The Guilded Sweatshop (cont.)

"Much has been said and written about quality control circles, teamwork and greater participation by employees at the worksite. Little, however, has been said or written about the de-skilling of work, the accelerating pace of production, the increased workloads, and the new forms of coercion and subtle intimidation that are used to force worker compliance with the requirements of post-Fordist production practices."6

"High stress levels often lead to health-related problems including ulcers, high blood pressure, heart attacks, and strokes. Increased stress also results in drug and alcohol abuse. The Metropolitan Life Insurance Company estimated that an average of one million workers missed work on any given day because of stress-related disorders. Another study commissioned by the National Life Insurance Company found that 14 percent of the workers sampled had quit or changed jobs in the previous two years because of workplace stress."7

"Depressed wages, a frenetic pace set at the workplace, the rapid rise in part-time contingent (temp) work, increased long-term technological unemployment, a growing disparity in income between the haves and the have-nots, and the dramatic shrinking of the middle class are placing unprecedented stress on the American workforce. The conventional optimism that propelled generations of immigrants to work hard in the belief that they could better their lot in live and improve prospects for their children has been shattered. In its place is a growing cynicism about corporate power and increased suspicion of the men and women who wield near total control of the global market place."8

"Toward the end of (a long list), the reasons merge with other types of discrimination. This could be significant in that bullying behaviors seem to be present behind most forms of harassment, discrimination, abuse, conflict, prejudice and acts of violence. It's as if when there is a focus for the perceived threat, acts of prejudice and discrimination result; when there is no focus, bullying results."9

6-8 - "The End of Work," Chapter 12 - "Requiem for the Working Class," Jeremy R1-4 -"Longer Hours, Fewer Jobs: Employment and Unemployment in the United States," Michael D. Yates, Cornerstone Books, 1994.
9- "Bully In Sight," Tim Field, Success Unlimited, 1996
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