5 15 5 (7) conduct pilot projects for a variety of experi ments in both blue collar and white collar work redesign in selected Federal agencies to determine their effect in improved employee job satisfaction. (b) in carrying out the research and technical assist6 ance program authorized by this section, the Secretaries shall 7 consult with the National Institute of Mental Health, the 8 National Science Foundation, the National Institute for Oc9 eupational Safety and Health, and representatives of work10 ers, unions, management, academic, and medical experts. (c) Each December 31, the Secretaries shall file an an12 nual report including any recommendations for further legis13 lation with the Congress. The Secretaries also shall file an 14 interim report no later than six months after passage of the 15 Act. 16 11 SEC. 4. The Secretary of Health, Education, and Wel17 fare, in consultation with the Administrator of the General 18 Services Administration, is directed to insure that Federal 19 agencies seek to maximize job satisfaction of their workers 20 and consider that factor in the design of new Federal 21 facilities. 22 SEC. 5. The Secretary of Labor and the Secretary of 23 Health, Education, and Welfare shall consult with each other 24 concerning the implementation of this Act for the purpose of 6 1 avoiding duplication or conflict in the activities of their re 2 spective Departments under this Act. 3 SEC. 6. There is hereby authorized an appropriation of 4 $10,000,000 in fiscal year 1973 and $10,000,000 in fiscal 5 year 1974 to carry out the provisions of this Act. Senator KENNEDY. The Secretary of Labor. James Hodgson, was on the Today Show this morning. He said that the only two things that workers are interested in are their paychecks and their families. I think they are also interested in the content of their jobs and about what they do when they go through the plant doors. I think the Secretary has misread what has happened across this land, if he does not understand workers are increasingly dissatisfied by working conditions, even if they are satisfied by their paycheck. As a nation, we have prided ourselves in the past on the skills and initiative and capacity of the American worker. And we have watched! as pay raises and benefits seemed to provide a just recompense for the workers. But then we stopped looking. We stopped looking at working con ditions. We stopped looking at health hazards in the work place. We stopped looking at physical hazards. Only now, with the passage of the Occupational Health and Safety Act of 1970 has there been an expression of national concern. Now we have stopped looking again. The Nation marvels at the impressive speed of the automated equipment in the Nation's modern plants and assumes that productivity is at an all-time high. Unfortunately, it is as if the Nation's institutions were mesmerized by the industrial machine and unable to see the man behind the machine. For the key element in the productivity equation is the worker and the noneconomic needs of the worker have been forgotten. Too many young workers are finding their jobs a place of confinement and frus tration. And we should not be surprised that our lack of concern is producing a class of angry and rebellious workers. This year, we have learned in the primaries that millions of Amer icans are alienated. They are alienated because of the war. They are alienated because they see Government respond to special interests and not to the public interest. They are alienated because they see their taxes rise and read about loopholes for corporations and the wealthy. And we also have learned that millions of Americans are alienated because they see their jobs as dead-ends, monotonous and depressing and without value. be And we in the Congress have a responsibility to see what can done to end that alienation and to return the sense of excitement and adventure that traditionally has characterized our people. Few people in America have ever heard of Lordstown, where auto workers have tied up the lines more than once to protest the robotlike monotony of a 36-second interval assembly process. Fewer of us are aware or can understand the causes why a worker recently went berserk in the Eldon axle plant in Detroit and shot three foremen. His defense was insanity, brought about by working in the noise and filth and danger of that plant. The judge and jury visited the plant and their verdict was unanimous. It was a verdict for acquittal. That is the extreme. But how many men and women unnecessarily suffer mental or physical illnesses whose cause is linked to their jobs? What is the extent of use of drugs and alcoholism among young workers? How many men and women could function more effectively as parents and citizens if they did not feel dissatisfied with their jobs! Equally important for the economic vitality of this Nation is the effect that worker discontent has on productivity. The National Commission on Productivity states that in at least one major industry, absenteeism increased by 50 percent, worker turnover by 70 percent, worker grievances by 38 percent, and disciplinary layoffs by 44 percent in a period of 5 years. How much does that cost the economy in terms of lost time, in terms of retraining new workers, in terms of low productivity? A steelworker was quoted in an interview recently and his words sum up the kind of discontent that may be endemic to U.S. modern industry. "It's hard to take pride when you work for a large steel company," he said. "It's hard to take pride