PAID BY OUTPUT

Hokitika Guardian, 3 December 1931, Page 6

PAID BY OUTPUT

MINERS' IN RUSSIA. WAGES SYSTEM CHANGED. LONDON, December 2. In view of recent disputes in New Zealand between the coal mine owners and the miners over the question of wages, interest attaches to th© action taken by the Soviet in putting practically all underground workers on piecework, under which system they will be paid according to output. In New Zealand underground miners receive a set wage which is subject to revision at stated intervals.

According to the “Colliery Guardian.” the Riga correspondent of “Tbe Times,” London, states that the Supreme Economic Council of Russia and the Central Trade Union Council has published a joint decree initiating a new system of graduated wages and bonuses for the whole of the coal and metal industries. A total of 90 per cent, of all underground miners and 70 per cent .of metal workers are to be transferred to progressive piecework payment, with the removal of the limits hitherto restricting the amount of earnings. Diligent workers will receive much more and idlers much less than hitherto. The Supreme Economic Council states that chaotic organisation of labour, bad technical leadership, and a routine system of wages are chiefly responsible for retarding coal and iron production. The remuneration of engineers and technical staff has also been put on a progressive scale according to the extent of fulfilment of the plans of their particular sections.