Nanyang 1931: From piglets to giants

Chapter 128 How can this guy be more ruthless than the capitalists?

Zheng Yi and his group wandered around the Taiyou Machinery Factory for quite a while, especially chatting with engineers from various factory areas. They talked for more than an hour before he realized that he was not here to see new products.

Zheng Yi slapped his forehead and said in frustration, "I completely forgot about the important matter."

Li Xiaowu: "Business? What business? Ayi, do you have business to attend to? What are your instructions? Tell me."

Zheng Yi: "Well, I heard your factory has set up a labor union." He suddenly turned around and asked Yang Shaomin, "Is that true?"

Yang Shaomin was stunned for a moment, then nodded and said, "Indeed, there are some, but it's not my business. The trade unions in Penang are different from those in other areas."

Li Xiaowu: "Ah, the union, that's indeed the case. Hey, Old Wu, aren't you a union representative? Come and talk to Ayi about what's going on with your union."

Zheng Yi: "Old Wu? Manager Wu? You're here? Are you a union representative?"

This Old Wu is Wu Wenhao's father.

Zheng Yi still remembers that this guy’s wife cooks delicious food.

Five years ago, when Zheng Yi was still a young boy when he first came to Nanyang, this guy was already the manager of the mining area, and naturally he was also a close confidant of their Li family.

Nowadays, although the Li family's tin mines have not been sold yet, they have all been subcontracted out. As a close confidant of the Li family and with a relationship with Wu Wenhao, it is not surprising that Manager Wu was transferred to Taiyou Machinery to manage it.

Now, Wu Wenhao naturally no longer lives with him. Although he is his apprentice, Zheng Yi does not have much time to teach him. Instead, he arranges for him to monitor production at Penang Petrochemical.

The people who really taught him the technology were senior technical engineers from DuPont and Shell. Everyone knew that he was Zheng Yi's apprentice, and even those foreign technical experts would naturally give him face on weekdays.

Wu Wenhao would only come to him for help when there was a problem that even foreign engineers could not solve.

To be honest, with Wu Wenhao's level and knowledge base, Zheng Yi cannot solve the problems that ordinary foreign engineers cannot solve.

To put it bluntly, this apprentice has become more and more just in name only. Although Zheng Yi is willing to teach him everything he knows, without systematic learning, it is really difficult for Wu Wenhao to truly understand it.

However, even if he is just a nominal disciple, he can still represent Zheng Yi in Penang if Zheng Yi has no other relatives.

Wu Wenhao holds a high position in Penang. In fact, he was the supervisor of three chemical plants when Zheng Yi was away, and he is now preparing for the construction of several more chemical plants.

Those three chemical factories are the roots of the entire Penang.

With such a precious son, Manager Wu’s status has naturally risen. He should be a high-ranking figure in the whole of Penang.

"What kind of union did you join? This... does your union have any demands?"

Manager Wu: "The treatment at Thai Machinery is almost the best in Penang. The reason we established a union is just to help the workers solve some of their daily problems and provide feedback. That's... that's..."

"What is it? If you really have any complaints about the company, the Penang City Government, or even me, just speak up. We are old acquaintances."

Manager Wu smiled wryly upon hearing this and said, "The day everyone is having today would have been heavenly in the past. How could there be any dissatisfaction? The reason I'm here as the guild representative is simply because, apart from me, there's really no one else who can keep things under control."

"Can you suppress the matter? What can you suppress?"

"It's time to distribute the houses! Everyone is anxious and wants to move into the new houses as soon as possible, but the number of places is limited, so naturally the families with more people will get the first place, and the families with the greatest need will get the first place.

It's just that these are family matters, and as the saying goes, even a judge can hardly judge family affairs, so we had no choice but to form a union to discuss how to divide the house."

"Oh~"

Zheng Yi nodded when he heard this, but he didn't believe it completely.

It is impossible for workers to trust everything they say to their bosses.

However, what he said is definitely a problem. The biggest problem facing Penang’s urban development now is still that there are not enough houses to live in and there are not enough welfare housing to be distributed.

To put it bluntly, although Zheng Yi is willing to spend money and buildings are being built everywhere in Penang, it is impossible to build a house just by blowing air.

This is not the infrastructure mania of later generations, where a bidding document can attract a large number of construction teams. Cement, bricks, stones, and steel bars, although production has been expanding for two years, are still not enough.

Not to mention, most of the construction machinery has to be imported from Europe and the United States, so it will naturally be slower. Moreover, Penang’s principle has always been to prioritize industry, so there will naturally be fewer engineering teams available to build houses in the urban area.

If nothing unexpected happens, Zheng Yi will reach an agreement on cooperation with the remaining four of the Seven Sisters of Oil in a few days, and will also build four large oil and chemical plants in one go. By then, construction resources will undoubtedly become even tighter.

Simply put, even if there is a crazy expansion of production, it is still not enough. This is because Zheng Yi intends to restrict the influx of foreign population in Penang.

There really isn't enough room. We have to wait until three million people have moved into welfare housing before we consider relaxing the household registration system to allow people to move into the city.

Because there are few houses and many people, even in Taiyou Machinery, not everyone can get a house. In fact, because Zheng Yi is the general manager of Taiyou Machinery, Taiyou Machinery did not take advantage of him when allocating houses in order to avoid suspicion.

Even because the Li family is from Xinyi, most of the employees of Taiyou Machinery are also from Xinyi. However, the Li family, that is, the Xinyi Chamber of Commerce is one of the few chambers of commerce that does not focus on real estate and building houses. As a result, the number of houses built by their Xinyi Chamber of Commerce is relatively small among the more than 40 large chambers of commerce.

