Coronavirus: a tale of two states

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Added 4/24/2020.  The Guardian reported that, as of Wednesday, Kentucky had 185 confirmed deaths from COVID-19 and Tennessee had only 161.  We don’t know the full story yet.

Stephanie Jolly of Lexington, Kentucky, created this chart and posted it on her Facebook page, where it quickly became viral.

It shows that Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear (D) acted more quickly on the coronavirus emergency than did Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee (R) and that the disease has not spread as fast in Kentucky as it has in Tennessee.

Added 3/27/2020:  But even though Kentuckians are better off than Tennesseans, thanks to Gov. Beshear’s prompt action, the number of new cases in Kentucky is still doubling every four days or so.

LINKS

Social Distancing to Fight Coronavirus: A Strategy That Is Working and Must Continue by Maura Caslyn, Emily Gee, Thomas Waldrop and Nicole Rapfogel for the Center for American Progress.

Graph comparing Ky. and Tenn. virus responses goes viral by David Mattingly for WAVE3 News in Lexington, Kentucky.

Two states, one Democrat, one Republican – two very different outcomes by Josh Wood for The Guardian.  [Added 4/24/2020]  The writer praises Kentucky, but also says that the higher number of confirmed cases in Tennessee may reflect that state’s larger population and also more testing—presumably in April, since the Jolly graph shows less testing in March.

Lean (and mean) production: VW in the USA

German manufacturing companies have a reputation for high wages and good labor relations.  That may be justified at home, when labor unions are strong and labor rights are established by law.  It doesn’t necessarily apply to their operations in the USA.

Chris Brooks, writing in Labor News, wrote about how Volkwagen manages its Tennessee plant on the theory that workers are most productive when pushed to their physical limits.

At the Chattanooga plant, permanent employees work alongside “temporary” workers, some of whom have actually worked there for years.  Pitted against one another, both groups fear to speak up.

Workers are routinely pushed to their physical and emotional breaking points. From management’s point of view, this maximizes productivity.

“Every employee there busts their ass and is injured and is working through the pain because they don’t want their job taken by a temp,” Amanda says. “It is made clear to all of us that we are easy to replace.”

That’s lean production in a nutshell: ruthless efficiency, produced by a system of efficient ruthlessness.  Workers are deliberately stretched to their limits, by a combination of competitive pressure, inadequate training, repetitive stress, and rotating shifts—so that the weakest links can be identified and eliminated.

The case against labor unions

I wonder which of these arguments convinced workers at a Volkswagen plant in Tennessee to vote against being represented by the United Auto Workers, even though management had no objection to the union.  Or maybe the workers accepted the argument that union representation would kill Tennessee’s low-wage strategy for industrial development.

Click on Anti-Union Voce Will Kill New Tennessee Production Line by Moon of Alabama and The Completely Baffling Tale of the Tennessee Auto Workers by Charles Pierce of Esquire for background.

Also, Auto union loses historic election at Volkswagen plant in Tennessee by Lydia Depillis of the Washington Post. [added 2/17/14]

Also, A Titanic Defeat by Eric Loomis for Lawyers, Guns and Money. [added 2/19/14]

Click on Leftycartoons for more Barry Deutsch cartoons.