Social Issues of Work in Ben Hamper's Book Riverhead

Social Issues of Work in Ben Hamper's Book Riverhead

Ben Hampers book Rivethead; Tales From The Assembly

Line is a gritty in your face account of a factory workers

struggles against his factory, his co-workers, and the time

clock. Hamper makes no apologies for any of his actions,

many of which were unorthodox or illegal. Instead he

justifies them in a way that makes the factory workers

strife apparent to those who have never set foot on an

assembly line and wouldn’t have the vaguest idea how much

blood, sweat and tears go into the products we take for

granted everyday.

Rivethead is an account of the entire life of Author

Ben Hamper, from his long family lineage of “shoprats” and

his catholic school upbringing to his numerous different

positions on the General Motors assembly line and his

equally numerous lay-offs from the GM Truck & Bus Division.

Unfortunately the many years of back breaking labor combined

with Hampers own personal demons led him to check into an

outpatient mental facility (at the time of the completion of

this book) where he learns daily to cope with his many years

of mental anguish.

Rivethead is a social commentary on industrial America,

assembly line work , and the auto industry. This essay,

however, will focus on the more specific aspects

Hamper considers, such as the monotony required on a (then)

modern assembly line, the relationship and hierarchy among

workers and their interaction with management as well as

both collective and individual responses to work and job

satisfaction (or lack there of).

Analysis

When Henry Ford first developed the idea of the

assembly line he was heralded as one of the most forwa...

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...s workers, were such an insignificant part

of the organization that they couldn’t affect any change.

“[It] went along with being just another cog in such a

mammoth flywheel” (Hamper pg.72).

Ironically the Saturn car company, a division of

General Motors, was one of the first auto makers to try to

solve the inherent problems of the assembly line. Instead of

each worker doing the same thing all day long, Saturn

created a system where lineworkers are organized into

workgroups which combine to complete a major, visible

portion of the car. Saturn also informs the lineworkers

specifically who they are making each individual car for and

where it will be sent whenever possible. These small changes

along with many other recent advances have proven to make a

tremendous difference in worker satisfaction and loyalty and

continue to help humanize an inhuman job.