ABSTRACT
Every time the light flashed a tray came down the line with another two UMOs for us to assemble. We had no control over the light-how often it flashed was specified in the layout, and the chargehand had set it to the correct speed. We couldn’t decide how many UMOs we wanted to do, nor choose to leave one out. The organisation of the line saw to it that we assembled every single one. If you stopped, all the women behind you had to stop as well, less UMOs were made, you lost bonus and so did the others-the tray just stayed at your position until you did your work. Threats of losing bonus and pressure from the other women whose bonus would be lost on your account were usually enough to keep you at it. As carrot and stick the bonus and light ensured continuous production.
