Shadow Empire

Chapter 98 Confusion and the AFL

The weather gradually became cooler, which became more friendly to the fat people. At least they didn't have to sweat under the scorching sun.

Johnny, looking a little pale, sat in the prescription doctor's office of a pharmacy and handed over the prescription in his hand.

The doctor sitting opposite took a quick look, then looked at his arm, and asked curiously, "Do you mind if I take a look?"

Johnny shook his head, "Of course not, as long as you prescribe me some medicine."

The doctor checked Johnny's broken arms and found they were healing well.

The radius itself is a bone that is easily fractured, and fracture is inevitable after being hit violently. Its recovery period is not long, although Johnny is older.

And its impact on life is actually not that great.

Through examination, the doctor could roughly tell that the recovery was good, and Johnny could now use some strength in grasping.

But the strange thing is that he always said that his arm would hurt from time to time, and the pain was unbearable.

The hospital had been having some problems recently and refused to provide him with pain medication, but the attending physician referred him here.

"Although I don't understand why you are in pain, but since you need it, we can give it to you."

"Do you know how to use it?"

Johnny nodded repeatedly. The doctor tore off the list and handed it to him. He just took a look and couldn't help but exclaimed, "It's more than one dollar more per dose here than in the hospital."

The medical doctor was not surprised. “If you buy it from here, it is not on the list of medical insurance exemptions. You can choose to pay me the money here, and then I will give it to you.”

"Or you can buy it from the hospital, their price will be lower."

Thinking that the hospital would refuse to give him the medicine, he still paid the money.

The doctor took out a few pills, briefly instructed him on the dosage, and then gave them to him.

Looking at Johnny's leaving back, the doctor shook his head slightly. He actually knew that this painkiller had some dependence, but he didn't take it seriously.

Or perhaps doctors across the federation do not take this seriously. As long as they can solve patients' pain, sell drugs and create profits for themselves and pharmaceutical companies, they are still angels!
As for dependencies?
That's none of their business!

After Johnny got the painkillers, he seemed to relax, although he felt strange about it.

His arm didn't hurt almost 99% of the time, but it would suddenly hurt so much that he couldn't bear it. Maybe it was because it hadn't healed yet, he told himself.

He had just come out of the pharmacy, the sunlight shining on his bloodless and unhealthy skin, and behind the confusion in his eyes was the uneasiness and fear towards the entire city.

Lance suddenly tilted his head and seemed to see Johnny, but when he looked again he had already driven far away.

Even if it was, he wouldn't stop.

He just called Vaughn and wanted to arrange a meeting with him.

Vaughan was also willing to meet with the generous Mr. Lans.

The two of them met in a coffee shop outside the dock. The dock workers' union was not far away, and Lance's labor agency was not far from it either.

"My colleagues all asked me to thank you, Lance. The coffee you gave them was delicious."

Lance couldn't tell if he was lying or not, but he didn't care. "Then you can take some back when you leave today. I just saw that they have donuts. Maybe your colleagues would like to have some donuts with their coffee."

The two sat down separately. After coffee was served, Lance explained his situation. "I am planning to open a garment factory recently. I need some skilled workers, but I am not very familiar with this area. You know, there are no such jobs at the dock."

There is only heavy physical labor at the dock, and it is basically unskilled work.

Vaughn joked, "The federal warden knows more skilled sewing workers!"

It took Lance a moment to respond, "That's funny."

Vaughn was a little embarrassed, and he quickly changed the subject, "I can't help you with this matter, but I can introduce someone to you, someone from the AFL."

As the organization that called for "Workers' Unity" and thus gave birth to a super civilian political group in federal history, the Federation of Labor is a force that cannot be ignored anywhere!
This group of people, composed entirely of skilled workers, holds a pivotal and superb position in the industrial field. Some politicians have also emerged from among them. In other words, they are the core pillars of the federal light and heavy industries.

Especially in some heavy industries, having skilled workers and not having skilled workers are two completely different things, while the skilled workers within the AFL-CIO cover the entire industry.

If they decide to sanction a factory, they only need to let all the skilled workers in the factory go on strike, and the factory will immediately stop production.

Unless the capitalists make a complete break with the labor union regardless of losses and stop employing skilled workers, they can avoid being threatened by the AFL.

But especially in heavy industry, if all the workers are novices, the boss would rather close the factory immediately than start the assembly line.

