A history of time and motion study

'Mr Bedaux is a man who has made his money from the sweat and labour of the textile workers. I suggest he takes the Duke and Duchess [of Windsor] on a tour of the southern textile districts to interview the men and women who are wandering around on relief as a result of his PAGE WORK-STUDY systems and the various methods of applying them are not new.

Some workers will tell you that these systems have been operating in some factories Gorman, Union President, United Textile Workers.

November 1937.)

for years. Others can tell of the struggles against the Bedaux work-study method in the 1930s.

The leaders of the 1917 Russian Revolution, Lenin and Trotsky, took a close look at time-and-motion methods.

In preparation for his book Imperialism, the Highest Stage of _Capitalism' written in 1916, Lenin made a comprehensive study of the Taylor (time-study) and Gibreth (method-study) systems.

He commented that under capitalism they were la torture or a conjuring trick' while Trotsky wrote in 1920 of Taylorism as a system under which:

"The elements of the scientific organization of the process of production are combined with the most concentrated methods of the system of sweating' The system was first introduced in a developed form in Britain in the ten years which followed the defeat of the 1926 General Strike.

It was no doubt thought by Charles Bedaux-the system's chief protagonist-that he would encounter less opposition among the demoralized workers in Britain than had been the case in America.

Any such predictions would have quickly have proved wrong by the wave of strikes and general unrest which greeted the attempts of employers to introduce the Bedaux system. Workers saw through the claims that this was a 'scientific' method of aiding both management and Employer's profits The essence of the scheme. of course, was that it pushed up the employer's profits and often allowed him to dispense with large numbers of workers altogether.

One of Bedaux's main innovations was the concept of the 'standard minute' ', a method of timing the work process which allowed a great rationalization movements - in other words, speed-up.

That Bedaux was the founder of modern work-study methods is flatly denied by all present-day work-study consultants, managers and union officials who say that today's systems have nothing to do with Bedaux's system.

This conspiracy of silence is maintained because of Bedaux's subsequent history and because of the disputes which broke out when attempts were made to apply his methods.

The story now is that modern systems are based on the work of Taylor, not Bedaux.

In fact, Bedaux brought together all the work of previous time-and-motion engineers like F. W. Taylor and F. Gilbreth.

Taylor, working in the latter part of the last century, was the first man to apply the stopwatch to the organization of work, and developed systems such as that of loading a lorry in half the previous time with fewer men.

Because of his aim to investigate and analyse 'scientifically' all the components of the production process; and to experiment with materials, machines and methods of work using measuring instruments such as the stopwatch he became to be known as the irst developer 01 'scientific Gilbreth more connot an essential part of the cycle and does not advance the product or the operation'.

cerned with work-motions.

His aim was to 'eliminate wastefulness resulting from the use of unnecessary, illdirected and inefficient motions'.

Such delays began at the point where 'the body member departs from the normal pattern of work, and ends where the member resumes the normal pattern.

To measure this, Gilbreth devised the technique for filming workers and dividing their jobs into 1/4,000 parts ot a minute—called a 'wink'. This is known as the 'wink micromotion film technique' Techniques of Bedaux began to sell his developed variety of these techniques of exploitation to the British employers through a private company on whose Board sat AEI and Enfield Rolling Mills directors.

Beaux and his company director associates were soon faced with a two-month strike against their system by girls employed at the Wolsey stocking factory at Leicester.

From December 1931 to February 1932 they were out behind the slogan 'No Bedaux!' Opposition also came from linoleum and biscuit-making workers. Three hundrea women struck at Amalgamated Carburettors Ltd. saying they 'were determined not to have anything to do with the Bedaux system'.

In 1933. 800 men walked out of the Smethwick firm of Henry Hope and Sons 'determined not to return to work until the firm is willing to abolish the Bedaux system' The strike lasted for eight weeks, with mass picketing of the factory and a public meeting following a march from Smethwick to West Bromwich.

