As young Latinos we knew that if we drove out of Southwest Detroit into Dearborn we had to have our stuff tight. Safety belts fastened, full stop at stop signs, tail lights working, and all the proper papers for the car and the driver. Otherwise wed get stopped by the police and thered be trouble.
Its the same way in the shop, if you want to go where the boss doesnt want you to go, you have to educate yourself and you have to follow the rules.
One of the places the boss doesnt want you to go is getting co-workers together. Another is trying to improve working conditions. I do those things and odd things happen. Like a supervisor comes up to me, one with a history, and tells me hell be on my shift soon and if Im late, if I break any rule, hes going to nail me. That never happened when I wasnt active trying to make the workplace better.
The 1999 explosion at the Ford Rouge Powerhouse was an eye opener for me. The fire there raged because there was coal dust in the air, coal dust left uncleaned, coal piled under conveyor belts. Fire and fuel is a simple equation. I pointed out the same things in the General Motors Poletown powerhouse where I work. Sure the company had rules against those problems but the company didnt follow them. More than once guys got burned because of coal dust; and one time a door exploded off a boiler.
That explosion in Dearborn scared the company and for a while they responded to safety grievances. Then things went back to normal.
How do we make things better? I mean, you dont want to be standing there when the door blows off a boiler. You dont want to develop lung disease or get burned because theres coal dust.
Two things make us stronger. Education. Solidarity.
As individual workers we need to take part in our union. That means know who your committee person is, talk to the shop chair, go to union meetings so the union reps know who you are. Management only gives lip service to the complaints of one worker, they respond positively when a group of union members say the same things.
We need to do the research. Common sense tells me that coal burns, that coal dust makes a fire spread and that cleaning it up and stopping the source of the problem can eliminate the problem. The internet can help back that up with facts. So can the union safety people, theyve taken classes so theyre talking from more than just common sense. And were lucky that our union has one of the top safety departments in the country.
It used to be the supervisors divided us according to race and ethnicity. Poles and African Americans and Mexicans and Italians and on and on. Now theyre more likely to divide us with favoritism.
But an exploding boiler doesnt care about race and has no favorites. Neither does a poorly designed assembly job that tears up your nerves and muscles and causes tingling and carpal tunnel damage.
When Ive done this alone they've come to kill the messenger. Like the boss who says he can nail me for anything.
But its not just me that gets hurt if coal dust burns, jobs get sped up, overtime gets cut or too much, or the job is so poorly designed everyone who works it gets shoulder surgery.
What scares the bosses the most is when we hang together. Then they cant hang us separately. In unity there is strength. And in unity we can get the union involved and give them the strength to make the change. Otherwise management is going to find someone on some shift who is some foremans favorite who says ahh, its okay.
Unity. Strength. Education.
And follow the rules. I know that when I stand up for the rights of my co-workers and making work just a little better some boss is going to look for a minor infraction. If you got your stuff tight and your buddies behind you, then you can drive through Dearborn or make a difference in the shop.