A Closer Look at Edwardes' Japanese Modei

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Leyland Vehicles strikers struggle to hold down a picket hut-and a job This system of 'out education before recruit- majority of workers work on people work an average women who are bannea py sourcing" has produced a ment and in exchange are short term contracts, earn- 48 hour week! law from joining a trade This yawning division massive division within the given 'guarantees' about a ing approximately 60% Indeed, casual labour union (Tebbit Japanese working class. On job for life. These workers are also in the big corporations. the firms, almost like the ment Act!), and one gets a of their brethren's income operates on a wide scale in include this in his Employ- ing class, also runs right Taken from "Rodo Joho'. a bulletin of 'news from militant The difference between Leyland Vehicles and its competitors can be summed up in one wordinvestment. Indeed, the loans made to Leyland from the Government have been on a short term basis with a high interest of return (14%) whilst Japanese competitors, Toyota for example, pays only 2½ % interest on long term loans.

This brings us to the question of the "Japanese experience" that so motivated Edwardes and his advisors to embark on the ''Corporate Plan" • The 'Japanese road to a more efficient capitalism" presently propounded by monetarists of all hues, is significant for workers precisely because it gives us a glimpse of what 'Monetarist Britain' may end up like if the present drift to the right is not reversed.

For Japanese capitalsm, : sub-contracting of component production has been the key to success. The Toyota truck company, for example has literally thousands of sub-contractors who agree informally to hold large numbers of components in reserve for their 'master comnanv"

the one hand there are "permanent" workers who work for the main multi-nationals, and number about 20% of the total labour force. These 'fortunate' workers undergo extensive technical education before recruitment and in exchange are given 'guarantees' about a job for life.

These workers are also bombarded with the company esprit-de-corps and spend most of their leisure time within the ambit of social facilities provided by the firm.

On the other hand, the majority of workers work on short term contracts, earning approximately 60% of their brethren's income in the big corporations. Moreover, the length of the working week also varies according to the size of your company and the one third of the labour force who work in companies employing under thirty people work an average 48 hour week!

Indeed, casual operates on a wide scale in the firms, almost like the Vince Dunn current strike to examine Edwardes' st and closures.

looks at Le he ge ategy docks in Britain in the 1920s, with hundreds of thousands of workers working only one day a week. Combine this with a large amount of seasonal work, particularly among women who are banned by law from joining a trade union (Tebbit 'forgot' to include this in his Employment Act!), and one gets a beyond the land Vehicles sought in for cutbacks

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good idea of the type of economic regime that Edwardes and Thatcher would like to impose on the working class in Britain.

Yawning

This yawning division within the Japanese working class, also runs right through the structures of the trade union movement as well.

'Company unionism" is rife in Japan, particularly in the multi-nationals, because once you leave the company you also leave the union. Interestingly, when the Americans occupied Japan in 1945, they opposed the formation of centralised "all-in" unions as we have. in Britain. Instead they fostered the growth of parochial company centred bodies and thwarted the growth of national trade union organisation.

The result is that only 30% of workers are unionised and this figure is going down, essentially because of the casualisation of labour. In other words, the Japanese capitalists can hire and fire at will with no worries about a backlash from a well organised labour movement.

Absence

Combine this with the virtual absence of a system of social services in Japan, the fact that an hourly paid engineering worker earns about a half of the purchasing power of his American counter-part and one can see why Japanese capitalism is more profitable than in the UK.

Attempts are being made, though, to set up independent "solidarnosc" style unions. In particular, for seasonal and part-time general workers there is the Zenichijiro which is campaigning for national legitimacy as a trade union, and