Shadow Empire

Chapter 354 Helping Me Is Helping Yourselves

Because of the strike, work at the dock came to a complete standstill and many business representatives were extremely anxious.

While they were looking for a solution from the terminal management company, they were also actively looking for temporary workers at high prices to help them load the ship.

Some people are also actively contacting these striking workers, hoping that they can take time to load their goods onto the ship or unload the goods on the ship.

For some more professional jobs, such as operating large machinery and coordinating loading and unloading, it is not enough to hire temporary workers. You must find specialized talents.

Moreover, the terminal management company will not allow people who do not know how to operate the large machinery to operate them. If something breaks down, they will face huge losses!

If kneeling down in front of the striking bosses could get them back to work, the capitalists would probably have already knelt down in front of the striking crowd!
Although capitalists are the ones who eat people in most of the time, now they have become the ones who are eaten.

After all, commercial claims are no joke. No matter whether it is a large or small enterprise, it may not be able to withstand lawsuits related to claims.

If it is a normal and long-term trade between the two parties, the situation may be better. For example, if two companies have been cooperating for many years, there will be some room for maneuver when signing the contract.

After all, both parties are friends, and some room can be left on the basis of respecting each other.

But some companies are different, and they cannot even be called companies.

There are many companies active internationally that make a living by "eating orders", and their main source of profit is the penalty for breach of contract of orders.

For example, they will sign a contract that is relatively strict with the supplier, requiring the defective rate to be below a certain level and a relatively strict delivery time.

Assuming that it takes thirty days to manufacture this batch of goods and achieve this qualification rate, then these people will sign a contract with them for a thirty-day supply or even twenty-eight-day supply.

If the qualified rate sampling and shipment cannot be completed within the specified time, they will sue the supplier for breach of contract and claim the liquidated damages required by the contract.

Often the penalty is relatively high. In order to make the other party willing to sign the contract and bear the excessively high penalty, they often give the other party more profit margins and use profits to tempt the other party!

If the supplier can complete the production task with guaranteed quality and quantity within a fixed time and get the goods on board.

Well, they have failed this time. They sold these goods directly at the price they got them, or even a little lower. For these companies, they only lost time and may lose some money, but definitely not much.

Or simply don't ask for the deposit and disappear.

It is impossible for these suppliers to actually go to the foreign country where the order company is located to look for the operators of this company which may not even exist and ask them to pay the subsequent balance.

But if the supplier fails to deliver on time, they will immediately file claims and lawsuits, and then they may make a profit of one or two times or even more of the total order price from this order!

Just like the grape contract signed between Lance and Ligi Group, he was willing to accept a higher offer and release the profit space to Ligi Group, but Ligi Group needed to agree to a five-fold penalty for breach of contract.

It’s just that super interest groups like the Liji Group have the ability and capital to default on their debts, while most small and medium-sized enterprises do not have such ability. If they are sued, they must pay compensation.

Some worse companies will even arrange for people to go to the supplier's production sites to sabotage them, making it impossible for them to deliver on time.

Many times, suppliers can only accept it with a pinch of their nose, because the contract clearly states that failure to deliver within the specified time is a breach of contract and the supplier must pay liquidated damages.

This situation happens every day in Jingang City. Many people know this, but they are still willing to accept such orders.

In fact, many small and medium-sized enterprises are aware of this type of order, but in order to obtain higher liquidated damages, the people who place the orders will leave a large profit margin for the supplier companies.

Some companies even think that the other party's running away is a good thing, because they have received the deposit and produced goods, and they can still guarantee profits by selling these goods at a low price.

Moreover, having orders is always better than having no orders.

They cannot refuse such high profits, and even if they know there are risks, they will grit their teeth and take a gamble.

Now, a strike has begun at the docks, which means that many small and medium-sized enterprises will be hit hard, and may even close down and go bankrupt!
Those capitalists who had been shitting and pissing on the workers also began to feel helpless, and some even started to cry loudly!
But all this could not change the situation of the strike.

The workers gathered together with a heart of stone, shouting slogans and waving placards. They would not go to work until the terminal management company agreed to raise their wages!
All day long, the workers did not give in, which led some people to try to shift the pressure to the terminal management company.

After all, it is indeed a bit difficult to deal with the workers, but asking the terminal management company to give them a pay raise does not seem that difficult.

Dave is a worker representative. He is in his fifties and has worked on the docks for almost his entire life.

He has been working on the docks since he was seventeen and continues to do so.

Although his position was promoted, his salary did not increase much, barely above the federal standard wage, and he could get forty-five dollars and fifty cents.

