Shadow Empire

Chapter 265 Gunshots on the Dock [666+8]
Before coming, the AFL-CIO had no high hopes for the entertainment value of this competition. After all, what kind of technical skills could the dock workers demonstrate that would be so impressive?
It was just that Scott was the first to come up with the idea, so they came over to see the situation.

During discussions within the AFL, some people suggested that welders, fitters, and other workers should be grouped together.

The technical competition among these technical jobs is more interesting and exciting. Of course, there are also welders and the like on the docks.

However, this part is very small in number and is not included in the competition.

As the vice president of the State Labor Federation, the special representative of the Federation of Trade Unions, the president of the State Federation of Trade Unions and others came out of the car one after another, it was finally Lance's turn.

The three people who had already gotten off the car felt the warm welcome. Everyone was in a good mood. They also stood on the podium and looked at the fourth car.

When the host, who Vaughn and his team had found from somewhere, began to announce their speech, there was even more enthusiastic applause on the dock, as well as whistles and other sounds!
The vice president of the state labor union narrowed his eyes slightly as he looked at Lance who came out of the car, and asked curiously, "Is this person rich?"

"I think everyone seems to welcome him."

The state union knew a little more. "He sponsored a lot of money, and he also ran the local club, so the workers on the docks liked him very much."

The vice president of the AFL was a little confused, "Did you ask him to run it?"

Clubs in various industries are finding it difficult to continue, on the one hand because of issues of funding and energy, for the working class of this era and this period.

They actually don’t have so many unrealistic demands. Their only demand is to have delicious food, especially meat, and to be able to eat their fill.

But even this is difficult to satisfy them.

As for being able to have a drink after filling your stomach, that's all fantasy. Selling alcohol is illegal these days, and the unions won't do this... Maybe some unions will do it, but most of them won't touch it.

Running a club is very difficult. If you give the benefits to the working class, the club will definitely lose money.

As a non-profit organization, the union has only a few ways to make money, which cannot support their spending on the club.

Therefore, the workers' clubs that were thriving a few years ago have suddenly become deserted. In some places and certain industries, they have even stopped operating altogether.

The only industries that are doing well are some popular industries, such as automobile manufacturers, power companies, etc.

But if the club is handed over to others to run, and the purpose of those capitalists is to make money, then the club will not only fail to provide workers with entertainment and relaxation, and a place for them to exchange experiences, but will become a big trouble.

They would rather close it down than move it out.

So the vice president of the AFL was very curious.

The president of the state labor union explained, "He asked to run the business himself, and I heard he was losing thousands of dollars every month."

The vice president of the Labor Federation showed some surprise, "Such a huge loss?"

"Then why does he continue to do it?"

The president of the state labor union showed an expression that was judging a fool, but he didn't really regard Lance as a fool. "He said that as long as he loses enough money, no one can take this thing away from him!"

The vice president of the AFL was stunned for a moment, and when he looked at Lance again, his eyes had widened a lot.

He understood what Lance meant. It didn't matter whether he made money or not. The people who supported him were the most important!
The people around him were applauding, and he also raised his hands and clapped softly, "That's interesting."

Lance walked up to the podium, shook hands with the three people, and found his seat.

Next came President Scott, Sink, and a few others.

Many people from the AFL-CIO came today. Lance also saw Ms. Debbie, and he took the initiative to greet her, but Ms. Debbie was not qualified to sit on the podium.

She was only responsible for the liaison and work arrangements for a category of skilled workers and had nothing to do with the dock workers.

After a series of warm-up speeches, Scott began to talk about the significance and purpose of holding this event. He pointed out that "technology" is not unspecific.

Technology becomes concrete when people use a standardized method to evaluate a person's technical capabilities.

He believes that this event will change the landscape of the working class. The vice president of the AFL-CIO also believed in his subsequent speech that this event will have a profound and significant impact on the entire working class!

Amid the flying of ribbons, a large number of things used to test technology were sent to the square.

It is called a square, but in fact it is just an open space.

The first to come up were the screwmen, the most common job at the dock, and everyone was dissatisfied with each other.

Vaughn is personally hosting today's event, and he also needs to make a good appearance in front of his peers from all walks of life to prepare to take over from Scott.

"...Every screw here has been soaked in seawater for a period of time. After our inspection, they have all been 'rusted'."

"Now we need the contestants to separate the screws and nuts in the shortest possible time using the common tools at hand."

They were all very common tools, wrenches, crowbars, and other things. The screws they needed to undo were as big as an adult's outstretched hand, and the red rust already gave people a sense of how difficult it was.

