ORKERS on the lower pay scales and pensioners in Czechoslovakia have complained to the papers that their earnings are too low to keep them alive and too high to let them starve. The Ostrava newspaper “Nova Svoboda”, which reported that it received numerous letters with this complaint from dissatisfied workers and pensioners, declared that the average wage in the country had barely risen in recent years and had by no means Kept pace with the reported increase in productivity. Indeed, many work-
ers’ wages had even dropped, the paper admitted. It stated that 28 per cent. of all manual and white-collar workers, that is 1.2 millions, drew wages ranging from 600 to 1,200 crowns per month (This compares with the average monthly wage of 1,390 crowns for 1964). The average old-age pension is fixed at 761 crowns, disablement pensions at 644 crowns and widows’ pensions at 421 crowns per month. All these allocations are described by the paper as totally inadequate.
Feb. 17, 1965 — THE WEEK
“But we think that the technical
aspect of disalienation should be paid
more attention to, The various
devices of job enlargement, job rota-
tion, collective contract, etc. should
be combined with the institutional
aspect.
“We have seen in THE WEEK
that a new conference on workers’
control will be arranged in Sheffield
next weekend. Unfortunately it has