Teachers in part of Siberia, Russia were paid in vodka in September 1998, as the authorities had no money to meet their wages bill.
More than 8,000 teachers were given 15 bottles each, as they reportedly had not been paid their salaries for months. Reportedly, authorities had earlier offered to pay in vegetables, toilet paper and funeral accessories.
While the vegetables and accessories seemed to be a bad idea for the Russian authorities, it turned out that they saw bottles of vodka as their next best bet.
The teachers who were based in the most populous Maima district of the Altai republic got 15 bottles each. An Itar-Tass news agency correspondent in the region says the teachers reckon it is better to get the vodka – which can be sold in local markets – than nothing at all.
This came after the attempt to pay them with toilet paper and funeral accessories provoked indignation. The teachers responding by suggesting that remuneration of that sort should go to members of the republic’s government and parliament.
Strikes among teaching staff went on to become increasingly common in Russia amid mounting frustration at the non-payment of wages that period – which also afflicted other sectors of the economy.
Other workers were reportedly offered payment in bicycles, cabbages, and bras. Contrary to some expectations, the desperate teachers preferred to sell the bottles or swap them for food.
Russia, which was in the middle of a deep economic crisis, owed state employees, including teachers, doctors and miners, billions of rubles in wages for that year.
Many state employees coped with the situation by cultivating their plots of land in the countryside, harvesting potatoes and carrots, or relying on relatives with a few chickens or a village cow for meat, eggs and milk.
But fears of a cold, harsh winter spurred many into action demanding immediate wage settlement, even in vodka
