Amerikai Magyar Szó, 1988. július-december (42. évfolyam, 27-48. szám)
1988-08-25 / 31. szám
flmÉRnan HühcftBifths " AN ANGLE ON LABOUR QUESTIONS An interview with Dr. István Martos, General Manager of Medicor, Vice President of the Hungarian Chamber of Commerce in the International Labor Organization. Recently the Hungarian press has been focusing on problems connected with employment in Hungary. What are these arising from? From among the many problems of the Hungarian economy the one reflecting the most contradictions is employment. Full employment was declared during the post-war history of the Hungarian economy as an "achievement." This assumes the continuous expansion of production, the ceaseless development of technology, a properly planned and at the same time generous investment policy. This idea was dominant in the Hungarian economy, especially in the voluntarist period of the fifties and sixties. When it was realized that the idillyc conditions figured in advance cannot be made permanent, in particular because the market mechanism began influencing the economy more and more, the consideration of the management of the economy in a more rational manner using the existing workforce, along with other factors of productions, came to the forefront. Even then, one just cannot make decisions regarding the workforce so easily as in connection with, say, a new technology. Certainly not. Arising from our basic approach is that workforce as a factor of production cannot be handled the same way as are all the assets and means of a project, for example. Lives, fates, individual and collective interests are at stake - this is one side of the coin. The other is that the Hungarian economy cannot simply overlook the international challenge arising from production that is affecting the workforce. This is not a specifically Hungarian problem but exist all over the world. Does it mean that we must face unemployment? Since the treatment of our economic problems arising from both domestic and foreign difficulties was put on the agenda, the feared phenomenon of unemployment that had been regarded before as something experienced elsewhere only, now became a real threat in the mind of the public. For the time being it is confined to certain localities, for example to the North Hungarian town of Ozd, due to the unprofitable production in the Metallurgical Works there. If we do not halt similar trends, unemployment may spread. One must also bear in mind that in the Hungarian economy there exists a shortage and a surplus of labor at the same time, over different areas and sectors. From this arises the professional and geographical imbalance of the employment structure. What sort of solutions exist? Relocation of the workforce cannot generally be used because of the housing shortage. However, retraining seems to be useful, for which all the preconditions are available. It seems though that the efforts to retrain surplus personnel are not yet intense enough. The political will to provide for retraining on an institutional basis is there, already the objective conditions are ensured and the associated system of incentives is not too bad either. Perhaps more publicity is needed for those concerned who are obliged to learn a new, complementary profession. Using Medicor's terminology: having diagnosed the disease what therapy has so far been used to cure the present state of employment in your company? Between 1985 and 1987 we cut the staff of our company by 24 per cent. It was a painful operation, but very much required to recover. The three ways of intervention were: retiring employees were not replaced, many left on a voluntary basis, and those who proved to be the least efficient were given notice. Those remaining who have undertaken to do the job of those having left were given the salaries of the latter. Today we work with a reduced staff - from 9,000 it decreased to 6,700 in all seven plants altogether - and with higher productivity and higher individual salaries. The rightness of our decision and the sense of justice of the workers were reflected by the fact that ever since no labor proceedings have been initiated by them! To the best of my knowledge, no one remained unemployed. And what about the effects? Using the training facilities of Medicor itself many of our workers obtained higher qualifications and a second skill. Redundant activities - unreasonable supply of data etc. - were eliminated and without these we organized the work in a more rational way. With the combining of various jobs in the central leadership alone we managed to wind up 30 leading posts. What I have told you so far shows that our measures were basically aimed at saving on costs - the positive effect of retraining and reorganization is felt all over our entire production activity and this is also recognized by the local trade union. In your capacity of Vice President of the Chamber, what is your opinion about the present position of labor in Hungary on the whole? We have an insight practically into the entire Hungarian economy. It is essential now to achieve competent production everywhere with incentives and austerity measures of the proper kind. Steps must be taken on the national level in the framework a financially backed central programme of creating jobs. New jobs must be created wherever required, the average income should be paid to workers while they are participating in retraining, a longer period of notice is needed so that workers concerned can find new employment, and if it is reasonable, workers should be given the alternative to retire some time before pensionable age. More personnel should also be diverted to work on infrastructural projects, in the service industries, in the electronic and mechanical engineering industries. We must finally put an end to the practice whereby the number one qualification for those leaving high schools - and especially for girls - is the general diploma. More A Disneyland for Hungary? BUDAPEST, Aug. 7 - Hungary wants to build Eastern Europe's first Disneyland. Prime Minister Karoly Grósz visited the original Disneyland in Anaheim, Calif., during his 10-day visit to the United States last month. Back home, he told a radio interviewer last week that a Disneyland vice president would visit Hungary in September to discuss building a new outpost of the amusement park. The first Disneyland outside the United States opened in Tokyo in 1983, and it draws 10 million visitors a year. Hungary leads the Soviet bloc in introducing economic reforms. Hungary is the first Eastern European country to have McDonald's fastfood outlet. It opened in April. Mr. Grósz a promoter of major changes since becoming Prime Minister 14 months ago and taking over as the H.S.W. Party general secretary on May 22, promised during his United States trip to ease economic controls and open Hungary to foreign capital. A Disneyland in Hungary would help the country's rapidly expanding tourism industry, a vital element in paying back a gross debt of $18 billion to Western banks. A record 19 million foreign tourists visited Hungary last year, 14 percent more than in 1986. More than seven million came from the West, mainly West Germany and Austria, bringing hard currency. To the Editor_____ Dear Editor! Since I have become( a subscriber to your newspaper "Magyar Szó". I enjoy very much reading the English section. The articles are presented in an informative sensitive and timely fashion. When I finish reading the newspaper I give each issue to my Hungarian speaking friends at the 92 St. "Y" They are very interested to read about their homeland in their native tongue. It awakens in them nostalgic memories. Thank you very much. Sincerely _______________________Ida J. Sincoff and more young people should be urged to obtain skills. . How is the same subject discussed within the ILO? In Geneva such subjects are regular items on the agenda. One can draw on plenty of experience. It is pointless to adopt what the developed and developing countries are doing, however certain elements of those can be applied by us also. For example the State Bureau of Wages and Labor and the Hungarian Chamber of Commerce had material translated that was prepared by some of our top experts at the request of the ILO on the up-to-date wage system based upon performance. This study is at the disposal of all companies affiliated to the Chamber. Julia Sz. Nagy Thursday, Aug. 25. 1988. AMERIKAI MAGYAR SZÓ 11.
