ABSTRACT
This chapter describes and begins to explain a paradox. Viewed from the outside, factory work seems hard, dirty, boring, and dangerous—in short, oppressive. NEC employees describe their work in ways not greatly different from the descriptions of autoworkers studied by Chinoy and Walker. There are dissimilarities, of course, that should be kept in mind when reading their comments. Some of the proponents of the “deskilling” argument—that all forms of work have become degraded with the separation of conception and execution—would not see much difference between production work and the skilled trades. Many chemical employees rotate through all three shifts. This is partly due to the continuous-processing nature of the technology. Since some of the buildings run all day and all week, four full crews are required to staff three shifts. But it is also partly due to tradition. The harmful physiological effects of rotating shifts have been well documented.
