Shadow Empire

Chapter 1188 Arrival
Early in the morning, George, who had just woken up, came to the factory. There were already quite a few people like him there.

They were all workers at the factory, but because the factory was recently acquired by the Wade family in a hostile takeover, they are now unemployed.

It may sound like there's no necessary connection between these two things, but there actually is.

George is fifty years old and not long from retirement. If nothing unexpected happens, he can retire at this factory and live out his life.

Under the Federal Basic Social Security Act promoted by the Socialist Party, a worker who is able to retire smoothly will receive certain social benefits after retirement.

This is a federal law pushed by the Socialist Party in 1003, and some say their purpose was to gain votes to ensure the Socialist Party's continued victory in elections.

Some say they simply want to push the bill through.

Regardless, the passage of this bill has brought great positive benefits to the people. At least now, even if people are past working age and can no longer work, they can still have food to eat.

Even if we don't have enough to eat, at least we won't starve to death.

After the factory was acquired, some changes were made. First, the new factory owner laid off all the workers who were about to retire, and then restructured the entire factory's management.

More than a hundred people suddenly lost their jobs. If George were still young, he might just feel unlucky and find another place to work.

After all, he still has the strength and can still do things.

But what kind of job can a 53-year-old man find in this society?
He can't find any job!
There are no jobs that will need him, which means he is very likely unable to retire and will not be able to meet the requirements of the Federal Social Security Act to meet the number of years he has paid into social security and thus receive a pension.

Many people are in the same situation as him. They are gathered together hoping that the factory can change its previous decision and allow them to return to their jobs.

Even if they have to be reassigned to a less desirable, lower-paying position, they'll be happy as long as they can get through the last two years and receive their pension.

But the new factory manager disagreed with this very small request.

Besides George, some retired workers also came; these workers had all suffered injuries to varying degrees in the past.

In factories of this era, various protective measures are inadequate, and there is a lack of a unified system, making workplace injuries very easy to occur.

If a worker retires without being injured, then either he has a job that doesn't require him to work on an assembly line, or he has been slacking off.

Workers who work diligently will inevitably injure themselves, or even lose a finger or two.

The reason why federal capitalists are able to be capitalists, rather than being exploited and oppressed, is that they are very clever.

According to the provisions of the federal Labor Relations Liability Act regarding workplace injuries, factories are liable for compensation and subsequent treatment if a worker suffers a disability during work hours.

In principle and according to the law, the employer should pay various compensation and medical expenses, which is a large sum of money.

However, the capitalists were clearly reluctant to pay this amount. To them, a human life might only be worth a little, but they were unwilling to pay more than that amount in compensation for the disability of some people.

Even earlier, twenty or thirty years ago, how much did a slave cost?
The workers may have only lost a finger, so why should they be asked for so much compensation?
Through certain maneuvers by these capitalists, they exploited legal loopholes. For example, they would not pay all the compensation to injured workers in one lump sum, but instead pay in installments, with a portion paid each month.

The advantage of doing this is that it prevents businesses from incurring a large additional expense, even if it's only a few hundred, a couple thousand, or two or three thousand dollars.

Secondly, this can also save businesses a lot of money, since currency depreciates every year, even if people don't realize it.

Twenty years ago, two cents was enough to fill someone's stomach, but now, it's impossible to do so without seven or eight cents, or even ten cents.

If the timeframe is dragged out long enough, the actual "value" they pay will be far less than the value of a one-time payment.

Twenty years ago, the court might have ruled that they had to pay the workers, say, fifty dollars. Back then, fifty dollars could probably buy a horse.

But now, fifty yuan can't even buy a bottle of wine; this is the money that delayed payment saves businesses.

The factory has now changed hands, and the new owner seems unwilling to continue fulfilling this responsibility. He believes it is a matter between the injured worker and the previous employer, and has nothing to do with him.

These people were injured during the time he owned the factory, so he will not pay for it.

However, the previous factory owner had disappeared and refused to continue paying the money. He sold the factory to the Wade family at a very low price. The Wade family not only received the positive assets of the factory, but also had to assume the negative assets.

These workers had no other choice; they couldn't find where the former factory owner had gone, so they banded together and came to the factory to cause trouble.

The weather in January was already quite cold. As soon as George walked over, someone greeted him, "It's even colder today. Didn't you wear something warmer?"

February is not the coldest month in the federal government; it's not cold yet, and temperatures are still dropping.

