Amerikai Magyar Szó, 1973. január-június (27. évfolyam, 1-26. szám)
1973-06-07 / 23. szám
6 AMERIKAI MAGYAR SZÓ — HUNGARIAN WORD Thursday, June, 7. 1973 Sugar workers loading a truck. When the three of us met in San Francisco for a briefing on our upcoming trip to Hungary we had only the common bond of being ILWU members. By the time we reached Budapest we were very close personal friends who were constantly called on to explain that we were Americans despite the fact that all of our parents had come to the United States as immigrants—from Japan, Croatia and Sweden. The next day after the San Francisco meeting, we flew to London by Pan Am and on a connecting flight to Budapest. With no sleep and not prepared for the marvelous reception that was in store for us we must have looked somewhat bewildered. A delegation of Union representatives met us when we landed in Budapest; whisked us through customs and very shortly after landing we were welcomed by the Director of the Budapest airport in his of ice. After a toast to the success of our mission we were escorted to the airport dining room where we were welcomed by other union officials. After eating a huge, tasty meal, Hungarian style, (many more to come) we proceeded to the Headquarters of the Hungarian Transport Workers Union. There we were greeted by István Toth, the Secretary General of the Transport Workers Union. We explained that as overseas delegates, we were specifically charged with the task of investigating and later reporting on the living and working conditions of workers in the countries we visit, with particular emphasis placed on the role of trade unions in the day-to-day lives of working people, and the role the trade union movement in general plays in the larger social-political sphere. A twenty-one day program had been outlined for us, which included three free days. Free days meaning we would be on our own to roam about and do whatever we liked. Also we were told that if we wanted to see anything that was not included in the program to speak up and it would be arranged. Since one of the delegates was a sugar worker from Hawaii we asked to see a sugar refinery. This was arranged later. So started our first day in Hungary. An indication of things to come; none of us realized that our ILWU was held in such high esteem by the Transport Union of Hungary. Every place we went, every enterprise we visited, we were treated like old-time friends. During our stay in Hungary we toured various enterprises which included: Dockworkers, Truck transport, both intra-state and inter-state, a sugar factory, farm commune and a couple of tourist and workers’ resorts. " The transport enterprise serving Hungary, known as Volán, seemed to be a very efficient operation as did Hungarocamion, which was the European truck transport system with branches in Italy, the Near East and Vienna. Mahart shipping is the enterprise in charge of all river and seagoing traffic including ship building, repair and passenger traffic on the Danube and Lake Balatan. Mahart also controls the warehousing and loading and unloading of all water borne freight. As we toured these various transport enterprises we were given very detailed accounts of the individual operations by the directors. Also we had lengthy discussions with all the union officials, shop stewards and some of the workers. In almost every case in the development of the enterprises the hours of work have been reduced—as much as possible since there is an acute manpower shortage in Hungary. At one time in the Hungarocamion transport system the people worked three to four hundred hours per month, but now the hours are around two-hundred twenty per month, the same as workers throughout Hungary. However, when necessary, workers in pome enterprises still work longer hours for which they are given extra vacation time in the workers’ resort and also cash bonuses. Sufficient Wages Without going into detail as to wage scales, salaries, etc., it appears that the pay to the average worker in Hungary is sufficient to buy the necessities of life, i.e., clothing, food. But very little is left over for luxuries. It was also quite obvious that everyone must produce, men and women alike, in order for their system to work. While touring through Hungary we observed women working as gas station attendants, road workers (pick and shovel), dock workers and field hands as well as farm workers and wine bottlers, apple graders in the farm commune. Many women worked as secretaries, computer operators and store clerks as well. Also there were many women physicians and technicians in the various clinics and hospital facilities. In Hungary, free hospital and medical care is provided for all workers and in touring the clinics which were attached to each enterprise, it was apparent that adequate facilities were available to all and that there was a sufficient number of doctors and technical personnel to take care of the needs of the people. Education is provided for by the state and is compulsory through the high school level; also college for those who qualify by virtue of high marks. At Women bottlers at a communal winery Workers' resort hotel at Lake Ballattao by CARL CHRISTENSEN Local 19, Seattle JOE JAKOVAC Local 12, North Bend FRED TANIGUCHI Local 142, Hawaii (Az Egyesült Államok Csendes Óceán-menti kikötőiben dolgozo szervezett munkások delegációja nemregen Magyarországba látogatott. Alant közöljük a hivatalos lapjukban megjelent cikket.) every enterprise there is a workers’ library and provisions are made for those who wish to further their knowledge in vocational fields. They have training programs for machine operators, truck drivers and equipment operators at the various enterprises, so it appears that the educational system in Hungary is very good as is the national health plan. Every worker in Hungary is entitled to a government pension—some at age fifty-five and others at age sixty—depending on the type of work they perform during the qualifying years. Here again the Hungarians have a very good pension program. There is a housing shortage in Hungary at the present time, but a building program of apartments or flats as they are called in Hungary will hopefully alleviate this problem. However, the accommodations for the average worker are small and the people in the cities are crowded into flats because there simply aren’t enough units available at the present time. Religion is optional for the people in Hungary with the Catholic church being the major faith. The churches are entirely supported by the State. We were told that church attendance in the main was limited to the major Holidays, Christmas and Easter, with only some of the older people participating on a regular basis. Role of Communists The parliament is well represented by workers, clergy, peasants and professional people. It seems that the Communist Party is the most influential in Hungary today, with pictures of Lenin adorning every union office we visited. As we toured the country it became apparent that Hungary was an unique mixture of the old and new. In the city, there were many cars, mostly European, and the modern subway; while in the country and smaller villages dray horses were used to haul produce, bricks, etc., and bicycles were much in evidence. Also much of the country outside of the city depended on wells and outdoor plumbing whereas the facilities in the city .were modern. Some of the dock operations were mechanized, while others were hand handled. An example viewed by us was the sugar refinery with a closed circuit television to monitor a part of what appeared to be a highly sophisticated operation in processing the sugar beets, yet workers were shove’ing beets by hand out of the rail cars into the hoppers which delivered to the plant. Some of the roads in and around Budapest were very good, while the roads outside of the metropolitan area were very narow and quite sub-standard. Though the country was backward in industrial development, progress is being made to change from a primarily agricultural country to a more industrial country. An example of this is the new city of Dunaújváros which has a large steel mill as its principle industry. This is just a start and much more needs to be done. During our travels in Hungary, we met many unionists and officials in the union and directors of the various enterprises. We were told that all of them started as workers before becoming officials in the union or directors of the enterprises. As we sat around the tables in the various union offices or lounged around the dinner table many discussions were held on the conduct of the Hungarian government, their unions, the standard of living of the workers and the differences between their system and ours in the United States. Always the topic of most discussion was peace and cooperation of all the nations of the world. The Hungarians insisted that we must have peace HUnCRKV
