The Experiences of Wage-Earners over the Past Half-Century: A Look at the Automotive Industry Essay by Top Papers

The following essay will look at the experiences of wage-earners over the past 50 years within the Canadian automotive industry. As time and space allow, the paper will touch upon the industrial context over time; changes in the labour market; changes in training; the evolution (if any) of management policies; what technological modifications have taken place over the years; whether or not wages and benefits have improved over the years (at least relative to the cost of living): what the working conditions are like now versus in the past; whether or not there has been widespread resistance to anything automakers have tried to impose upon their subordinates; the family life of workers who have found themselves depending upon a steady job in the automotive sector for their livelihood; and, in brief, the paper will look at leisure and aspirations and how these have evolved over the decades. In the final analysis, after looking at the available literature and after interviewing two associates who both make their careers in the auto sector, a few things become evident: the industry has become more employer-friendly; it is much more difficult for a non-skilled individual to get work in the industry; management practices are less repressive than in the past (possibly thanks to changes in federal and provincial laws and legislation) but there is an eagerness to move facilities and branches elsewhere when it suits the bottom line; and, finally, job security is a fairly tenuous thing these days. All in all, the lot of the factory worker is a more difficult one that his or her father would have found it in his youth.