in a bridge you're never gonna cross, in a door you're never gonna open. You're mass producing things and you never see the end of it." And at least there is some evidence, in Europe and here at home, that industrialization can be compatible with a sense of self-worth for the workers. And what is equally important, it is becoming clear that management and union leadership will be forced by their workers and their members to address themselves to this issue. I view these hearings as a challenge, a challenge to business leadership, a challenge to union leadership, and a challenge to political leadership to find what constructive role we can play in halting worker alienation. I believe these hearings will broaden the understanding of the Congress and the Nation of the depth and scope and impact of worker discontent in America. In addition, these hearings will examine what hopeful signs exist in the response of certain companies and certain unions to the problem of worker alienation, and will explore some of the options open to us in the future. When we conclude these hearings, we will have spotlighted the areas where we lack sufficient information and the areas where more inquiry and thought is required. If we are successful, I intend to submit legislation to provide for research that will fill the information gaps and which will provide technical assistance to both labor and management in undertaking experiments to alleviate worker discontent. Our first witness this morning is Mr. Gary Brynner, president, UAW Local 1112, Lordstown, Ohio; and Dan Clark, member, UAW Local 1112, Lordstown, Ohio. Gary is 29, one of the youngest presidents of a local union, particularly of the size of that local. I think the committee will find how that plant operates and the reaction of the workers extremely interesting. I am sure your testimony will be as impressive as it was on the occasion we heard you in Pittsburgh not too long ago. I want to express appreciation to Senator Nelson, who is chairman of this subcommittee and very much interested in this whole problem, and it is only with his cooperation and support that we are holding this hearing this morning. This is the first hearing in the House of Representatives or the Senate of the United States on this whole subject area, and it is a very key and important concern to millions of workers in this country, and as in so many other problems affecting the country the Congress is sometimes extremely slow to find about these matters. We hope as a result of these hearings today and tomorrow to begin the very important process of informing our colleagues about this issue and also to try and see what role can be played by the Congress and the Senate in working with workers and businessmen to meet this problem. We very much appreciate you gentlemen being here this morning. STATEMENT OF GARY BRYNNER, PRESIDENT, UAW LOCAL 1112, Mr. BRYNNER. Thank you. I might say it is our pleasure to offer testimony to your committee. We feel it is an avenue that should have been traveled, and we are glad that it has taken place now. There are problems with the workers. "Alienation" is, I guess, a good term. We offer some suggestions and some criticisms as they be. There are symptoms of the alienated worker in our plant where we specialize, where I am president, and Dan is an assembler. Absentee rate, as you said, has gone continually higher. Turnover rate is enor mous. The use and turning to alcohol and drugs is becoming a bigger and bigger problem, and apathy-apathy within our union movement toward union leaders and to the Government. I think those lead from the alienation of the worker. In our plant we make 101.6 Vegas an hour, the fastest line speed in the country. A guy has about 36 seconds to do an operation. The jobs are so frag mented that he is offered very little as far as input to that product. He cannot associate with it or he does not realize what he is doing to it. Conveyor lines in our plant, the heights, and every movement of the conveyor line is determined to make the guy a little more efficient, to take movement of the bending and stretching, to make him more efficient. The arbitrary rights of management tend to alienate the worker. The number of hours he works in a day, the number of days he works in a week, are all determined by arbitrary management, their decision, no recourse by the employee. The job assignments within the plant in the same classification are solely the right of management, no say for the employee. The job content, and there is not much to that because when you have 36 seconds you do not have much of a job to do, and all we are left with is the dead end jobs, as you pointed out, jobs that offer little challenge to the more educated worker, little chance for advancement, and hardly any chance to participate as a worker. We have more educated workers, as everybody knows, and that creates a problem in our plant. He is brought into the plant and his orientation session ends and starts with his papers on insurance and his assignment to a foreman who imme diately puts his warm body on the line. He is introduced to a gentleman or a brother and told this is your operation and in 15 to 20 minutes or an hour or 3 hours, whatever, as quickly as they can get away, that is his job. That is what he looks forward to day in and day out, 10 hours a day, 11 hours a day, 6 or 7 days a week, as in our case. The corporations, as I see it, perpetuate this alienation. In the GMAD system there are 18 assembly plants. They are rated on an audit |