Three hundred engineers at Elliot Bros of Lewisham also struck against job-timing in 1933, and the same year a thousand workers out at Venesta Plywood, Silvertown, behind the demand, 'Bedaux must go!' Union leaders reported 'unabated determination to have nothing to do with the system'. Fights broke out between strikers and nonunionists, and the 'Daily Herald' reported:

'Non-union workers on the Bedaux system had police protection against crowds of strikers' (May 2, 1933).

At the same time, system in However, some union systems and waile • made had sold out the General Strike seven or eight years previously were not une men to fight the employers now.

almost all cases action was taken Bedaux negotiated duced but special rales or pay physically and that it would inevitably result in sackings. ended by the introduction long as consultation occurs'.

the Com"The TUC agrees with all forms of rationalization. They believe in all kinds of speedup. The trades union officials are the same in every capitalist country, kidding the workers to adopt such systéms in order to compete with the workers of other countries, and as a consequence we find the army of unemployed rising higher every week.' They went on to describe the Bedaux system as 'one of the most devilish systems ever invented. It is known in the mass production shops of Germany as "Bedaux Hell!", But the Communist Party held a heavy responsibility for the 1926 defeat of the General Strike, through its policy of telling the workers to support the 'left' trade union leaders.

Now (from 1929 on) in the period of its 'left turn' the Labour Party and trade unions became groups of "social fascists' so that no united movement against the attack of the employers, of which Bedaux was a part, could be built.

The Stalinists could continue to make statements like that of January 13, 1932:

'What the bosses and the Labour leaders hail as scientific progress, is merely the intensified sweating of the working class. No Bedaux! is the slogan of the Wolsey girls, and their fight must be backed by all workers who are up

against rationalization in one form or another.' However, they conducted no political fight against the Labour leaders. Like the workstudy experts, the Communist Party now prefers to forget its previous history.

Today the CP has supported 'productivity' schemes such as Measured-Day Work and has smoothed the way for the introduction of time-andmotion study into factories.

As the working class fights back today against the Labour leaders who encourage the growth of monopoly, rationalumn

Motion STUDY ization and speed-up, it must learn from the history of the previous struggles against the employers' demands for higher and higher profits.

In September of the same year, the Windsors went to stay with the Bedauxs at their shooting lodge in Hungary and it was from here that Charles Bedaux personally arranged for the Windsors to make a tour of Nazi Germany.

The Windsors claimed later that Bedaux had said that the visit would be private, and they would simply meet certain German industrialists who were among his friends.

However, on their arrival at Berlin, on October 11, 1937, they were met by leading Nazi Party members, and, according to the Illustrated London News', the Duke was greeted by crowds shouting 'Hell, Edward! and 'Windsor!' 'Windsor!' They were taken on a conducted tour of the mines, housing estates, chemical works and factories by _Dr Robert Ley, head of the Nazi National Labour Front, the man who had directed the ruthless destruction of the German trade unions.

The Duke was also shown over a secret aircraft production works that no visitor had been allowed into before.

During their stay, the Windsors were entertained by Krupp, Goering, Hess and It was during this tour that the Duke had a private discussion with Hitler, described by the Duchess in her memoirs some years later as follows:

'On the way back Munich, when we were momentarily alone, I asked David [the Duke] whether he had had an interesting talk with Hitler. "Yes, very," he answered, riffling through the pages of a magazine.

•"Did you get into international politics?" I asked, curiously.

• "Now, darling," he protested. "You know my rule about politics. I'd certainly never allow myself to get into a political discussion with him!"

• "You were with him one hour. What did you talk about?"

• "He did most of the talking."

• "Well, what did he talk about?"

• "Oh, the usual stuff. What he is trying to do for Germany and to combat Bolshevism."

• "What did he say about Bolshevism?"

' "He's against it."

'And that was all I ever did get out of David about his meeting with Adolf Hitler' Bedaux attempted to follow up this 'success' by arranging a similar tour of the United States for the Windsors.

This visit was opposed by thousands of American workers through their unions, particularly the Baltimore Federation of Labour, on the basis that Bedaux, already notoricious siste IS A f expoitarinn of the workers, had been the Nazi's agent behind the Windsors' German trip, under the auspices of Ley, and was now attempting to extend even further his openly fascist sympathies in the USA.

