Do you ever get the feeling that when hospital management says “quality,” they mean something different than you do? Are you spending more time clicking through computer screens than caring for your patients? “Lean Production,” aka the Toyota model, is all the rage in health care. Restructuring schemes disguised as teamwork are another way management tries to take power away from health care workers. Learn to decode buzzwords like “continuous improvement” and recognize the underlying systems of management-by-stress, standardization, deskilling, outsourcing, and technological surveillance that are transforming workplaces for the worse. Help your co-workers recognize what’s behind employee participation schemes and how to defend your union when the consultants come calling.
