Petr Pospěch

“After some time they got used to me at the school, I was given free reign when preparing the May Day banners, and I could make up the slogans myself - so it was similar to when I did military service. I thought I rebel one day, that I’d write some nonsense on a banner and they’d fire me. But what would I do then? Where would I go? I had a family and responsibility. It wouldn’t have been worth it. There was nothing to be done.”

“One time in the mine, they came up with the idea that we’d make a record. The extraction stage was set up like never before, and as soon as everything was ready fifty people charged into the shaft. The engineers, head engineer, and others fed into the record breaking as well, they went to the conveyor belts to get to their cut of reward. And they mined. The record breaking resulted in a total mess. Under normal circumstances everything had to be tidied up, moved, secured, but when they were making a record, they kept going and just measured how much they’d extracted. But it’s clear that you can’t keep working like that, and I still don’t get how anyone can work at 140%. Working at 140%, that nonsense! I can do my work perfectly, but I don’t what it means to work at 140%. Going at 140% means either the workplace standards are shoddy, or it’s a swindle.”