Yes, Tom, YES. That is what I was thinking about, and I would love to
know more (maybe sending it privately if onthers on this list aren't
intersted).
Here is the book you were probably thinking of: John Diebold, Automation:
the advent of the automatic factory. Van Nostrand, 1952, although he did
write others.
Anyone have other examples?
On Wed, 25 Feb 1998, Tom Walker wrote:
> Jim Dator expressed his interest in documenting the early debates and
> responses to automation. The termed reputedly was coined in the early 1950s
> by a guy named Diebold (can't find his first name at the moment). What to do
> about automation was a big issue for the newly merged AFL-CIO in the
> mid-fifties. The president of the UAW, Walter Reuther, was an outspoken, if
> wavering, critic of automation. There's a story he told about being taken on
> a tour of a new, highly automated car plant and asking, "but who is going to
> buy all these cars?"
>
> Soon after the merger of the AFL and the CIO, the organization held a
> conference on the shorter work week. I've got quite a bit of documentation
> on the 1950s automation/shorter work time debate, which I can forward as
> time permits. By the mid-1960s union alarm about automation seems to have
> subsided and been soothed by 1. schemes for retraining existing union
> members and 2. substantial increases in government spending, particularly on
> military buildup, war and space exploration.
>
> Looking back at old magazines and news reports, one might go so far as to
> say that Sputnik killed the four-day week. There's a fascinating footnote to
> this history that reports Lyndon Johnson, then Senate Majority Leader,
> calling for scrapping the 40-hour work week and full wartime mobilization to
> meet the challenge of Russia's sputnik and missle development. ("Up Work
> Week, Johnson Urges", Washington Post and Times Herald, December 11, 1957)
>
> Regards,
>
> Tom Walker
> ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
> Vancouver, B.C.
> [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> (604) 669-3286
> ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
> The TimeWork Web: http://www.vcn.bc.ca/timework/
>
>
