reverse equality
... shop floor in the garment industry from Das Gupta pp 61 (1996). (See attached diagram of Underbody area). This is where the “reverse equality” takes effect. The woman bumps a junior employee of his job sight unseen. The woman is then given the mandatory assisted training of the said job for three to five days depending on the foreman in the area. If the woman cannot do the job, she is assigned to one of the more sought after or physically less demanding jobs, BUT if you take the same scenario and this time it is man being trained on the same job, the results are much different. The man is given between four to eight hours to learn the job, if this is not sufficient the male worker is often harassed by management much the same way the black worker is persecuted in the Das Gupta Text (1999)… harassment is excessive monitoring and documentation to be used against a worker. This practice implies that workers of colour need more guidance, more corrections,… Das Gupta (1999:36). This is just the beginning for the male worker who will be threatened with a job disqualification (if you receive 3 disqualifications it is grounds for dismissal). If the worker asks management to switch to an easier job or bump someone else with lower seniority he is told those jobs are owned by higher seniority workers and are being held on a temporary basis by mostly women (some temporarily in these jobs for length of contracts) “One of the best and quickest ways of redressing a case of harassment is to rely on anti-harassment and anti-discrimination clauses in one’s collective agreement. One advantage is that the grievance procedure that is prescribed is clear and time-specific so that the process is relatively short and predictable. Moreover the shop steward or other union official acts as an advocate of the griever and the process is free of charge. However it becomes more complicated if the grievance is against another union member…Even though the union grievance procedure is one of the most expedient ways of fighting racism, sexisim, and some forms of classism… Some grievers have had the unfortunate experience of not being assisted by their shop stewards because they did not think there was a “solid case”. Das Gupta (1999:94). This statements contradicts what is really happening on the shop floor in this “reverse equality” when the female worker calls the shop steward to address her concerns, they are consistently met, usually without to much resistance from management, almost to the point of a “hush hush we’ll take care of it” attitude. whereas the male worker will meet with much more resistance from management and less backing from the union. This support is not free as stated in the preceding reference as all workers pay the same amount of monthly dues check off, as well as earning the exact same wage. To further my point, a short case study follows. 1. Male Worker on one shift at auto plant complains that equipment is becoming increasingly hard to maneuver, is told that it is ergonomically correct and nothing can be done to correct it. 2. New Female Worker on the opposite shift and on same job complains and job is restructured to her specifications, which it turns out has made the job far more difficult for her and sh...