God to help him, the current generation of workers (but also employees) is less inclined to accept things without explanations and don’t except some otherworldly help to get them out of trouble. Personally, I don’t want some kind of bloody revolution but I really hope that the current crisis is going to change our values. Unfortunately, I’m afraid that 99 % of the people will fight to preserve their standards of living (their ability to consume), and NOT to have a better life. To be or not to be ? Capitalism has the answer : not to be. HAVE !
March 10th, 2009 at 7:26 pm
I think one point to consider is a lot of these companies think they are going to pull out of the nose dive and don’t include the employees in the process. Owners/managers are worried that employees will jump ship and thus keep them in the dark.
Business leaders need to learn that the ‘brain trust’ that their employees collectively own can often produce potential solutions that might elude management.
In order for companies to weather the storm, they need to have everyone in the boat rowing, rather than the management quietly putting on their life jackets while everyone thinks things are fine.