Evening star., 1943-04-14
UAW Head Fears Abuses in Pay Incentives
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Sorenson was not referring only tc
Willow Run, but the company's en-
tire operations, of which the bomber
plant is just a part.
Raises Russian Production.
Although Russia indisputably is
far more war-conscious than Amer
lea, Premier Stain has said that
use of pay incentives in his embat-
tied country increased total factory
production by 20 per cent. He told
Wendell Willkie the story during his
visit to Moscow last fall Gardner
Cowles, jr., deputy owl director
who accompanied Mr.. Willkie, passed
it on to this reporter.
Mr.. Stain said the piece-work
plan had stimulated production so
greatly that it had been extended
to every factory in the Soviet Union.
A large portion of Russian success
in fighting Germany to a standstill
may be attributed to the greater war
production obtained from each
worker under the new arrangement.
The Willkie party visited a giant
Russian aircraft factory where the
superintendent described results of
his incentive plan in glowing terms
Mr.. Wilson said that worker out
put suffered not only when piece
work plans were kicked out of many
plants but also with the removal of
incentives" for workers on day
rates. This killing of initiative in
the industrial worker is now being
reflected in lowered production, he
added.
Uniform Wage Dampens Ambition.
Introduction by unions of the uni
form wage for task regardless of
the relative ability of the man to
perform it, Mr.. Wilson declares, has
been largely responsible for re-
moval of incentive to improve work
and position. Formerly, he said,
there was a spread in pay for
manufacturing job, which enabled
the worker to earn more money
by improving the quality and guam
tity of his work. For example,
whereas the average pay for a job
might be a dollar an hour, the man
could step up pay to say $110 by
working harder, or he might get
only 80 cents if his effort Jagged.
The urge for a man to improve
his position in a shop above a Ger
tain job also has largely disap-
peared, Mr.. Wilson declared. Miss
ing, too, he added, is the incentive
to improve the work "to please the
boss" He said powerful factor
In holding down production was
absence of the negative incentive"
to produce well or lose the job. He
said formerly no one liked to be
the lowest man in a department"
because he knew if business was
bad it was likely he would be the
first let go. Now, he added, no one
has any real fear of being fired.
Mr.. Wilson declared that wage in
centives are more badly needed now
than ever before, not only to take
the place of lost incentives, but be-
cause the caliber was lower than
ever before. 1--WE are now employ
ing the unemployables," he said.
Urges Fair Output Standard.
Whatever an incentive or piece
work plan is used, Mr.. Wilson con-
tinued, it should be based on the
normal output of the worker, not
on what he is producing now, be-
cause in NEST instances what is
now producing is too low" He said
Job production standards should be
worked out by time study and in
such way that the worker knows
they are fair. Care must be exer-
cised so that the better workers can
take full advantage of their skill,
or else inequalities will arise and
friction result in the plant.
General Motors formerly made
wide use of piece work. When the
United Automobile Workers organ
lied the plants, piece work largely
was eliminated in favor of day rates.
There are few of the shops on
piece work basis, and the corpora
tion would like to extend it.
Mr.. Wilson cited an example of
what he said Is the important part
piece work can play in increasing
production. The incident occurred
IN the aluminium foundry of Buick,
where cylinder heads are made for
Pratt & Whitney aircraft engines.
The plant was one of the few Gen.
eral Motors operations where piece
work remained
Men in the plant, Mr.. Wilson said,
wanted to go on day rate basis.
Management held out for piece work.
Forming the molds for a cylinder
head Is a two-man operation as two
molds are required for each alumni
mum head. During this time each