Should Not the Radical Left Take into Account the Attitude of Workers Towards Their Own Jobs? Part Eight, The Case of Labatt Workers

Introduction

One of the few things that I agree with the academic leftist Jeff Noonan, professor of philosophy at the University of Windsor, Ontario, is that leftists must start where workers are at:

Political engagement begins from trying to understand where people are coming from.

But where people are coming from can be interpreted in at least two ways: objectively–what their real situaiton is, and subjectively, what their attitudes towards their interpreted situations are. In relation to workers, there is their objective situation of being treated as means towards ends defined by employers (see The Money Circuit of Capital).

Subjectively, though, there are undoubtedly a variety of attitudes and interpretations of their own work and life situations.

Some among the radical left do not even address the issue of what workers think of their own jobs. It is hardly idealist to inquire into such attitudes.

I will start to gather evidence about the attitudes of some workers in unionized (and non-unionized) settings where I have calculated the rate of exploitation of those workers. I will also in the not-too-distant future start a similar inquiry process  for unionized public-sector workers with the largest employers in Canada and in various Canadian cities.

Objective Exploitation and Oppression of Labatt Workers

Labatt Breweries is owned by AB (Anheuser-Busch) InBev NV, a Belgium-based multinational corporation.

In a previous post, I calculated the rate of exploitation of AB (Anheuser-Busch) InBev NV workers for 2019 (see The Rate of Exploitation of AB (Anheuser-Busch) InBev NV (Including Labatt) Workers).

I will write another post concerning the attitude of all AB InBev workers towards their work and that company, but I thought it appropriate to limit one post to the attitude of Labatt brewery workers since most Canadidans probably have never heard of AB InBev.

I will copy part of the conclusion from the post on the exploitation of AB InBev workers:

So, with the adjustments in place, the rate of exploitation or the rate of surplus value=s/v=16,589/6.218=267%.

That means that for every hour worked that produces her/his wage, a worker at AB InBev works around an additional 160  minutes (2 hours 40 minutes) for free for AB InBev. It also means that, within an hour worked, a worker at AB InBev works 16 minutes to produce her/his wage or salary and 44 minutes for free for AB InBev.

Of course, during the time that the worker produces her/his own wage, s/he is subject to the power of management and hence is unfree (see, for instance, Management Rights, Part Four: Private Sector Collective Agreement, Ontario and   Employers as Dictators, Part One).

In an 8-hour (480 minutes) work day, the worker produces her/his wage in  2 hours 8 minutes (128 minutes) and works 5 hours 52 minutes (352 minutes) for free for AB InBev.

In a 9-hour (540 minutes) work day, the worker produces her/his wage in  2 hours 24 minutes (144 minutes) and works 6 hours 36  minutes (396  minutes) for free for AB InBev.

In a 10-hour (600 minutes) work day, the worker produces her/his wage in  2 hours 40 minutes (160 minutes) and works 7 hours 20 minutes (440 minutes) for free for AB InBev.

In a 12-hour (720 minutes) work day, the worker produces her/his wage in  3 hours 12 minutes (192 minutes) and works 8 hours 48 minutes (528 minutes) for free for AB InBev.

In a 14-hour (840 minutes) work day, the worker produces her/his wage in  3 hours 44 minutes (224 minutes) and works 10 hours 16 minutes (616 minutes) for free for AB InBev.

Of course, during the time that the worker works to receive an equivalent of her/his own wage, s/he is subject to the power of management and hence is unfree (see, for instance, Management Rights, Part Four: Private Sector Collective Agreement, Ontario and   Employers as Dictators, Part One).

You would think that, given these circumstances, Labatt workers would find their work situation mainly negative.  Indeed, there are leftists who have argued that workers explicitly experience alienation from their work. David Graeber (2018), in Bullshit Jobs A Theory, states (page 19):

The result was to reveal that men are far more likely to feel that their jobs are pointless (42 percent) than women do (32 percent).

Drawing upon data provided from another survey, he states:

… the survey makes abundantly clear that ( 1) more than half of working hours in American offices are spent on bullshit, and (2) the problem is getting worse.

In another survey, we read the following (Peter Fleming (2015), The Mythology of Work: How Capitalism Persists Despite Itself, page 3):

A recent survey … reveals that only about 13 per cent of the global workforce considered themselves ‘engaged’ by their jobs. The remaining 87 per cent feel deeply alienated.

