A couple years ago I wrote a piece for mrzine on what autoworkers might produce beside autos if given the chance. Their productivity decades ago reached the point where a workweek of 20 hours or less -- at the same wages -- was technically possible, freeing them up for more socially productive ventures. Now of course the need to find such ventures -- and to take back the trillions in surplus value stolen from autoworkers to fund their reemployment -- is a matter of immediate survival.
One worker quoted in the Times this week said if they reconverted his plant to making lawnmowers that's fine by him. And on email lists autoworkers are discussing what else they might do (such as teaching, providing healthcare, building alternative energy apparatus, etc.).
The key of course is organizing to make sure they, and the rest of the millions soon to be newly-unemployed, have the right and the resources to make that choice!
For the original article click the graphic above.
October 30, 2008
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