Roger and ME
Roger and Me
Roger and me is a documentary independently produced by the now famous Michael Moore. It follows Michael as he tries to get an interview with the chairman of General motors, Roger Smith. Michael wanted the interview because Roger had been closing automobile manufacturing plants in Michael’s home town of Flint Michigan, the birth place of General motors.
In 1936 the workers at GM exercised their right to collective bargaining and went on strike. They barricaded themselves inside the factory for 44 days. The National Guard was called in to maintain order but eventually GM gave in and the United Auto Workers Union was born and the wages and living standards of the factory workers began to rise.
Michael Moore began work on Roger and Me in 1987 but had been publishing his own newspaper, the Michigan Voice, for ten years prior to that and had a good understanding of the issues that would be discussed in the film. GM at the time was the largest company in the world and was enjoying profits of billions of dollars a year. Despite these profits GM closed eleven plants in the Flint and moved them to Mexico where it could employee workers at a rate of 70 cents per hour. GM reinvested the difference in high-tech firms and weapons manufacturing companies. Thirty thousand GM employees were layed off.
GM then went to the UAW and told them that they needed a couple of billion dollars worth of wage cuts. Because the Union had lost its power to negotiate (through NAFTA - North American Free Trade Alliance – and collusion between GM and senior union officials) it agreed to the wage cuts and GM took the money it saved and invested it in building more factories in Mexico. Of course, more jobs were lost and the American consumer had no choice but to quit buying from GM or to buy products produced at slave wages in Mexico. Environmental standards are also more relaxed in Mexico and this generated a huge savings for GM.
Free trade arrangements are a race to the bottom. Manufacturers race to the areas of the world where they can pay their employees the least and spend the least on pollution control measures. Of course this isn’t good economics even because if you don’t pay people enough they don’t have money to spend and the economy suffers. Environmental damage also costs money in that it increases the costs of medical coverage and encourages people who can afford it to move away.
Tom Kay, the representative for GM motors, sat for a number of interviews with Michael Moore. Tom describes Roger Smith as a warm man and one who was very concerned about the fate of his factory employees. Tom Kay got paid to say that of course so we don’t know for sure that that is what he really thought about Roger. He appears sincere however. Michael Moore decides perhaps he has judged Roger all wrong and decides to conduct an interview with him. He tries phoning, sending letters, faxes etc. but is not able to contact Roger. He decides eventually to visit Roger's office in Detroit and ask him to come for a visit to Flint to see first hand the changes occurring in Flint as a result of the layoffs but, of course, is not able to contact Roger.
Michael then heads back to see Tom Kay and Tom explains that GM would not be doing anybody a service if it went broke. GM has to stay competitive in today’s economic climate. In other words it has to compete under the free trade agreements that its representatives likely lobbied for.
Shortly after this interview GM layed off, with no notice, another 3,000 employees.
Roger was able to find one man with a secure job in Flint, Fred Ross. Fred worked as a deputy for the sheriff’s department and his job was to evict people from their homes when they were not able to pay their rent of, in many cases, 8 or 9 hundred dollars a month. Fred evicted sometimes as many as 25 families a day. If you look closely you will see that he always has his hands in his pockets. He is carrying a gun. In one instance where the land lord was informed that the eviction was being filmed the land lord changed his mind and gave the occupants more time to come up with the rent.
Other people in Flint found employment at Taco Bell or selling Amway and Roger interviews these people too.
Tom Kay gives the example of Helmac a small manufacturing company that began manufacturing lint rollers shortly after GM began its layoffs. You don’t get the impression that any of these businesses is going to do much to make up for the job losses at GM particularly. A number of people take to selling blood to get by and one begins butchering rabbits in her backyard.
Of course with the rising unemployment rate Flint also sees a rising crime rate. The solution to this problem is to sell more guns and build more jail cells. Many former factory workers either wind up in those jails as inmates or get jobs there as guards.
Using tax payer dollars the city of Flint opens a USD 13,000,000 Hyatt Regency Hotel, and various other facilities costing hundreds of millions of dollars, designed to build Flint’s tourist business. These efforts fail and Flint’s economy continues to suffer.
Meanwhile Michael Moore is still trying to get an appointment to see Roger Smith and invite him to Flint to see the changes that are happening in the city since the layoffs. At this point half of the city was collecting welfare. Roger Smith gave himself a USD 2,000,000 a year raise.
Tom Kay explains that GM is no more responsible to the city of Flint than to any other place. GM is a corporation and corporations are in business to make a profit he explains. They make a profit using the infra structure provided by tax dollars, highways, telecommunication systems, power grids etc. but Mr. Kay doesn’t mention that. He also doesn’t mention that if too many factories move out of the country the people won’t have money to spend and so eventually even their profits will be hurt.
Finally, posing as a GM Stockholder, Michael manages to get into the yearly stockholder meeting where Roger Smith is scheduled to give a speech. When it comes time for Michael to ask a question Roger adjourns the meeting and does not allow Michael Moore to ask a single question.
Two weeks before Christmas of that year GM announces that it is going to close the plant where the strike of 1936 occurred. The UAW promised a massive demonstration but only four workers showed up at the protest.
At a Christmas party Michael Moore gets a chance to invite Roger Smith to Flint. Roger declines.
In the last frame of the documentary Roger explains that it cannot be shown in Flint. All the movie theatres have closed.