As the timer began, the workers immediately began to figure out how to fiddle with the screws in front of them.

On the podium, President Scott also began to brief the vice president of the AFL and others on the situation, saying that rusted screws were a common occurrence on docks.

The seaside is highly corrosive, and anti-corrosion paint is not very effective, and rust still occurs frequently, so this tests the skills and methods of the screw workers when driving screws.

As they tried various methods to slowly remove the screws, the people around them began to applaud.

Vaughan will score them and replace them with the next group. The person with the highest score will become the champion.

In addition to screwing screws, there are many other projects, such as -

"Clean the deck faster..."

"Expertly tying knots in eighteen ways..."

"Find the one in the pile that is no longer suitable for use and pick it out..."

It's true that these techniques are very common, but... they also make people feel a little low-brow. However, seeing everyone's interested eyes, Lance could only pretend to be very excited.

It took more than an hour to determine the first place winner. When the vice president of the AFL presented the "Expert Worker" medal and certificate, as well as $500 to the winner, the entire dock seemed to be in a strange climax!

It turns out that being a worker also allows you to... have that moment of standing in the middle of the stage!
At this time, many workers secretly swore that next time, they would also stand there and get a bonus of 500 yuan from others!
The whole process went smoothly, but it could not be completed in one day. Lance sat there for most of the day but it was not his turn.

There are soon more than 10,000 workers, and many of them have signed up more than once. Although they have undergone a simple screening before, there are still too many people and too many projects.

People's attention was all focused on these interesting competitions and they did not notice that about one kilometer away from the port, several cars were speeding on the road.

The car in front looked shabby. A pedestrian on the roadside looked at the owner of the car worth thousands of dollars with some confusion as to why he didn't take good care of it. He imagined how much he would take care of the car if it was his own.

Suddenly, some gunmen with pistols appeared from the three cars chasing closely behind, and they started shooting at the car in front!

The roadside shop window was suddenly hit by a ricochet and shattered to the ground, or sparks suddenly appeared on the ground for no apparent reason.

After a brief moment of distraction, the people around immediately screamed and hid everywhere!

Gang fight!

This may be the most common thing in the port area recently. The car in front keeps shaking and changing its trajectory to avoid the shooting from behind.

Bill was gasping for breath, his hands were shaking, and he couldn't even change the magazine!

He looked at the pistol magazine that he couldn't aim or put the bullet in. He cursed "Fuck" several times and then started hitting the pistol frantically with his hands.

I don’t know if the goddess of luck hasn’t given up on him yet, but as he was moving frantically, the magazine suddenly clicked into place!

He was stunned for a moment, grabbed the gun, turned around and started pulling the trigger at the car behind him.

The three cars that were about to catch up with him suddenly slowed down and were left behind for a distance. No one wanted to get too close and be hit.

The four cars kept swinging back and forth on the road, and the constant gunfire filled the streets with screams!
They were chasing each other very quickly, and in a short while, maybe... twenty or thirty seconds, they were already close to the port.

People in the port were still cheering for the athletic competition and didn't notice any of this at all.

"Go, go to the dock!" Bill, who had shrank back again, now calmed down a little and asked the driver to drive to the dock.

If he continued to drive along this road, he would be killed by these people sooner or later. He could only take advantage of the terrain and see if there was any chance to get rid of them.

In addition, Bill had another idea. If he abandoned the car and escaped at the dock, the dock was so big and there were many places to hide. It would definitely be safer than running on the road until dark!
He could already feel that the other car was getting closer and closer to him!

The driver suddenly turned the steering wheel, crossed the road and drove towards the pier.

When approaching the dock, Bill actually found some policemen, which made him extremely relieved. However, the people behind him didn't seem to care at all whether they were policemen or not, and continued to chase and fight with them!

The two police cars and four police officers parked on the side of the road looked at each other, and finally they decided to call for backup.

The gunshots at the dock finally alarmed the skills competition that was being held!
There was obviously some commotion at the scene. Lance stood up and walked to the podium. He gave Haram a look, and the latter immediately left with his people.

President Scott also reacted and quickly explained, "The security in Jingang City has been a bit bad recently. Don't worry, this has nothing to do with us. I will take care of everything!"

He also hurriedly left the podium and walked outside.

If there is anyone who is the angriest at this moment, it must be President Scott!

This has something to do with whether he can join the Federation of Trade Unions!
These damn gangsters!
(End of this chapter)