promoted to GM in his place. The same day that this was announced, management declared a series of changes in line with their new cost cutting strategy, to take effect immediately. The changes reduced long service bonuses, cut holiday time, introduced strict attendance and punctuality requirements, and excluded family and outside friends from attending the annual Christmas party. The one seemingly positive thing about the changes was the increase incentive pay for productivity. I missed work the day that this was announced; when I returned the next day, workers were eager to tell me about this work/act) by management: balu wade (bastardly We are going to resign. We aren’t going to work like this. Don’t know what they will do in the future...all my friends are thinking of quitting too....Manoshi Miss is no use. She doesn’t even come to hear you when you tell her a problem and she probably tells others. She is no use. She’s scared. They are all the same. I am really thinking of quitting. Nathan, (otherwise, no use this false work)! Dilan Sir wadak nah mei borru wade is very strict with the target. I don’t know what to think about him. He did this the first thing he did after coming…I am not happy about working – on 2 machines and multiple operations. I have to perform 7 operations [Indika] Indika’s reflections are important for a number of reasons. First, Indika was thinking of exiting. Manoshi Miss, the factory counselor, a conduit between management and workers was seen to be useless or ineffectual in this situation. Moreover, ever since the new management team had been introduced, workers had experienced an intensification of their work. Taken together, her job was looking like a Literally translated at false work, here it also conveys a wade”. “borru sense of of time”, or to be duped in some way. “waste Overall, workers were critical of the new management team and their practices, and this incident highlighted their critique, despite the management’s best efforts to present themselves as friendly, more humane and open to communication:
promoted to GM in his place. The same day that this was announced, management declared a series of changes in line with their new cost cutting strategy, to take effect immediately. The changes reduced long service bonuses, cut holiday time, introduced strict attendance and punctuality requirements, and excluded family and outside friends from attending the annual Christmas party. The one seemingly positive thing about the changes was the increase incentive pay for productivity. I missed work the day that this was announced; when I returned the next day, workers were eager to tell me about this balu wade (bastardly work/act) by management: We are going to resign. We aren’t going to work like this. Don’t know what they will do in the future...all my friends are thinking of quitting too....Manoshi Miss is no use. She doesn’t even come to hear you when you tell her a problem and she probably tells others. She is no use. She’s scared. They are all the same. I am really thinking of quitting. Nathan, wadak nah mei borru wade (otherwise, no use this false work)! Dilan Sir is very strict with the target. I don’t know what to think about him. He did this – the first thing he did after coming…I am not happy about working on 2 machines and multiple operations. I have to perform 7 operations [Indika] Indika’s reflections are important for a number of reasons. First, Indika was thinking of exiting. Manoshi Miss, the factory counselor, a conduit between management and workers was seen to be useless or ineffectual in this situation. Moreover, ever since the new management team had been introduced, workers had experienced an intensification of their work. Taken together, her job was looking like a “borru wade”. Literally translated at false work, here it also conveys a sense of “waste of time”, or to be duped in some way. Overall, workers were critical of the new management team and their practices, and this incident highlighted their critique, despite the management’s best efforts to present themselves as friendly, more humane and open to communication:
ILPC2010paper-10965.docx