Productivity under Workers' Control

[Radek]

While I have heard from numerous sources over the years that productivity generally increases with the introduction of democratic workers' control (as well as it having a variety of other positive effects), I have been unable to find a good and comprehensive empirical analysis of recent democratic experiments.

I wonder if comrades could help me out by providing links, or alternatively just sharing their own knowledge of such experiments.

[Forward Union]

The best example is one recently. The Anarchist "Free Workers Union" in Germany facilitated the takeover of a bike factory which managed to completely sell out in weeks. And this was whilst only being able to distribute nationally. The examples you've probably heard of are the Tile factories in argentina, I'll look into them for you.

Below Workers continue production of bikes.

[img]http://www.strike-bike.de/1/uploads/images/strike-bike-produktion/prod2_k.jpg' border='0' alt='user posted image' class='attach' />

The FAU logo

[img]http://www.strike-bike.de/1/images/fauiaak.jpg' border='0' alt='user posted image' class='attach' />

Relevent links.

Strike-Bike.de (http://www.strike-bike.de/1/index.php?hl=de_DE)

Strike Bike victory (http://www.revleft.com/index.php?showtopic=71670)

[Herman]

Are you asking for productivity (how much is produced, how quickly, quality, etc) or financial success? Because they are two different things (though they are both linked).

Financial success depends on the market and the law of "supply and demand", as well as many external factors outside the factory itself.

If you're talking about productivity itself, then i'll try to search for something from Venezuela.

[Radek]

Thank you for that, Wat Tyler. An interesting example. The examples I have read briefly on in the past came from Venezuela, Argentina and Chile. But unfortunately that has been very briefly.

I'm looking at productivity, Herman, rather than financial success. Obviously whether the financial success of something improves or falls is not always dependent on its productivity -- and sometimes in spite of it.

[cary jebus]

woot!

[blackstone]

Comrade Wat Tyler mentioned the Textile factories in Argentina. Specifically, Zanon(FaSinPat). Here's some information regarding it that may be of some assistance.


On March 2, 2002 the factory began producing again, with only one line of production open. Initially, the workers decided to start off producing about 10 percent of what was produced before the lockout and slowly increasing production as not to undermine the quality of the product.

However, by implementing their own ideas to improve production, and with help from engineers from the local university, within a year the workers were producing more than 50 percent of what the factory made before the takeover.

Currently, they are looking to exporting tiles once again, and have become recognized as a not-for-profit organization, as all of the profits are used to improve production or make donations to the community.

Before the takeover, some workers earned twice as much as others; now everyone earns the same ($800 pesos, or about $270 dollars, a good salary in Neuquen). Workers report feeling less stressed as they can take breaks when they need to and, most importantly, accidents, once common, are now rare occurrences.

As one poster says "Now, there are no bosses. Safety is the responsibility of all of us."

http://www.zmag.org/content/print_article....07&sectionID=41 (http://www.zmag.org/content/print_article.cfm?itemID=5107&sectionID=41)


Prior to the workers' occupation, production inside Zanon was set
to maximize the company's profits, reducing salaries to the minimum possible level, cutting corners on worker safety measures, and pressuring workers to produce at high levels with the least amount of workers necessary. These conditions led to an average of 25-30 accidents per month and one fatality per year. A total of 14 workers died inside the factory. Since Zanon's occupation by its workers not one accident has occurred inside the factory.

http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cf...=42&ItemID=9995 (http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=42&ItemID=9995)