Subjective Attitudes of Labatt Workers Toward Labatt Breweries (and Ab InBev) and Their Working Situation

The data provided below, however, does not substantiate such views.

To obtain such data, I provided a review of my last employer–Lakeshore School Division–for the website Indeed in order to gain access to company reviews.

There were 380 reviews at the time that I started this post.

Of course, the numbers above will have changed in a relatively short period of time.

Labatt Workers’ Attitudes Towards Labatt Breweries (and Ab InBE and Their Working Conditions

Conclusions First

As usual, I start with the conclusion in order to make readily accessible the results of the calculations for those who are more interested in the results than in how I obtained them. The ratings are from 5 to 1, with 5 being the most positive evaluation and 1 the worst.

Distribution of the Evaluations to the Various Ratings: Quantitative Data

#5 127
#4 81
#3 64
#2 49
#1 59
Total=380

I will consider #5 and #4 ratings to be positive evaluations of their work experiences with Labatt Breweries. I split the #3 into two since some ratings with a #3 rating are positive evaluations while others are negative. I will consider #2 and #1 ratings to be negative evaluations.

I justify the categorisation of #5 and #4 as positive because, in addition to being quantitatively higher than #3–a nominal middle evaluation–comments made by some workers that correspond to the quantitative evaluation seem to indicate a positive evaluation. Further on, I give a couple of arbitrary examples drawn from each numbered evaluation.

Positive attitude towards working for Labatt Breweries

240 [127+81+32=240]
240/380×100=63%

Negative attitude towards working for Labatt Breweries

140 [32+49+59=140]
140/380×100=37%

To get a flavour for the ratings, I include immediately below a couple of comments from each rating. They are not meant to be representative since I chose them to reflect the above characterizations of the evaluations.

A Few Comments from Each Evaluative Category: Qualitative Data

#5

1. Un travail pour une vie
   Opératrice de production (Current Employee) – Montréal, QC – 7 September 2024
   Travail dequipe et velle ambiance et on peux apprendre beaucoup quand on est curieux
   Pros
   Des concour
   Cons
   Long pour avoir une formation quand on la demandeTranslation:
   A job for life
   Production Operator (Current Employee) – Montreal, QC – 7 September 2024
   Teamwork and a great atmosphere, and you can learn a lot if you’re curious.
   Pros
   Contests
   Cons
   Takes a long time to get training when you request it
2. Labatt is a great company to work for. I have been here for 10+ years and I am in it for the long haul!
   Central Stores (Current Employee) – Halifax, NS – 17 July 2024
   What is the best part of working at the company?
   The benefits are excellent here. Medical dental mental health etc. I have paid sick time, personal days and vacation. I believe have a very good pension plan here as well. And of course there are the perks from working for a beer company. I enjoy the people I work with, management is very approachable and safety is always first.What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
   Stressful times working here would be when there is an equipment break down that stops production , if there is a shortage of people to work or materials are not here on time to make or package the beer.What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
   Personally, I enjoy coming to work, I enjoy the people, and I like the work . I have no.issues with the work environment. I have no issues with the culture here. We are always improving and moving forward.

#4

1. Normale
   Opérateur de production (Current Employee) – Lasalle, QC – 9 September 2024
   Travail est simple et ta jamais la meme journee 2 fois en ligne. La location du brasserie est ideale
   Pros
   Location
   Cons
   SalaireTranslation: Fine
   Production Operator (Current Employee) – Lasalle, QC – 9 September 2024
   The work is simple, and no two days on the line are ever the same. The brewery’s location is ideal.
   Pros
   Location
   Cons
   Salary
2. good
   Receptionist (Former Employee) – Abbotsford, BC – 29 August 2024
   very nice to work at place enjoyed it alot management had good days n bad days but thats normal it could be worse but overall good n fun time working

