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adjacent construction sites are grouped together and administeredby an ABL or a EL (See above IIAa 29 and 30).The executive of an 0T construction firm is chief of theconstruction site on whioh his firm works* His authority,however, is limited in several ways. In his oontrol of theconstruction at hand, he is limited by the terms of his contractwith organization Todt. In his control of the manpower allottedto hjjn by the OT, for the performance of the manual and mechanicallabour at hand, he is limited "by the basic regulations of theOrganization in regard to personnel administration, such as hoursof work, rates of pay, bonuses and penalties, treatment of thevarious nationalities, and so forth. He has the right to invokepenalties for infractions of regulations without, however, havingthe authority to enforce punishment, which is left to the Frontftlhrer(Front Area personnel Director) of the BL or OBL- Forthe exercise of these functions, he is invested, as long as he iscontracted or sub-contracted to the OT, with the rank of an OTofficer, normally that of Bauleiter (approximately equivalent tothat of Major) but possibly one or two grades higher or lower,aocording to the importance of his firm and his own ability.TheOT firm executive must bring with him into OT his ownstaff of old employees consisting essentially of technical andclerical personnel. He must do so because his staff which iscalled Firmen Stammpersonal (permanent Firm Staff) contains theGerman supervisory personnel without which the OT will not allothim any foreign labour. Inasmuoh as foreign labour comprisesabout eighty percent of all OT personnel even at the present time,an OT-firm is consequently helpless without a minimum of Germansupervisory personnel on its staff. If that staff drops belowthe irreducible minimum, there are three possible eventualities.1. It is subject to dissolution as a firm, whereupon itsmanpower is withdrawn, the members and its equipmentare temporarily requisitioned for use "by other OT firms.2. It may keep its entity in the OT, but not its status,by beooming a sub-contraotor to a more adequatelystaffed firm.3. It may combine with several firms in a similar positionto form an Arge (Arbeitsgemeinschaft or Working Combine)by pooling individual resources. It is only inexceptional cases that a firm withdraws completely fromthe OT. To do so would be an unwise step botheconomically and politically.An important feature of the organization of an OT firm isthe increase in responsibility it has been given over all itspersonnel, including foreign workers. In faot, since March 194k*the OT firm has been charged with performing exactly the samefunctions in regard to its personnel as performed by an OBLFrontfOhrer toward the entire OBL Personnel. For this purposeeachOT firm includes a Mannschaftsftthrer (Personnel Administrator)who is responsible to the firm executive, and accountable to thecompetent BL FrontfQhrer, or lacking the latter, directly to thecompetent OBL FrontfQhrer.Various phases of the OT-firm as a basio unit will be discussedin more detail as follows: the economic and legal aspects in H Dand the administrative and functional aspects in III Bb»b) "Current Organization"32. "Current Organization". TheOT High Command- 32 ­