Regional Seminar Proceedings 1990

9.1 PIECE WORK

As a result of the introduction of piece work in Tanga Region the supply of labourers is just about adequate to meet demand.

Using the task rate system the percentage of worker days used for Adjustment and Support Tasks was 40% of the total worker days used to complete the roadworks, however under piece work this figure dropped to between 17% and 25%. Average productivity is 3 pieces per labourer per day on earth works. Previously if the output had been compared with that suggested in the ILO manuals it was only 50% of the suggested values. Under the pice work system this has increased to 75% showing a 25% improvement. The speed of completion of work had increased and the costs decreased.

After some difficulties RRM Mbeya reached agreement with the Region to try piece work based on the work being carried out in Tanga. The risk that labourers would earn more than the headman was avoided by awarding the headman the average number of piees his labourers achieved and increasing his rate per piece above that of the rate for labourers. RRM Mbeya stopped using piece work for two reasons.

(i) The administration of piece work had becometooo complicated.

(ii) The site productivity using task rate was good, 1800 md/km, and in the areas of the Region they are now working in there is no shorgate of labourers prepared to work on the road sites under the task rate system.

The difference between Tanga and Mbeya may be that people in Mbeya Region have their own farms to attend to and are happy to complete a task, then be free to attend to their own work, whereas in some areas of Tanga Region there are no other income generating possibilities so that the workers are interested in staying on site longer and completing more pieces.

Many Governments and organisations are wary of piece work as the labourers involved could be subject to exploitation. To guard against this it should be a requirement that all piece work tasks are completed during the length of a normal working day or in less time.

Some participants expressed concern that if piece work was introduced, the quality of the work would deteriorate due to the overseer being stretched and unable to supervise properly, or because of the labourer being anxious to finish one piece to begin the next. Other participants were of the opinion that the increase in wages afforded by the piece work system would increase the workers' motivation and therefor the standard of work would be improved.

9.2 GROUP PIECE WORK AD PETTY CONTRACTING

Group piece work has been tried using groups of people ranging from 3 people working together to much larger numbers working together to complete an agreed section of roadworks.

Only a short stop away from group piece work is the possibility of petty contracting. There are arguments for and against petty contracting. A dishonest contractor could collect his money for completing the roadworks and then disappear without paying the labourers. Cloce supervision would be needed to ensure that the quality of work was satifactory and that laws were being observed by the contractor, such as not employing underage children. Would the system of petty contracts be sustainable by the Government after the withdrawal of donors support?

Petty contractors have the advantage that their wages are not compared to the wages of officials as they are outside the Government system. If a contractor carries out poor quality work he can be penalised by not being re-employed and by having payment withheld. This action also acts as an incentive to others to do well if they want to be kept on the approved list of petty contracts. Most goverment officials are familiar with the concept of using contracts, therefore there shoud be less obstacles from administration than could be met with new systems such as piece work.

One example for the setting of contract size and price is from Nepal.

In Nepal the project used their own productivity data to work out the rates to be offered to the contractors. The cost was based on worker days x wage rate + 10%. They also limited the maximum size for the contracts. The work had to be completed inside one month and cost in total not more that US$2000. Any larger contract had to be put to tender and could not be considered as a petty contract.

Ghana has an established system for petty contracting in the roads sector as do many countries in Asia. Madagascar has opted to try a petty contracting system in the near future.

If petty contracting was to be used in Tanzania realistic rates of payment would have to be agreed in advance. If a system could be set up, the financial adviser for RRM Mbeya thought that the administration of petty contracts would be perfectly possible.

9.3 WAGE LEVELS

The daily wage paid by the different projects represented at the Seminar were as follows:

COUNTRY/PROJECT DAILY WAGE

Botswana 2.35 Kenya 1.30 Mozambique 1.10 Zambia 0.50 Tanzania RRM Mbeya 0.40 RRM Tanga 0.40 - 0.80 RUDEP 0.45 Makete 0.30 Ruvuma 0.45

Note: 1 US$ does not have the same purchasing power in every country.

Many programmes in different countries face the problem of poor worker motivation due to the low level of wages often set by the government of these countries. With low wages for labourers it is very difficult to maintain reasonable task rates. This can result in an increased number of worker days per kilometre. However due to the variation in wage rate it may be possible that the overall cost per kilometre of road will be roughly equivalent between a high productivity lower wate site. Therefore economically the outcome could be the same for the two sites.

Can the setting of wage levels be decided by the Engineer alone if some flexibility is allowed by Goverment. The setting of wages may be a multi-sectoral decision, influenced by industry in the area, agriculture nutrition, or social problems. All Engineers should be aware of the impact a road rehabilitation scheme may have on an area. In busy agricultural periods people may be too occupied with their farming to attend the roadworks. Allowances should be made for this. Could a high wage rage attract peopl away from their farms and result in neglect of their agriculture on which they are dependent once the roadworks are complete? Economists have carried out studies which suggest that even if high wages are offered most rural communities will continue to plant crops as an insurance for the future.

In Mozambique work stops during the monsoons which is the heaviest agricultural period, therefore there is no conflict between roadworks and agriculture.

9.4 DATA AND COSTS

There is a lot of data available on the productivity of the daily work, taskwork and piece work methods of road rehabilitation, however there is little available information on the relative costs of each. Would it be an advantage if engineers could show Regional or National Authorities the relative costs of say daily paid work and task work? There is still a need for easier comparison between regions and countries; but this can be looked at later under the heading "Monitor and Control", Chapter II of this report. Will governement accept data from other countriees or does each country need their own studies as proof that labour-based methods are appropriate for them? Many participants felt that local trials would help convince people in the area and ensure the most suitable method of workig was adopted. Many programmes are now past this experimental stage and have settled either for task rates, piece work or petty contracting.

9.5 WOMEN

The project in Zambia has discovered that foremen acting on their own initiative are giving women, especially women with babies, the lighter road construction tasks. There could be a danger in this if a petty contracting system was to be introduced. The contractor may hesitate to employ women if they are only to be given light tasks, thus resulting in unequal employment opportunities for women.

9.6 CONCLUSION

There is a need for accurate data and costing of the different working systems. The most appropriate system may not be the same for different countries or regions within countries depending on the influence of external factors such as agriculture. The gathering and use of data will be covered in Chapter II "Monitor and Control".

In many cases an improvement of worker motivation is restricted due to the wage levels set by Goverment and this may be where petty contracting can solve the problem.

To answer the question posed - "Daywork, Taskwork, Piece work, what difference does it make? The answer seems to be that there are differences and that by choosing the system most appropriate to each region an increase in output and reduction in cost can be realised.