Collective Form of Labor Payment

wages paid according to the work results of a collective (brigade, section, or shop).

In the USSR the collective form of labor payment has become particularly widespread in construction and in the coal, ore-mining, and lumbering industries. Earnings are distributed considering the time worked and job category of the worker. The system is effective only under certain production organization and technical conditions—for example, when an even load during a shift is impossible for the specialty of one group of workers because of the varying labor intensiveness of the work and the inadvisability of creating excess semifinished stock in individual work areas. The collective form of labor payment is also used for paying employees in jobs related to servicing, observing, and inspecting a production process and therefore not having individual output indicators. Piece-rate collective and time-rate collective payments are used. Collective labor payments are widely used in paying the workers of flow and conveyor lines, as well as workers with administrative functions and employees in jobs involving the assembly and installation of large units.