On March 7th, today is the first day of entering the factory. Yesterday, after completing the onboarding procedures, I didn’t start working immediately due to some reasons, but came again today. Because the working hours are somewhat better compared to before (the commute is very close compared to previous jobs). This factory is a machining plant that handles hollow metal parts and assembly, with many automated production lines that look quite advanced. There are about over a thousand workers, and the factory has a very high organizational structure. Workers are generally only required to load parts onto the conveyor platform and wait for the machines to process them, then pack and transport the finished products to the parking area. Occasionally, there are inspections to check if the parts meet the precision standards. After arriving at the factory, I was taken by the section chief to the production line and assigned a master worker. Finally, I was sent to a line that processes bearing outer rings, which has four machines, and the worker responsible for this line is a female worker. After a brief chat with her, the section chief left. I briefly got to know the master worker, and she told me that although this work looks simple, it is quite difficult to learn. Generally, it takes about two months to master (when I joined, HR said the faster I learn, the sooner I can be promoted, with half a month being the fastest). She showed me the operation manual and told me that if I can’t understand it, I won’t be able to do the job at all. Watching her work, I found that this job is quite busy. First, load the parts, then perform quality checks on a few pieces, and then go offline to pack the parts. It’s worth mentioning that this job requires measuring the parts, which means having a deep understanding of the parts I produce, knowing what data to measure and how to measure it. Since I was unfamiliar at first, I couldn’t even properly use the measuring instruments. But later, the master worker comforted me, saying that it will come with time, and you can’t learn so many things all at once. I also chatted with her; she said she is from out of town, with over ten years of experience, but she previously worked at another factory. She has been at this factory for three years, and her whole family lives here, though they don’t work at the same factory. I learned some things about the factory from her, because HR often isn’t trustworthy. She also said that she decided to work overtime but could leave early if she didn’t want to, but the contract states something about a ‘last-in, first-out’ elimination system, which is quite unfair. The first shocking thing about this factory is that it doesn’t provide any protective gear, not even gloves. Workers have to wear their own gloves while working, which is outrageous. Also, workers finish their work and leave only after completing their tasks, not freely. They also have to clean their workstations daily; if they are found unclean, they will be fined. The master worker was busy, so I didn’t continue talking and instead studied the measuring instruments myself. After work at 11:30 am, I went to eat. The factory’s cafeteria is quite decent; for only six yuan, you can get a dish with one meat and two vegetables. The food tastes okay, not like pig feed, and the soup and rice are unlimited (but most workers don’t eat here, so the cafeteria prepares very little food, and if you arrive late, there might be nothing left). After eating, I rested for a while in the cafeteria because standing all morning was tiring. The factory dormitory is located behind the workshop, and there is no dedicated rest room for employees. Workers usually rest in their dorms at noon. Since I had nowhere to rest, I could only sit in the cafeteria, which is the only place with seats. At 12:30 pm, work resumes, and I follow the master worker to learn how to inspect the parts. The diagram was quite complicated, and I couldn’t understand what exactly to measure. The master worker isn’t very good at teaching, so I felt lost about how to learn. I kept exploring how to use the instruments myself. During this time, I realized that the master worker, with over ten years of experience, is almost like a mechanic, able to repair any issues on the production line and operate the machines skillfully. His work efficiency is high, and he even has time to rest. There’s not much more to say; working in this factory is quite exhausting. There’s nowhere to sit, only standing, and the tasks are fixed, which makes the nerves almost break down after a day, with pain in the legs and feet. I also felt that I didn’t communicate much with the master worker, not knowing what to say. I need to think about how to better communicate with her and perhaps share some Marxist principles with her.
Then where did your master sit?
You can start by asking about the child’s situation, but it’s pretty good to work with an experienced worker. I don’t know how her overtime situation is, or if she has any wrong ideas about work.
How do you feel about your progress?
Is it caused by mental stress or something else?
She brought a small suitcase that she can sit on.
She doesn’t need to work overtime now, and she hasn’t encountered any wrong ideas at work yet. We need to communicate more in the future.
Hard to say, it seems like I have learned it, but she doesn’t teach very clearly.
Long-term monotonous and boring repetitive work is like this.
You can get a small stool if you have one
Perhaps you can observe carefully to distract from the exhaustion of monotonous work.
Her small box is for tools, I don’t let her use the stool.
Uh, uh, a bit abstract.
It refers to observing how the machine operates to understand the principles and similar aspects.
Perhaps you can use this to inform your master that, according to labor law, the factory should provide labor protections for workers.
I brought up this issue today, saying that not providing labor protection supplies is illegal, and the contract should also include a clause about providing labor protection. You can try to leverage this to challenge the entire factory, but he doesn’t really believe it, thinking that this alone can’t overthrow the factory, and because I lack the knowledge of struggle myself, I can’t really say much more later on.
Then you need to study Marxism more. Engaging in economic struggle and fighting for the labor protections you deserve are also very necessary.
Today after work, an unexpected situation prevented me from writing the factory diary. I’ll send it out tomorrow.
On March 12th, there wasn’t much to do at the factory today. The repetitive simple actions on the assembly line made it very hard to endure, feeling like a machine. Today I mainly communicated with a co-worker who just transferred from the night shift to the day shift; he looked quite young, probably around twenty-four or twenty-five. Also, he’s from my hometown, so communication was very smooth. He used to work in his hometown, but the wages were too low, and later he got married and had two children, so he came to work at this factory. I asked him if the wages at this factory are enough given the high economic pressure; he said they can only work overtime. After a while, he was busy and didn’t continue the conversation. The food provided by the cafeteria at noon was very poor; I had acid reflux all afternoon, feeling like my entire esophagus was burning. It’s hard to endure, and this factory has no proper resting place, only a very pungent smoking room. Although very tired, there is nowhere to rest. Later in the afternoon, I had a chance to continue talking with him. At first, I didn’t plan what to say, so I decided to talk about how the factory doesn’t provide labor protection supplies, complaining that the factory doesn’t give out labor protection items and makes workers pay for them. He said they used to be provided, but after the number of workers increased, they stopped; the work uniforms are also not provided and must be bought by oneself, which is very unfair. I didn’t expect this; I thought that after paying once, the uniforms would be provided. I mentioned that in previous jobs, uniforms were issued in bulk, but he clearly didn’t believe it, saying he had never encountered such a factory. It seems this is a common phenomenon in mid-sized repair factories. Thinking about it, this factory’s wages are low, and without overtime, there’s not much money; workers also have to bear the costs of labor protection, uniforms, and meals, which makes the actual wages even lower. I have to say that workers are now under very heavy exploitation by capitalists. Then I said that not providing labor protection is illegal, and the labor contract also states that Party A should provide labor protection supplies and uniforms to Party B (some units even take this as a benefit, which is very ironic). Not providing these can be used as grounds to sue them. He also clearly didn’t believe it, probably thinking that it wouldn’t bring down the factory. Then he ran out of things to say and asked questions, but I just said ‘hmm’ and ended the conversation.
Feel free to discuss how to educate children.