#3

1. Manque de support
   Analyst (Former Employee) – Montréal, QC – 23 September 2024
   La formation laissait à désirer, aucun support de la direction et dirigé par des gens à Toronto n’ayant aucunement conscience de la réalité des opérations.
   L’équipe était vraiment le fun mais tout le monde est parti à l’intérieur d’un an suite à un changement de gestionnaire qui ne savait pas comment gérer.
   Translation:
   Lack of support
   Analyst (Former Employee) – Montreal, QC – 23 September 2024
   The training was lacking, no support from management, and it was led by people in Toronto who had no understanding of the reality of operations.
   The team was really fun, but everyone left within a year after a management change where the new manager didn’t know how to manage.
2. Fast-paced, exhausting environment to build skills to take elsewhere
   Quality Control Technician (Former Employee) – London, ON – 6 August 2024
   Free alcohol products, excellent opportunity to create a network, and good place to build up marketable skills to take elsewhere. Constant battle with revolving door and understaffing, rotating shift work with unsocial hours, and corporate machine expectation/pressure to complete projects there is no time for during the paid workday. Fosters poor work-life balance for non-union workers, bonuses for CEO and not workers on record-breaking sales years, and going above and beyond is not rewarded and only met with “how can you give more?”
   Pros
   Free products, great coworkers, opportunities for professional development.
   Cons
   Poor work-life balance, expectation for working outside of paid hours, exploitation of non-union workers.

#2

1. Great place to learn, then move on.
   Millwright (Current Employee) – London, ON – 14 June 2023
   There is no support, managers are kids, like 25-30 years old, smart but in wrong fields, 0 experience. Upper management, bankers. Useless
   0 budget system
2. Fellow co-workers were a blast
   Production Worker (Former Employee) – Halifax, NS – 15 May 2023
   -Pay too low
   -Running structure was poor
   -New hires are treated poorly
   -A lot should be changed
   -managers and supervisors don’t care
   -the Union only cares about themselves

#1

1. Not impressed with this company
   Millwright (Current Employee) – Alberta – 23 May 2024
   What is the best part of working at the company?
   only thing they pay double time , otherwise this is the worst managed company everWhat is the most stressful part about working at the company?
   The competent managers makes this job very hard to work at.

   What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
   Its very Poor due
   bad management
   decision makuing

   What is a typical day like for you at the company?
   Cant wait to get through the day and go home

2. Abysmal pay for putting up with horrible management and work quotas.
   Commis d’entrepôt (Former Employee) – Saint-Hubert, QC – 12 March 2024
   (St-Hubert location) The warehouse environment of working at Labatt was awful. There’s a reason why they have such a high turnover rate, even including with supervisors. Upper management kept pushing more demanding quotas, and adding greater workloads purely for the benefit of their own bonuses. Favoritism had a strong place in the culture of the workplace as well, turning a blind eye to unsafe work practices committed by “preferred” employees while harassing others for minor errors.
   Additionally there’s a huge wage gap between both departments (up to nearly $20/hour difference!), mostly due to new employees having no right to vote within the representing union (Teamsters).
   The actual work continuously became more demanding, increasing quotas while adding a greater variety of inventory which makes hitting your quota even harder. And many who failed to do so would be pulled into a manager’s office to be scared with unemployment if they didn’t meet quotas.
   The biggest pro and reason I stayed with the company as long as I did was due to good co-workers I had a pleasure to work with. Management aside, there was great camaraderie between the majority of employees. Aside from that, the only other unique benefit were free and discounted cases of beer every month and on special occasions.
   Career advancement requires a Class 1 drivers license, no matter if you plan to drive trucks or not, so be aware of that too.
   I highly recommend anyone to look elsewhere since there is barely any future to look forward to at this work environment.
   Pros
   A free case of beer once per month
   Cons
   Bad pay, bad management, harder workloads with no additional compensation, possibility for promotion requires a C1 driver’s license.

Political Relevance

Such analysis forms only a preliminary tool for socialists interested in relating to workers working for this particular employer. It is crude quantitative and should be supplemented by a qualitative analysis of comments–a much more labour-intensive task.

Unlike Jane McAlevey’s approach, which focuses on organic leaders–leaders who form a key focus since winning their allegiance leads to other workers (or community members) being convinced to join a union or community campaign (see my review in the Links section)–the issue here is to see which workers are the most disgruntled and the least disgruntled in relation to a particular employer.

It may be thought that the more disgruntled workers would then be the focus of socialists’ efforts. That may well be, but the issue is of course more complicated than that. For example, for socialists the issue is not just being disgruntled against a particular employer but generalizing this to all employers. It would be necessary for socialists to use their judgement in determining how susceptible disgruntled workers are to such generalization. In some cases, less disgruntled workers may well be more susceptible to generalizing than more disgruntled workers. Initially, though, it does give socialists a preliminary method of approaching workers, at least in a general way. Of course, no specific workers can be identified through such an approach. That would be the responsibility of socialists engaging with specific workers or community members.