PARTICIPATION IN PRACTICE

After considering the actual mechanism for participation which
has been established at the Mill, it is necessary at this juncture, to
examine how effectively the workers do participate in decision-
making at the Mill. This, the crucial point is to examine the actual
nature and degree of workers’ participation in this process and the
executive of the decisions.

The first area 1 was interested in was examining the degree of
participation by the workers in agenda formulation for the
Workers’ Council Meetings. In both Workers’ Council Meetings,
the agenda covered all the major aspects of decision-making at the
Mill. The main items in the agenda comprised matters relating to
planning output for 1971 for the Mill, matters relating to wages
policy and the effectiveness of the Security of Employment Act.
Other items on the agenda included sales volume of the Mill and
Marketing of products. Purchasing and stores, productivity
promotion and quality control were included. Social welfare and
personnel were also part of the items. The balance sheets for the
fespective periods were also tendered for deliberation. These
agenda were given to members of the Workers’ Council two
weeks before the meetings so as to give chance for all the mem-
bers to think over them. In so far as the contents of the agenda are
concerned, Friendship Textile Mill must be commended since all
relevant and important areas of decision-making of the Mill were
included. All agenda were clear and understandable. This is a
necessary pre-condition for any effective discussion since if the
agenda does not include all the vital issues and if the agenda is not
clear to the ordinary members of the Workers’ Council, then there
cannot be a discussion on an equal footing since other members
may be handicapped for lack of information on all matters relating
to the Mill. Again, the distributing of the agenda to members of
the workers’ council two weeks before the meeting is also com-
mendable since it enables members to reflect upon the issues in
question.

However, though the agenda in both meetings were com-
prehensive and covered all major areas of management in the
Mill, it seems there was no formal participation by either the
workers’ representatives or the rank and file workers in proposing
them. It was only the management that prepared the agenda in
spite of the desire by the workers’ representative to participate in

241