The temperature in Jinzhou has dropped below zero, and with each breath, a large amount of hot air is exhaled from the mouth and nose.

George greeted the man in front of him as well, saying, "I've put on a wolfskin vest underneath."

As he spoke, he unzipped his jacket, revealing a leather vest underneath.

Wolfskin vests are excellent at keeping warm, and they are not expensive.

Because the fur of wolves is not aesthetically pleasing; some coyotes, for example, have patchy fur, which does not align with the aesthetic preferences of wealthy people when purchasing goods.

In addition, wolf pelts are easy to obtain, with plenty available in areas surrounding cities, so they are inexpensive and are one of the main materials used by the poor for warmth.

Almost every poor family has some clothes or pants made of dog or wolf skin.

He zipped his jacket back up, and his hands, after only being out for a short while, started to feel a bit sore from the cold. "How are things today?"

His friend shook his head. "You see, it's no different from before."

A large group of people stood outside the factory, with signs around them, gathered together, and occasionally chanting slogans.

Previously, reporters would come to interview them, but with the Wade family's full involvement, even newspapers have stopped reporting on them, as if they have been completely ignored.

What chilled them even more was that their colleagues who were still working turned a blind eye to their plight. They would enter and leave the factory through the gate not far away every day, treating them like a plague and refusing to come over, let alone speak up for them.

Only when you get to this point do you realize how terrible this society is.

George sighed. "I wonder what will happen next."

They continued to protest at the gate, and they contacted the union, but the results were not very good.

Ultimately, for a major workers' strike to occur, many workers' interests must be harmed before these workers can coerce other workers into starting a strike.

Only a small portion of the factory's profits were harmed, while the interests of the majority were actually protected. This small group of people couldn't cause any trouble even if they wanted to.

Although the union arranged for people to contact the Wade family, it is said that the effect was not very good, because the current governor's surname is Wade.

Only at this moment can people truly feel the despair of life.

Inside the factory, a well-dressed gentleman stood by the window, watching a group of troublemakers near the gate. He held a five-dollar cigar in his hand, and his gloomy expression made him look like someone you didn't want to mess with.

A staff member behind him was calculating how much money it would take to meet the demands of these troublemakers.

The only sound in the room was the scratching of the pen tip across the paper.

After about two or three minutes, the guy who was calculating the number stopped and rubbed his wrist. "Mr. Chairman, based on their current requirements, we need to pay them an extra 7,700 yuan per month."

"This includes installment payments for work-related injuries, as well as the costs and expenses of rehiring these workers and paying their social security contributions."

The chairman, standing by the window, pursed his lips. His lips were thin, and his cheekbones were high, giving him a rather mean appearance. "Seven thousand seven hundred yuan."

He glanced back and said, "Why don't I do something with all this money? Why give it to these people?" The guy who was helping him calculate the cost smiled awkwardly. Although he also thought the new CEO was too stingy and despicable, he still needed to rely on him for his livelihood, so he just smiled and lowered his head, saying nothing.

In reality, he earned more money than that; otherwise, he wouldn't have resorted to such underhanded means to force the original owner to sell the factory to him.

Given the Federation's current ability to export goods worldwide, as long as he's not a fool, he's bound to make money, it's just a matter of how much.

Ordinary business owners might encounter many problems, such as not receiving orders or having their profit margins squeezed very low.

But he is a member of the Wade family, and Governor Wade's influence in Indenau is constantly expanding, so some people are willing to sign supply contracts with him.

It can be said that since he bought the factory, he has been able to make money, apart from the amount he has to pay to the family fund every month.

However, the richer people are, the more greedy and stingy they become. Wouldn't it be better for him to put those seven or eight thousand yuan into his own pocket?

Why give it to someone else?

But when he thought of what Governor Wade had said at the manor, a hint of dissatisfaction appeared on his face.

"Thank you for your trouble. Please leave your calculation results here, and you can go back to work now."

The person who calculated the number quickly left, relieved.

The new chairman called the factory manager in and said, "Our accountant just calculated for me that if I want to deal with these people at the gate, I'll have to spend an extra eight thousand yuan every month."

“I’ve already had my lawyer come over, and you should know what they’ve said: if they sue me, I might not lose.”

"But now... there are some reasons why we need to stop them from causing trouble. I have an idea, you can take a look."

The manager is not the same as before; he is a professional manager, recruited from the Wade family's network of connections.

"You said."

The chairman organized his thoughts, "My idea is that those people want to come back to work, isn't their purpose to pay into the social security fund?"

