How to Tell When You're Tired: A Brief Examination of Work

Starting at the age of 15 as a ``fruit tramp'' in California and the Southwest, Theriault eventually spent 30 years as a longshoreman and an official of the Bay Area longshoremen's union, so he is no stranger to hard labor. His discussion ranges over factory jobs, time-and-motion studies, accidents and injuries on the job, black and white workers, slave and prison labor, unions that only add more management, and strikes versus job actions. Theriault argues that workers do the work and so are the most familiar with how it should be done. Industrial workers, he believes, are alienated from their work and are not helped by the adversarial stance of capital and labor. There's no point, he maintains, in maximizing efficiency and increasing productivity if the only result is a higher quota at the same pay. Decrying the ``warlike tension'' between workers and management that has existed since the onset of the industrial revolution, the author concludes, ``in all work situations where the production process takes place at the expense and denial of human values, production suffers.'' A refreshing look at the workplace by a seasoned expert. (Sept.)