For most workers, this salary is not low, but for him, it is still too little to get this salary after working for a lifetime.

His personal demand for this strike was to have his salary increased to at least $47, and his goal was $48.

He supports the strike because he has two sons, the eldest is married and planning to have a baby soon.

Whether his eldest son moves out of his home or not, it means that the family's expenses will increase significantly in the future.

One or two dollars may not seem like a lot, but he wanted more than just one or two dollars. He wanted the terminal management company to confirm and accept the wage increase.

Then his salary will increase every six months, and it won't be long before his income exceeds 50 yuan. After three to five years, it may be more than 50, and the financial pressure will be reduced a lot.

When he returned home from the dock, as soon as he opened the door, he saw three guys who looked difficult to deal with sitting on the old sofa in the living room.

I also saw my wife, two children, and my eldest son’s wife in the restaurant.

"Who are you?" He hesitated for a moment, walked in without locking the door.

One of the men was playing with a dagger in his hand. He glanced at Dave. "Dave?"

Dave nodded, "It's me." He walked in front of his family and became a wall between these people and his family.

All three men stood up, and the young man who was playing with the dagger put it back into the sheath and walked in front of Dave.

Dave raised his arms, protecting his family while signaling the other party not to come any closer. He was a little nervous.

After all, these people didn't look like good people. As the male owner of this family, he protected his territory and tribe like a lion, "Stay away from us!"

The young man curled his lips and paused with his hands spread out. "You shouldn't have joined the strike, Dave."

"If you don't want to see us here again, then you'd better return to your post on time tomorrow morning and start working instead of participating in those boring strike games!"

"If you do, I'll make sure you and your family won't see us again."

“If you can’t do that…” The young man smiled a little, “Look, we know where you live and have met your family.”

"I know you don't want to get hurt, right?"

Dave didn't say anything, and the man still had a smile on his face. "You'd better think about it carefully tonight and discuss it with your family."

"Really, there's no need to make a fuss over something worth a dollar or two."

Dave was obviously furious, and if he were only twenty years old now, he would spit in this man's face and tell him to get out of his house with a kitchen knife!
But now, he is in his fifties, and his biggest weakness in life is behind him!

He actually doesn't attach much importance to the feelings of his family, or he usually finds his family annoying.

His wife was always nagging, and she was always talking about trivial things, like vegetable prices going up, beef prices going down, etc. He didn't like listening to her at all.

Apart from asking him for money, the two sons rarely had direct communication with him.

It might be better when they are young, but as they grow up and have their own social circles, that "all-powerful dad" has gradually disappeared from their lives.

They tend to hang out with their friends rather than their families.

He didn't really like these people, and sometimes he would think, it would be nice if they all disappeared.

But at this moment, he suddenly felt the long-lost sense of responsibility. He is the head of the family and he has to protect the safety of his family, and this is his biggest weakness!

He looked at the person opposite him, without saying anything, without telling him to get out, and without directly refusing, but just keeping silent. The young man knew that his goal had been achieved, so he raised his hands to indicate that he was harmless, "Okay, I've said everything I need to say, and I'm leaving too."

"Dave, think about it carefully, is it worth it?"

"This time we can still stand here and talk peacefully, but next time..." He gave a meaningful smile and then left.

The three of them walked away in a swagger. Dave quickly walked over and closed the door. He looked back at his family members whose faces were filled with worry, and for a moment he didn't know what to say.

His wife looked at him in shock, "What did you do?"

In fact, Dave didn't do anything. He told his family about the current situation at the dock. Everyone was on strike, and he was one of the supporters of the strike.

"Tomorrow...", his wife hesitated.

Dave sighed, "I'll think about it."

"How about you go to the countryside for a few days?"

Dave still didn't want to give up this opportunity. Not only did he not want to give up, he also didn't want to be a traitor.

Everybody was in favor of the strike, and if he returned to his post he would be a traitor to the strike, and it would be difficult for him to continue working on the docks.

He is already a low-level manager. What do the people under him think of him?

It will be difficult for him to gain a foothold on the dock in the future.

The two sons returned to the room without saying anything. His wife held his hand worriedly and said, "They are gangsters. We can't defeat them."

Dave pursed his lips and said, "I said, I'll consider it."

In fact, it was not just Dave's family who encountered this situation. Many people were harassed by gangs. Some decided to withdraw from the strike on the spot, but others persisted.

Early the next morning, Dave packed up and went to the dock, where he met a lot of people.

These people all had strange expressions, as if they were worried about something.

Although his test scores were never higher than C in school, at this moment, he could understand what these people were facing.

