Working Conditions

• Health & Safety was not a priority

  accidents at work were common

  Many people would get injured, which would damage their performance in work
• Internal passports were introduced to stop workers from constantly changing jobs in search of better work.

  They had green, recognisable covers and police could ask to check someone's internal passports at any time.

  If a persons internal passport dictated that they did not have the 'right' to be in a certain city or workplace that they were found in, they could be arrested and imprisoned
• Trade Unions


  Severely restricted rights

  managers were given the right to sack workers and set wages without the permission of trade unions
• 'Progressive piecework' and the Labour Code

  • workers no longer had a set wage, but were paid by the amount they produced
  • people had to work even harder for better pay
  • even if injured (which happened frequently because of poor health and safety) people were expected to carry on work - labour code
• The average working week was 6 days long and these would often be long hours with little breaks