“We can agree to that, but we won’t pay their wages, and they will have to pay their own social security contributions.”

"If they can agree, then I can agree to let them come back to work."

"As for those who want to take money from me that doesn't belong to them, find them a lawyer and let them have some peace and quiet."

The manager is a true professional manager. Although he is only thirty-seven or thirty-eight years old, he has already served six factories and enterprises, including some well-known local companies.

He considered himself a worldly person who had seen the ugly side of capitalism, but at this moment, he realized that he had underestimated these capitalists.

If someone were to say the idea of ​​paying for their own job, 99% of capitalists in the federal government would be speechless.

As for proactively hiring lawyers for those trying to collect debts, that doesn't seem so glaring in comparison to the previous point!

It took him several seconds to seem to come to his senses again. "I'll go and inform them."

The chairman nodded slightly, put the cigar in his mouth, took a puff, and said, "This way, we have neither additional expenses nor any problems at hand."

"So, when you encounter problems, you should use your brains more and not rely on me to solve everything!"

He said as he returned to his desk and sat down, "Let's solve this problem now."

The manager cursed under his breath before leaving the office, fully aware of what awaited him.

Angry workers!

Hopefully they'll go easy on them!
A dozen minutes later, an argument broke out at the factory gate and escalated into a heated one, with the manager, along with factory security guards, getting into a physical altercation with the workers.

The police arrived quickly and brought the situation under control.

Such incidents have occurred in many parts of Indenau, and the Wade family's unsightly behavior and arrogance have created numerous social problems over the past year.

If Governor Wade himself explicitly tells them to do this and is willing to clean up their messes, then they will become unscrupulous in plundering all the resources available in the state.

Together with their collaborators, they engaged in rampant plunder.

So there are some problems they simply don't address, like what happened outside this factory today.

If it weren't for Governor Wade's instructions, this intelligent chairman wouldn't even have considered using his brain.

The opposition of a small number of people cannot change the fact that the majority are still enjoying the benefits of the economic upswing. If we disregard the struggle between the two parties, Governor Wade's base of support remains very stable.

Meanwhile, Lance also arrived in Indenor State, but he did not alert anyone else.

Inside the manor, Erwin and Lance embraced, Erwin appearing somewhat excited, having not seen Lance for a long time.

Compared to managing the overall situation here, he actually preferred the days he spent with Lance, at least he didn't have to use his brain every day like he does now.

“You look good. I’ll give you more work in the future,” Lance said jokingly as he walked inside.

Erwin immediately raised his hands, pleading, "Let me go!"

"But things here are already giving me a headache. The local gangs are not like those in Likale, and some are beyond our control. There are firefights and competition everywhere."

Licarle has unified the underworld, but with Governor Wade's support and hints, there are still quite a few disobedient gangs here.

These gangs would compete with the Lance family for business, and would also engage in shootouts with them, attacking transport convoys.

It's not that there are troubles every day, but every three to five days, there will definitely be some things reported.

He couldn't ignore it, but he also had to consider how to handle it in a way that would minimize trouble. In short, it wasn't a simple matter.

The two entered the study, and Lance casually sat on the sofa and asked, "On my way here, I saw some workers gathered on the street. Is there a trend of a strike here?"

If there were rumors of a strike, there's no reason he wouldn't know.

Any potential major strike would be highly sensitive in Golden State. It's unlikely that workers here would have already stopped work and gathered while Golden State was unaware of the situation, so he found it a bit strange.

Irwin brought him a cup of hot coffee. "This matter is still somewhat related to Governor Wade, you know. He's rapidly expanding his power, acquiring many companies through some unscrupulous means."

“These companies have some historical issues. Although the Wade family bought the companies, they were unwilling to take over, so these problems have now come to a head!”

Lance understood by now that this kind of thing had happened in many places, including Likale State, but not in such a concentrated manner.

Previously, a factory in Likalai was experiencing some operational problems, and the factory owner was short of money. So he reached out to the workers and obtained some money, promising that this money would be considered as their investment in the factory.

No agreement was signed at the time. After the factory overcame its difficulties, the factory owner sold the factory and ran away. The new owner and the factory workers fought a lawsuit for more than two years before finally reaching a settlement.

Any form of capital that engages in cunning and forceful acquisition will inevitably encounter these problems to some extent.

It's hard to say whether maintaining these issues is right or wrong, but it's definitely not good for investors.

This gave Lance some ideas.

(End of this chapter)