"...uh...", a man stood up, he was in his thirties, a crane operator.

His child has just started elementary school, and he earns 42.5 yuan a month, which is a level higher than the average person's salary.

After he spoke, everyone looked at him and he seemed very embarrassed, but considering the fright his wife and children had suffered last night, he gritted his teeth and finally chose to follow his heart.

His salary was already high, so there was no need for him to take the risk for $1.50. "I'm quitting."

When he finished saying this, a burly man next to him suddenly walked over and grabbed his collar, "What the hell are you talking about?"

The two were actually good friends, and his friends couldn't believe that someone would quit at this time!
The crane operator had an embarrassed and ashamed expression on his face. He looked at the various looks from people and finally decided to tell the truth.

If he wants to continue working at the dock, he must tell the truth!

"Several gang members came to my house last night and threatened me and my family that if I didn't quit, they would take action."

"My children are still young. I also want to continue the strike and be with you, but I... I can't help it!" He showed some pain on his face, "I can't just sit there and watch them threaten my family, and I can't resist them, they are gangsters..."

After hearing this, Johnny stepped forward and said, "Don't rush to make a decision. I'll make a call."

People kept coming in and out of the office, and the conflict between the Empire District and the Port District began to escalate, with both sides starting tentative exchanges of fire.

Several gunfights broke out in the Imperial District yesterday, with both sides suffering losses, but none of them were significant.

"So far, these are just minor incidents. Wolfe's own people have not shown up. The ones we caught are small gangs of locals that have just formed."

"They merged into the Wolf Gang, and Wolf told them that whoever seized the territory would own it."

Lance nodded while smoking a cigarette. "I don't care if they are locals or not. If they show their teeth to us, then we will deal with them."

"Any news about Wolfe and that professor?"

Bolton nodded. "They are in a game room, surrounded by their people, probably 70, 80, or even 100 or more. If we take the initiative to attack them, there may be some casualties."

Going to someone else's territory and attacking their heavily guarded headquarters is indeed not a smart decision. Lance scratched his head and asked, "Do you know where their bars are?"

"The best way now is to force them to stop sticking together. As long as they don't stick together, we can disintegrate them little by little."

Bolton looked embarrassed. "I'm still checking. We don't have many spies in the port area."

What he said was true and Lance didn't blame him. When he was about to arrange some other tasks, the phone suddenly rang.

The room suddenly became quiet and he answered the phone, "This is Lance."

"Mr. Lance?"

"I'm Johnny, we've got some trouble..."

After Lance patiently listened to Johnny's explanation of the trouble he encountered, he suddenly felt that... maybe there was still some change in this matter.

“Bring some people over here, come to the company, and I’ll talk to them.”

Lance looked at them after he hung up the phone, "Maybe there is a way."

Looking at the inquiring eyes of others, Lance explained, "The Wolf Gang threatened the striking workers at the dock and asked them to withdraw from the strike."

“We didn’t know where the bars were in the port area, but these workers certainly did!”

"They are native Hong Kong people, and they know the environment there better than we do."

This sentence made everyone excited!
Everyone knows that actively attacking the game room is not the right choice, but if you can't continue to expand the results, it will inevitably make people feel anxious.

If the Wolf Gang's bar branch can be obtained through the workers in the port area, the pressure will be shifted to the Wolf Gang.

Choosing to send people to strengthen the bar's defense will inevitably reduce the defense strength of the headquarters.

If you choose not to send people to strengthen the defense of the bars, then Lance and the others will take down all the bars!
For gangsters, wealth and economy are very important things.

One of the reasons why the Camilla Gang collapsed was that they could not keep up with the funding.

Ammunition, pensions, medical expenses.

Nowadays, the surgery fee for a gunshot wound is often one or two thousand yuan, and this part of the cost alone is a huge expense.

Lance paid over 20,000 dollars for the surgery yesterday!
If a gang war breaks out, it will be impossible to sustain it without hundreds of thousands of people!
Half an hour later, Johnny came to the company with some people, and Lance met them in the office.

Dave was there too. He felt a little nervous when he saw these young people who were obviously not good people. At the same time, the look in his eyes when he looked at Johnny also changed slightly.

He knew Lance, and he also knew that Johnny's arm was broken by Lance, but he didn't know that Johnny could still bring them to see Lance now!

This guy who he had always felt very familiar with suddenly became a stranger.

"...I heard Johnny talk about your experience, and I felt sympathy and anger about what happened to you."

"The people threatening you are from the Wolf Gang. I happen to have a grudge against them, so if you help me, you are actually helping yourself!"

(End of this chapter)