Roger and me is a documentary independently produced by the now famous Michael Moore. It follows Michael as he tries to get an interview with the chairman of General motors, Roger Smith. Michael wanted the interview because Roger had been closing automobile manufacturing plants in Michael’s home town of Flint Michigan, the birth place of General motors.
In 1936 the workers at GM exercised their right to collective bargaining and went on strike. They barricaded themselves inside the factory for 44 days. The National Guard was called in to maintain order but eventually GM gave in and the United Auto Workers Union was born and the wages and living standards of the factory workers began to rise.
Michael Moore began work on Roger and Me in 1987 but had been publishing his own newspaper, the Michigan Voice, for ten years prior to that and had a good understanding of the issues that would be discussed in the film. GM at the time was the largest company in the world and was enjoying profits of billions of dollars a year. Despite these profits GM closed eleven plants in the Flint and moved them to Mexico where it could employee workers at a rate of 70 cents per hour. GM reinvested the difference in high-tech firms and weapons manufacturing companies. Thirty thousand GM employees were layed off.
GM then went to the UAW and told them that they needed a couple of billion dollars worth of wage cuts. Because the Union had lost its power to negotiate (through NAFTA - North American Free Trade Alliance – and collusion between GM and senior union officials) it agreed to the wage cuts and GM took the money it saved and invested it in building more factories in Mexico. Of course, more jobs were lost and the American consumer had no choice but to quit buying from GM or to buy products produced at slave wages in Mexico. Environmental standards are also more relaxed in Mexico and this generated a huge savings for GM.
Free trade arrangements are a race to the bottom. Manufacturers race to the areas of the world where they can pay their employees the least and spend the least on pollution control measures. Of course this isn’t good economics even because if you don’t pay people enough they don’t have money to spend and the economy suffers. Environmental damage also costs money in that it increases the costs of medical coverage and encourages people who can afford it to move away.
Tom Kay, the representative for GM motors, sat for a number of interviews with Michael Moore. Tom describes Roger Smith as a warm man and one who was very concerned about the fate of his factory employees. Tom Kay got paid to say that of course so we don’t know for sure that that is what he really thought about Roger. He appears sincere however. Michael Moore decides perhaps he has judged Roger all wrong and decides to conduct an interview with him. He tries phoning, sending letters, faxes etc. but is not able to contact Roger. He decides eventually to visit Roger's office in Detroit and ask him to come for a visit to Flint to see first hand the changes occurring in Flint as a result of the layoffs but, of course, is not able to contact Roger.
Michael then heads back to see Tom Kay and Tom explains that GM would not be doing anybody a service if it went broke. GM has to stay competitive in today’s economic climate. In other words it has to compete under the free trade agreements that its representatives likely lobbied for.
Shortly after this interview GM layed off, with no notice, another 3,000 employees.
Roger was able to find one man with a secure job in Flint, Fred Ross. Fred worked as a deputy for the sheriff’s department and his job was to evict people from their homes when they were not able to pay their rent of, in many cases, 8 or 9 hundred dollars a month. Fred evicted sometimes as many as 25 families a day. If you look closely you will see that he always has his hands in his pockets. He is carrying a gun. In one instance where the land lord was informed that the eviction was being filmed the land lord changed his mind and gave the occupants more time to come up with the rent.
Other people in Flint found employment at Taco Bell or selling Amway and Roger interviews these people too.
Tom Kay gives the example of Helmac a small manufacturing company that began manufacturing lint rollers shortly after GM began its layoffs. You don’t get the impression that any of these businesses is going to do much to make up for the job losses at GM particularly. A number of people take to selling blood to get by and one begins butchering rabbits in her backyard.
Of course with the rising unemployment rate Flint also sees a rising crime rate. The solution to this problem is to sell more guns and build more jail cells. Many former factory workers either wind up in those jails as inmates or get jobs there as guards.
Using tax payer dollars the city of Flint opens a USD 13,000,000 Hyatt Regency Hotel, and various other facilities costing hundreds of millions of dollars, designed to build Flint’s tourist business. These efforts fail and Flint’s economy continues to suffer.
Meanwhile Michael Moore is still trying to get an appointment to see Roger Smith and invite him to Flint to see the changes that are happening in the city since the layoffs. At this point half of the city was collecting welfare. Roger Smith gave himself a USD 2,000,000 a year raise.
Tom Kay explains that GM is no more responsible to the city of Flint than to any other place. GM is a corporation and corporations are in business to make a profit he explains. They make a profit using the infra structure provided by tax dollars, highways, telecommunication systems, power grids etc. but Mr. Kay doesn’t mention that. He also doesn’t mention that if too many factories move out of the country the people won’t have money to spend and so eventually even their profits will be hurt.
Finally, posing as a GM Stockholder, Michael manages to get into the yearly stockholder meeting where Roger Smith is scheduled to give a speech. When it comes time for Michael to ask a question Roger adjourns the meeting and does not allow Michael Moore to ask a single question.
Two weeks before Christmas of that year GM announces that it is going to close the plant where the strike of 1936 occurred. The UAW promised a massive demonstration but only four workers showed up at the protest.
At a Christmas party Michael Moore gets a chance to invite Roger Smith to Flint. Roger declines.
In the last frame of the documentary Roger explains that it cannot be shown in Flint. All the movie theatres have closed.
posted by david at 4:09 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home