Production Manager
Workers in a trade are often
transients, seeking other positions when fired or the firm closes. They carry
with them information of their previous work and company operations. Leslie Kreisler, a Hungarian and general
manager of Jaques Kreisler Jewelry learned of my work at the defunct W K
Manufacturing and contacted me. In the
trade, Willie Klein of W K Manufacturing was well known among the Hungarians. I
met with Leslie, and the firm’s president, Jacques Kreisler. The firm was the major manufacturer of
watchbands and costume jewelry, with plants in North Bergen, Secaucus and
Hopewell, New Jersey. After a few
meetings and negotiations, I was hired as production manager.
The firm had moved three years
earlier from New York City to New Jersey because of high labor costs and union
interference. North Bergen had cheaper
labor and a covert association with a local labor union had been established. The mayor of North Bergen anxious for
industry in his area, honored a few of
the executives and me, with police shields.
We could open employee lockers, or examine employee’s belongings or
packages to check if they were stealing merchandise. The coordination with the union and town officials offered many
advantages.
Some of the expert jewelers moved
from New York and continued working for the Kreisler firm. The New York jewelry union appeared and
tried to induce the workers to join by promising much higher wages and better
working conditions. Many were tempted
to switch from their local union and a strike erupted. A covert meeting with Jaques Kreisler, Mr.
F, president of the local union, and
the mayor was made to resolve the situation.
Prior to the walkout, the worker who
was the leader in motivating the workers to switch unions, was arrested. An examination of his locker revealed
“stolen” jewelry items. While the
pickets were outside the plant, programmed individuals arrived. Some leaflets were scattered about and
fights broke out. The local police
arrived, as “scheduled”, and arrests were made. None of the outsiders were arrested, but the most vociferous of
those that wanted the change, were locked up.
The leaflets that were found
had subversive anti-American
contents.. In a short time the strike to change unions was over and work
resumed in the factory.
This was an educational experience
for me, and an exposure to underhand techniques in industry. In jewelry production the most active period
was before the Christmas season. During
that period the designs for the following year were finalized, but after the
Christmas season, time was needed to make new tooling and set up new production
lines. It was not profitable to keep
workers idle while changes were made, or to let good workers go. I needed three weeks to set up the new
production lines. With the aid of union leaders, and a cooperative workers
union representative, a strike based on a planned, minor, contract infraction
took place. Indignant workers went on
strike fighting for their supposed rights.
After the new production lines were completed, the firm made minor
concessions and the strike was over.
The cost for the concessions was compared to the cost of wages for
workers for three weeks.
Production Manager
The union contract was negotiated
yearly. A confidential meeting with Mr.
F led to an equitable solution. The
firm could have yielded an eighteen cents an hour increase, but an arrangement
was made with Mr. F that the demand for a fifteen cent an hour “increase” would
be presented to the workers. The firm was to reject it as excessive. After “negotiations” with the union leaders
and the workers, a twelve cents an hour compromise was settled upon. This was good for the firm, and the union
leader received a secret cash reward.
.
The firm had a profit-sharing
incentive. system. Time study men would
set production rates. The fifty-fifty
incentive system I established was innovative. As an incentive, a worker
surpassing the production quota set by time studies would receive a bonus. If
the rate was 100 pieces a day and the worker made 200 pieces, he would get half
of his daily wage added to his pay for that day. The workers felt they were in their own business and worked hard
to get increased wages. Production
increased overall without adding more workers.
An added concession was also
made to Mr. F. Two of his men were to
be employed and added to the time study engineers. The two men that Mr. F not time study men. They wandered through the plant as time
study men do, but in their notebooks they took bets, and loan sharked for Mr. F
and his associates.
My management and engineering skills
were appreciated, but after two and a half years I resigned to seek new
developments and expansion. I had an
opportunity for a challenging position with a new California firm, Paper
Mate.
