When companies get cheap, workers get unhappy
— -- Unions are good, and cost-cutting management is evil. That seems to be the thesis of David Kusnet's new book, Love the Work, Hate the Job.
Kusnet, a former speechwriter for President Clinton, followed four Seattle companies at the turn of the millennium: Kaiser Aluminum, Boeing, Microsoft and Northwest Hospital. Kusnet talked to workers and chronicled union activities at all four companies.
Kusnet treats protests in 1999 at the World Trade Organization summit in Seattle as a seminal moment for unions. Dissatisfied Seattle workers began speaking out.
"Talking to these workers," Kusnet says, "I couldn't help but reach this conclusion: They love their work — the careers they have chosen, the skills they have learned, the products they make, and the services they provide. But they are beginning to hate their jobs."
Kusnet sees the juxtaposition of workers striving for quality and management focused on short-term profits as an unavoidable source of conflict. The four Seattle firms he studied underscore the point:
• Kaiser Aluminum. Although making aluminum can be hard work, Henry Kaiser made his workers love their jobs by treating them well. He supported unions. He pioneered prepaid health care and child care for workers. He's the Kaiser in Kaiser Permanente.
Unfortunately for workers, after Kaiser died the company was sold to Texas financier Charles Hurwitz. Hurwitz cut costs, and once hired workers willing to cross a picket line during a strike. Strikers voiced quality concerns about the metal produced in their absence. Hurwitz was eventually forced to offer a pay raise to get the workers back.
• Northwest Hospital. The hospital was one of the last non-union health care institutions in Seattle. Former CEO Jim Hart knew all employees by name, gave them Christmas bonuses, and organized morale-raising activities. New management put an end to bonuses, and morale suffered. The hospital hired cost-efficiency consultants who knew nothing about patient care.
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