IS THE BETTER JOB STILL POSSIBLE TODAY

The term 'better job' refers to work that permits employees to flouris h, that is, situations where employees, and in particular operators, h ave increased autonomy, more responsibility and greater control over t heir time and space: in brief, firm control over the organization of t heir work. The 'better job' appears to be a real possibility, a compro mise in our societies (despite the contradictions inherent in capitali st relations of production) in which capital might leave the workers, and employees in general, to organize their own work, in capital's own interest, in other words to increase labour productivity and producti vity in general. This explains why the 'better job' has, historically, been initially developed by capital during periods of labour market t ension and labour shortage, during the 1960s and 1970s, prior to becom ing a demand made by the unions in the late 1970s and 1980s. Today, th e partial resolution of the capital accumulation crisis through the wi despread adoption of 'tightened flow' production methods runs counter to the emergence of the 'better job', including in those work sectors which otherwise seem most favourable to it.