As long as he wants to continue production, he must negotiate with the AFL. This is also the period when the AFL and trade unions are the most powerful. They can even be one of the keys to the president's victory!

As the vice president of the dockworkers' union, Vaughan must be familiar with the AFL-CIO because they are all labor brothers and usually have contact and cooperation. He took out a pen and planned to write a contact number for Lance, but Lance refused, "If you don't have other urgent work next, we can go together."

Vaughan thought about it and agreed. The main job of the dock workers' union is to coordinate the conflicts between dock workers and capitalists.

There is actually no substantial conflict between the dock workers and the capitalists now, but there are many conflicts with the illegal immigrants, so Vaughan can leave at any time.

Lance called the waiter, "Send twelve cups of coffee and twelve donuts to this address..., the rest is a tip." He left five dollars, which was enough to pay for these things, and there was still about seventy or eighty cents in tips.

What Lance found strange was that the waiter did not leave immediately after taking the money, but stared at Vaughn.

Vaughn felt a little embarrassed by his stare, so he coughed lightly and said, "I'm full today."

The waiter then left.

Lance looked at him in confusion. Vaughn was too embarrassed to say that after Lance left last time, he saw that he still had a lot of tips, so he ordered another double beef burger. He could only reluctantly explain, "Sometimes I eat lunch here. You know, our lunch is irregular, sometimes early, sometimes late."

It was a good explanation, but Lance didn't care much about it, and the two of them got up and left.

On the way, he suddenly remembered something, "Vaughn, can you tell me who reported us?"

"I have no other intentions. I just want to talk to them. We are all working class. We should be brothers, not enemies."

"Maybe I can convince them, and that will reduce a lot of your work."

He asked Erwin to inquire, but Erwin had no connections among the local workers. All he knew were illegal immigrants and migrants.

Illegal immigrants and immigrants are not in the same group as these local workers. They don’t even walk together after get off work, so it is difficult to find out who reported such core and key information.

Vaughn hesitated, and Lance continued to persuade him, "I've been thinking recently that politicians deliberately promoted this anti-immigration wave in order to create opposition."

"We believe that every one of our working brothers is kind and innocent. We should not be exploited by capitalists and politicians. I will find a way to convince them."

"And you know, I am also a federal, and on key issues, I will stand on the side of the federals."

Perhaps the “federal man” moved Vaughan, and he finally agreed. “The lists are in my office. I’ll give them to you when I get back.”

"Thanks!", Lance replied with a smile.

The Labor Union was in the industrial area. The two of them crossed the entire city and arrived here in the evening, but fortunately they had not yet gotten off work.

Vaughan is familiar with the people here. In Jingang City, dock workers are the first-tier working force!
Soon he brought Lance to an office and knocked on the door.

The doorplate read "Textile Workers' Liaison Office" and below it was the name of the person inside, "Debbie Jones", who was obviously a lady.

"Come in!", the voice also said this.

Vaughn glanced at Lance, pushed open the door, and motioned for him to go in first.

After entering the office, the decoration here is simple, but not plain. Ms. Debbie, who is sitting behind the desk and processing documents, looks to be about 35 years old. She wears a hairband and a puff-sleeved collarless dress with white dots on the base.

She had blond hair and, like Vaughan, looked like a less working-class woman.

It's strange that these people who represent the working class don't look like workers. Perhaps this is the most fantastic thing about the federal political environment.

But... who cares?
The less she looked like a worker, the more reassured Lance felt. After all, everyone knew who was easier to deal with, a person who only talked about ideals or a person who talked about everything.

It was not until Vaughn came in that Debbie smiled a little and even stood up, which showed that Vaughn's position in her mind was obviously not low.

"Is there anything I can do for you?"

"President Vaughn?"

Vaughn laughed and walked forward, shaking hands with Ms. Debbie who came out from behind the desk. "It sounds like a good idea, but I dare not agree to it."

The dialogue between the two shows that they may be very familiar with each other, but Lance doesn't quite understand it.

Vaughn then began to introduce Lance, "My friend, working man, Lance."

"He opened a labor agency to help people who needed jobs find jobs."

Debbie's eyes lit up and she took the initiative to shake hands with Lance. People who could help solve job problems were very important to them who came from the working class and served the workers.

In some ways, they are no different from what politicians need to do and want, but only in some ways.

"You can call me Debbie, nice to meet you, Mr. Lance."

(End of this chapter)