Alex is out of order in this good penned article: he refers himself as an independent Labour analyst, independent from what?
He is a Party Spokesperson and former Numsa official. Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device -----Original Message----- From: "VC" <[email protected]> Sender: [email protected] Date: Sat, 12 Oct 2013 16:31:26 To: <[email protected]> Reply-To: [email protected] Subject: [YCLSA Discussion] Workers not to blame - Alex Mashilo in The New Age New Age2.png Workers not to blame Alex Mashilo, The New Age, Johannesburg, 11 October 2013 In its historical origins and development, automotive production was not fragmented and dispersed. Corporations such as Ford and General Motors that came first, produced their own vehicle components. As the industry developed the production of components was outsourced through arm's length relationships where the lowest cost won manufacturing contracts. The system has developed towards fully fledged components companies that have not only internationalised but have also globalised. Companies such as Toyota have developed the system of automotive production further through their production system called Toyota Production System, popularly known as lean manufacturing or production. This includes a complex structure of cross-holdings. The production of automotive vehicles has therefore become more and more fragmented and dispersed between many companies involved in global production networks. The supplies are not only coordinated between companies within borders but across borders as well. In particular, where the system is not fully developed and located within a single country there are many components that are coordinated from different production bases that are globally dispersed. The system is coordinated through the logistics strategy called Just in Time, which has developed and given birth to another called Just in Sequence. In the context, production is not only easily disrupted through local strikes, any stoppage in any one of the links (for example, either companies or sub-sectors) that form part of the production value chain and connect it is capable of grinding the entire system to a halt. On many occasions workers have been subjected to short-time and temporary layoffs because of breakdowns in the local and global linkages of the system. BMW claims that it has lost production due to one of these breakdowns which were recently caused by at least three strikes. And it appears the blame for the strikes is shoved off to the leading union in the sector, Numsa. The union was exercising its constitutional right to strike in order to pressurise employers to accede to workers' demands. The main problem lies with the employers, who seek to achieve continuous reduction in workers' hard-won gains and suppress wage growth as a strategy to maximise profit. The problem also lies in the design and logic of the production system. The automotive assembly companies have erected a structure of prerequisites for components companies to secure manufacturing contracts. This includes continuous cost cutting and price reductions by which components companies are squeezed from the top. There are workers who were directly employed by the automotive assembly companies. With the rise of outsourcing these workers were ejected into the components companies but kept their rates of pay and benefits. These were eroded over time as the system assimilated new characteristics, one of them being the distinction between minimum rates of pay and actual rates of pay. Increasingly, many companies in the components sector started eliminating the higher actual rates of pay through a variety of strategies and more and more enforced the lower minimum rates of pay. Increases in labour brokering and temporary employment contracts have become prevalent. In one company, for instance, it is common to find different levels of pay, with workers employed by labour brokers earning less - that is to say the minimum wages - and workers employed directly by the primary employers earning higher actual rates of pay. This has reached a critical point and workers in the components sector are fighting back. That is the reason their strike lasted longer. The components companies find themselves in the middle. There is a squeeze by the automotive assembly companies from the top and workers from the bottom. The components sector in the middle position is not neutral. It is also fighting hard to maximise profit as are the labour brokers. What the sector experienced in the recent strikes is therefore a consequence of irreconcilable class interests. In all of this most independent analysts and the various sections of the media that have actually chosen the side of the employers mainly see one thing; that workers' demands are above inflation. There has been little effort if any at all showing an analysis of the working and living conditions of the workers. What has worsened matters in terms of industry interaction structures is the fragmentation of collective bargaining. Numsa has been pushing for the centralisation of bargaining in the automotive industry. Employers have resisted this move, in particular in the components sector. Because bargaining is fragmented, strikes are bound to take place. And because the system is interwoven, a strike in one sector is bound to grind the entire production value chain to a halt. The tyre manufacturing sector has not yet gone on strike despite the fact that Numsa has been granted a certificate to exercise its right to strike. The employers in the tyre sector are not coming to the table. Should Numsa finally be forced to go on strike where will the tyres in the automotive assembly come from? The system will again grind to a halt. It is important for employers such as BMW, which seek to shove off artificial blame on workers and unions, and for the rest of the automotive manufacturing sector, components and assembly sectors alike, to engage in a self-introspection and discard those of their strategies that cause self-inflicted injuries. For a long time now none of the automotive assembly companies in South Africa was the main producer of its global parent's assembly of vehicle models. The cry by BMW that it has lost the potential to become one because of the recent strikes at least sounds like propaganda. Numsa is right that BMW is here to do business, not favours for the country and the workers. In addition, there are incentive structures in place through the Automotive Production Development Programme, previously the Motor Industry Development Programme, which, over and above labour exploitation, BMW is benefitting from having a production base in the country. Having a production base in South Africa is a strategic business objective in relation to the continent as a whole as well as market access. That is to say, however small it might be as a percentage of the global market South Africa is a strategic market in Africa and has capacities and mineral resources that are needed to drive manufacturing, particularly if they are to be properly harnessed as an advantage. It is indeed unfortunate that most of the production bases of the automotive assembly companies in South Africa are globally complementary plants rather than main production bases for the models they assemble. Instead of investment threats and propaganda, South Africa needs strategic leadership to develop main production bases. . Alex Mashilo is an independent labour and development analyst. He is a PhD student at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, focusing on the automotive industry From: http://www.thenewage.co.za/mobi/Detail.aspx?NewsID=109197 <http://www.thenewage.co.za/mobi/Detail.aspx?NewsID=109197&CatID=9> &CatID=9 -- -- You are subscribed. This footer can help you. Please POST your comments to [email protected] or reply to this message. You can visit the group WEB SITE at http://groups.google.com/group/yclsa-eom-forum for different delivery options, pages, files and membership. To UNSUBSCRIBE, please email [email protected] . You don't have to put anything in the "Subject:" field. You don't have to put anything in the message part. All you have to do is to send an e-mail to this address (repeat): [email protected] . --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "YCLSA Discussion Forum" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. 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