Working at the Vladimir Ilyich Electromechanical Plant, 1960 #5 & 6

From The Soviet Press, 1960

Along with the changeover to the 7-hour day came not only more free time but a general overhaul of the wage system. Workers in the low and medium wage brackets received substantial raises for the past three years that total more than 33 per cent. The salaries of engineers and technical personnel were also revised upward-their average wage in 1959 went up by 123 rubles a month. This is quite aside from the general increase in monthly earnings due to higher productivity.

When the plant switched over to the shorter workday fitter Pyotr Kozlov had extra time to spend in the plant's reading room. A great deal of preparatory work had to be done by the factory management, engineers and all the workers to turn out as much in 7 hours as had been turned out in 8. Labor productivity had to be increased about 14 per cent. It was done not by speed up, but by installing more modern machinery, by using available machinery more efficiently, and by generally modernizing and automating the production process. 250 organizational and technical improvements made at the suggestion of the workers resulted in their turning out more in 7 hours than they did in 8, with a corresponding wage increase.