Customer Reviews

On the Line at Subaru-Isuzu: The Japanese Model and the American Worker (ILR Press books)

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I have read Ms. Graham's book and it is very well written. It is a good account of the work conditions for temporary employees which account for roughly 25% of Subaru's workforce at any one time. But as a account of a Subaru employee(not a temp),I am afraid it is inaccurate. It appears Ms. Graham wanted to be the next Upton Sinclair and created a story when she couldn't find one.
My advice for readers is decide why are you are reading the book before you buy it. If you want an actual account of what it is like to be a "temp" in a automotive plant, read it. Or if you want to slam the Japanese for issues that are not japanese, knock yourself out. But if you want to read what it is like to be an employee of a Subaru, don't read it.

I have read this book.. What a work of fiction! I work at the same auto plant 'Laurie Graham' worked (worked??) and wrote about.. This book seems to have been written with a pre-determined opinion.. She had it in her mind before she worked in the plant to knock the SIA work place. She writes about a few months that she worked at SIA.. Well after most of us have worked at SIA (5-9yrs Union Free) Zero layoffs. Low OSHA's comparied to other autoplants and great pay and benifits! This book seems to give most of us at SIA a good laugh! Try Reading Ben Hampers 'Rivet Head'.. Good for a laugh also.. but much more accurate.

This book is a first person account of working in a Japanese transplant auto assembly facility. Author Laurie Graham worked "undercover" in the Subaru-Isuzu plant in Lafayette, Indiana when it opened up. She finds that the fabled "Japanese system" cannot live up to its promises to the worker in the absence of a labor union. The book is very well written: clear, substantial, and full of insights into work life and the techniques used to maintain control over the workers. I recommend it very highly. --Bruce Nissen bnissen@indiana.edu

This book is a very good account of the process a person had to go through in order to gain employment at the Subaru-Isuzu and the working conditions that were present at the plant at the time the author worked there. There continue to be problems at the plant with them being cited by IOSHA (Indiana Occupational Safety and Health Administration) on August 20,1998 for not recording all safety and health violations present at the plant. The company did not document approximately 567 Manpower employees who had recordable injuries and/or illness during the years 1995 - 1997. The company also did not provide a copy of the OSHA Log 200 in its entirety for employees for the years 1995 - 1997. The reader from Lafayette needs to get the facts straight before making statements about the low OSHA statistics. The use of "temporary"workers to keep OSHA numbers down is only one way the company has manipulated, and continues to manipiulate, the system and the workers. Laurie Graham has been, and continues to be, open to imput from workers from Subaru-Isuzu and the conditions that exist there. She welcomes workers to contact her with both positive and negative information, seeking updates on the changing atmosphere and attitudes that exist as a plant grows and changes.