As the time of the visit approached, the storm of protest increased.

Thousands of United States workers prepared to meet the Windsors and Bedaux at the pierhead with anti-fascist banners placards and slogans as they arrived.

Nationwide demonstrations were planned. Automobile workers at Detroit who had been on strike a year earlier against Bedaux's system of speed-up were preparing strikes and demonstrations against the Windsors' visit Textile workers also planned similar action, Bedaux eventually withdrew as sponsor of the visit and finally the Windsors cancelled the trip altogether.

state The methods of time-andmotion study are not far removed from the methods of the corporate state and the kind of dictatorship towards which sections of the employing class in Britain are now looking as a solution to their economic problems.

Bedaux himself was looking in this direction in the late 1930s. At that time he was a friend of the present Duke of Windsor.

In fact, in 1937, following his abdication, the Duke of Windsor married the Duchess, who was then Mrs Simpson, at Bedaux's own country mansion, the Chateau de Candé, near Tours, France, where Mrs Simpson had already been living for some months as the Bedaux's guest.

After becoming friendly with Schacht, the president of the German Reichebank, and Ribbentrop, German Ambassador to London, Bedaux resigned from British Bedaux Ltd. in 1937 and went to live in Germany.

Following the surrender of the French Army during the war, he acted as intermediary between the Nazis and Vichy. He finally committed suicide in 1945 while under arrest by the USA authorities.

That Bedaux's methods are the basis of present workstudy systems can be seen when we know that rating, the rating scale, work-studied incentive payment schemes and modern methods of stopwatch timingas well as the 'standard minute' — were all Bedaux's inventions.

job evaluationignificant that invented in the USA, was expanded to its modern level of development in Nazicontrolled factories in Germany during the World War.

At present, all these systems are being re-hashed and combined in a government policy of attacking the jobs, wages and living standards of the working class.

In many colleges there are industrial relations departments which specialize training prospective managers in how to get these schemes across.

A course in 'communications' is now said to be vital for any manager or supervisor who has regular direct contact with operatives and staff.

Gilbreth introduced the concept of avoidable delay, to describe 'either idleness or an unnecessary movement that is by • Wednesday, August 5, 1970 logy, sociology, and economics departments contribute books, pamphlets and articles to the department of scientific and industrial research and other government agencies for publication.

Warwick university, for example, is closely associated with big business interests in the Midlands, as was revealed after an occupation of the registrars office by students.

According to 'The Times', the university • • set out to introduce new university courses tailored to the needs of modern business generally and of specific industries in particular The university's ruling council includes directors Hawker-Siddeley, Courtaulds, Rootes, Jaguars, British-Leyland, Rugby Cement, Barclays

Teaching staffs of these departments, and of psychoBank and J. R. Mead, described as a director of 42 Midlands companies. ('Sunday Times', February 22, 1970.)

Its professor of labour relations, Hugh Clegg, has been a member of the Prices and Incomes Board PB Trade Royal Commission on Unions, as well as being on the original Devlin committee.

He has also been proposed as head of a new governmentbacked research unit which will be located at Warwick and which will aim:

'to encourage the development of long-term and fundamental research in industrial relations; and to improve the quality of industrial relations decisions by government, employers and trade unions.' Many of these experts also take part in courts of inquiry during disputes and are leading members of bodies which examine and report on productivity deals.

These people are described as being 'impartial' or 'neutral' as far as industrial disputes are concerned and so are said to be capable of an unbiased decision.

Another body aimed at helping managements 'to forecast and plan long-term manrequirements' is the Institute of Manpower Studies.

