Hence, the productivity of Coal India is not even near the level where it was in Australia nearly 30 years back. How does the latest output per shift number from Australia look? As Swaminathan Aiyar pointed out in a recent column in The Economic Times " In Australia, collieries produce 75 tonnes per manshift (of eight hours) in open-cast mines and 40 tonnes per manshift in underground mines." There are several reasons for this low productivity of Coal India. As Suyash Rai and Ajay Shah point out in a recent people titled India needs more coal "A monopoly [like Coal India] does not face the competitive pressure that punishes inefficiency…The relationship with labour in Coal India appears to be lopsided, even by the standards of public sector firms. Junior staff at Coal India are paid rather well when compared with other employment with the similar skill and hardship. This may be attributed to powerful trade unions.