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A Tribute to All Factory Workers
By Christine Gerdin, Torrington
I am a German citizen. I was a legal secretary in my country, and it took me two years of business college and three very hard years of legal school to complete my training. I graduated with high honors and started to work in an office. For six years I was employed there and left when I followed my American husband to the United States after he completed his military time in Germany.
My English was poor and I couldn't write at all, so it was impossible for me at that point to continue to work in my field. I had to settle for a "lower" job in order to make a living. I started to work in a factory. Almost five years later, I want to share some of my experience with you. And I hope it will make all the people who relate to this feel better about themselves.
Now that I am more familiar with companies in the USA, I know that a factory is just a factory—and not a good place to work. People are not valued for their personalities. Instead, personalities are not welcome at all. A factory reminds me of a meat market. Every employee is just a piece of meat and every piece of meat has a number. That's all. No names, no personal identity, no personal feelings.
How convenient this is for the company, and how disturbing if somebody crosses the line and shows some strength and personality. I feel sorry for everybody who works in a company like this, because these people are worth nothing in the eyes of the owners. But to me they are all important people—some of them great people. These people are the silent pillars of American industry. It amazes me sometimes how much strength they have.
I now understand that a company cares only about its wealth. The people who work there are just tools to make the company successful, and they are always replaceable. That seems to be a common thing in the USA. Most of these people who work in factories are either people with little education, foreigners, or they are very young and didn't want to go to college after high school—people who work quiet and cheap, and every day they are afraid of losing their jobs.
I told myself I wanted to be fair. Fairness is to think maybe I would see and treat people in the same way, if I was the owner of a company.
I thought about it, and I would not. In order to get a good product, I would need people who care about their work. I believe in the German system. You only get a good product from people who are happy to give it. Let the people put some pride in their work, and feel proud about doing it. That is motivation. I would respect them, and at least try to treat them like humans.
Every person out there has a little story to tell, everyone has a family, and problems—we all do. I refuse to see these people as numbers. Even if most of them don't have a great education, they are still great people who work hard—very hard—for their living, some of them up to 60 hours a week. And every day they go to work and they are afraid it could be their last day.
America has great people working in its factories. I never hear about them on the news. Actually, nobody ever says anything about them. But they are the people who make America what it is. They are the people who suffer for all of those who don't have to work in an environment like that. These are people without unions, people without self-respect, because everybody is looking down on them, only because they work in a factory.
There’s one more thing I want to add, and I would like everybody to think about it, especially since you call your country the land of the free. I think in addition to free, it also should be a country that treats its people with fairness and respect.
Think about how many shelters exist for mistreated animals—you name it, America has it. What about mistreated workers? Since I consider people "at least equal with animals," I encourage and support that every company should have a union to protect the workers. Again, in Germany, this is a common thing. In the USA, we still have a long way to go.
Did you ever mention the word "union" in your company, and have you noticed how easily you get in trouble for that? But it’s worth the fun, if you would like to see the color of your boss's face changing. Then you get that look like he's already thinking of a way to get rid of you.
And to all employers out there: The next time that you, for example, write a check for some animal shelter, or for an organization to save or support something, how about starting with your own employees!
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