Based jointly at Sussex University and the London School of Economics its setting up was enthusiastically backed by 20 of Britain's - biggest com.

including ICI, Shell, link-up between government, employers, university experts and trade union leaders can be clearly seen from the list of its joint vicepresidents. They are: Sir Peter Allen, chairman of ICI; Sir Denis Barnes, ment and Dr F. vice-chancellor of Nottingham University; and Victor general One Une most recent and of work took Clydeside. and of closely associated millionaires and Tory tycoons, the chance to tunity to an experiall the latest developments the intensifiout by millionaires and yard open, work-study personnel to apply work and Measured-Day was given to servative, mentary candidates contributions to the set-up 'Fairfields Even Sean Connery of James went along Workers flown down Training presided over by J. Haston, for pronot 'comrelations' pushed the scheme along but the of yard's chairman of directors, who, according to quently on the scheme: attempt to xorain ormas unt tightly for he to keep the men on the narrow path he (Whatever happened at Fairfields'. & B.

Hawkins.)

• "The were over not afraid to confess "and I intended t keep them there until they understood new tech- niques and crusted ther I wanted pard wan running as was achieved by

implications Fourth International A JOURNAL OF INTERHATIONAL MARXISM PUBLISHED BY THE INTERMATIONAL COMMITTEE OF THE POURTH INTERMATIOMAL Volume 6 No. 3 Price 5 Shillings Summer 1970 1970 THE YEAR OFLENIN AND TROTSKY class is, but the 'total absence of To clear out the corrupt and Philby's story, despite his in- and 'violent capitalist state and tellectual courage in breaking to come to a reckoning with from a fetishistic and chauvinistic Stalinism is the task of a new middle-class loyalty to the capi- generation. Wednesday, August the work-study team which cost the firm a quarter of a million pounds in wages alone for a year?

'Systematically the labour force was cut down in the first six months by about 750 An even more recent development has been the use of television to promote aspects of productivity working.

The series 'Representing the Union', jointly run by • the trade unions and the BBC, set out to prove that workers unite with the employers making capitalism work, which at shop-floor level of course means acceptance of work study, job evaluation and Measured-Day Work.

Finally, to bring us fully up-to-date it is necessary to look at the business, manageDuke of Windsor ment and work-study consultants' firms which tout in ever-increasing numbers for contracts to introduce the latest time-and-motion methods into one firm or another.

One of the major effects of the development of industry-wide use of productivity deals has been the huge growth in size and numbers of these organizations.

The largest management consultant firm in the world is the USA's Booz, Allen and Hamilton, with McKinsey not far behind.

In 1968 management consultants' fees earned in the UK and Eire totalled £19 million, an increase of 22 per cent on the previous year.

A further huge expansion of business is expected on the basis of the Board of Trade's them to make the promises about no redundancy, higher pay, etc., which can always be denied once the consultants have left on the basis that they were not part of of the company and so were not qualified to make such promises anyway.

Sometimes, too, disputes which break out over a scheme are blamed on the inefficiency of the efficiency consultants the company saying that eventually its own work-study department will put things right.

Work-study consultants are paid extremely well. An assistant can get anything up to £2,000 a year while senior men -they call them engineersmay get as much as £5,000.

Workers facing continual hounding to increase times, often from people who haven't a clue about the work that is being done, are struck by the large increases in staff and by the hundreds of thousands of pounds paid out in salaries when these schemes are operated.

We must also add that consultants, like capitalism itself, are international.

The European Work-Study I MIPIOIR TAINET READ NIG DOCUMENTS OF SOVIET / LENIN LUXEMBURG TLIEBKNECHT Federation's 7th conference was held in Eire in 1968.

Present were 200 delegates representing 16 countries, and plans were laid for a World Congress on Productivity Science sometime in the future.

The Methods Time Measured Association of Great Britain was formed in 1963 to promote the use of MTM in Britain.

With a membership of 1,400 it claims that more and more managements are becoming interested in its methods, particularly since MTM-2 was invented in 1965.

At the moment there are MTM Associations in France, USA, UK, Germay, Holland, Japan, Norway, Sweden and Italy, all under the guidance of an international directorate.

The associations run courses and examinations and hand out certificates to those that pass.

It is no surprise that world capitalism, in" its crisis and decay, should seek to disseminate on a world-wide scale all its most vicious and destructive methods of sweating, discipling, and controlling the working class.