After a moment's thought, Zheng Yi said, "Let's put the housing issue aside for now. I'm here to talk to you about the union. I personally don't oppose the establishment of unions in Penang factories. Unions serve as a bridge of communication and connection between workers, businesses, and the government."

"But if there are any demands, I don't really support strikes. Strikes rarely solve practical problems and delay production. I'm planning to set up a government agency called the Labor Bureau, and... Jiazhi, will you be in charge?"

Li Jiazhi: "Alright, then I'll be the director."

Everyone was stunned and their eyes widened.

Li Jiazhi?
The city lord’s wife?

Finally out to work!

It seems that General Zheng attaches great importance to this Labor Bureau.

"Old Wu, all the union representatives, please come to Jiazhi's place and report any union demands. The union representatives will speak to the Labor Bureau, and the Labor Bureau will coordinate with the boss. Everyone, listen to Jiazhi and give her some face, right?" "Yes, yes, yes, that's right! Who dares not give the Madam face?"

I have to say that this person was chosen really well. After all, this person is essentially a peacemaker. When the interests of workers conflict with the interests of the enterprise, it will be very troublesome if either party refuses to accept mediation.

But if Li Jiazhi were to act as the peacemaker, I'm afraid that no matter whether it was the workers or the boss, they would definitely not dare to disobey easily.

"Within three days, Old Yang, you should join us. All the union representatives in the city, the bosses of major companies, and the presidents of major chambers of commerce should come to Taiyou together. I'll hold a large-scale meeting with Jiazhi and you. Let's discuss and finalize the labor law."

"Jiazhi, I'll build you a brand new government office later. You can recruit people yourself. During normal times, you'll specifically visit various factories to inspect whether the labor law is strictly enforced. In this regard, you still have to support the workers."

"In principle, I suggest that workers' working hours must be fixed and cannot exceed 60 hours per week. Any hours over 60 hours is considered overtime, and overtime must be paid.

Workers in Penang must also have a minimum hourly wage. As for the wage standards... you guys can set them when the time comes. I can't say for sure, but it has to be acceptable to union representatives from all the major trade unions."

"In short, my principle is that although I am a capitalist, I firmly defend the rights of all workers in Penang. Black-hearted and unscrupulous bosses, like those in Malaya in the past who treated their employees like slaves and exploited them, must all get out of Penang."

“My Penang should allow all the people to live a happy life. To hell with those companies that need to exploit workers to make profits to survive. My Penang does not need such companies!”

With an impromptu speech, Zheng Yi regained the state he was in in his previous life when he worked in a state-owned enterprise.

For a while, he was so excited that he kept talking, and all the workers applauded and cheered, shouting slogans such as "Long live General Zheng" and "Long live Madam Zheng".

Anyway, Penang is full of high value-added manufacturing industries, and he really doesn't plan to set up sweatshops in Penang. Small cities have their own advantages, and it is easier to lead them.

"Wait a moment!"

Just when everyone was cheering and everything seemed to be a happy ending, Yang Shaomin suddenly spoke, as if he wanted to say something.

"Old Yang, what do you think?"

"It's not an opinion, I want to ask, when implementing the minimum wage standards and the labor law... are Malays and Indians included?"

Zheng Yi: "Formal workers are definitely included, but illegal workers are not."

Yang Shaomin: "But most Malays and Indians are illegal workers."

Zheng Yi: "Yes, so they are illegal workers. What does illegal workers mean?"

Illegal labor is unavoidable. As I said before, Penang and Kedah are too close, and Kedah is too poor. To put it bluntly, the distance between the two is so short that a Malay from Kedah can easily drift to Penang by holding onto a piece of wood and swimming or rafting.

Chinese workers wanted work that paid five dollars, but others could do it for two dollars, or even one dollar. Of course, the big factories in the eastern region would not hire them, but the small workshops, small restaurants, etc. in the western region and even the southern region would definitely hire them.

They don't live in Penang. Usually, these illegal workers work for several days or months at a time. They don't need to find a place to live. They can even sleep in the cupboards of the restaurants where they work. After work, they just float back home with the wood. What can Zheng Yi do to them?
There's no way around it.

It is different for formal workers. Even if they do not have Penang household registration, they are at least in the queue. The minimum requirement for queuing up to obtain household registration in Penang is to be able to speak Chinese and be familiar with Chinese culture.

At least so far, few Malays and Indians can meet this requirement. However, if they queue up, Zheng Yi can provide them with low-rent housing or they can queue up for welfare housing.

Although the welfare housing distribution is slow, Zheng Yi can guarantee that within a few years, all those who are eligible will be able to get one.

I thought this guy was being too kind and was planning to ask Zheng Yi for benefits for these illegal workers and to try to apply labor laws.

I don't know.

"Mr Zheng, what I mean is, since they are all illegal workers, cheap, and unlikely to settle down in Penang, and will go back when they are done, why don't we just recruit a large number of these illegal workers to fill the construction industry?"

"Can Malays and Indians also do construction work? As long as they have a Chinese foreman to guide them, they will leave after the building is completed and will not stay in the company.

We don’t need to worry about housing for them, we can just let them live on the construction site, it’s not like people can’t live on the construction site.”

“You also said that one of Penang’s biggest problems right now is its overpopulation. Building houses takes time after all, and it’s even possible that the speed of new house construction cannot keep up with the rate of population growth.”

"But this is because there are still too few workers. If we increase the number of workers and recruit Chinese workers from outside, not to mention that there is already a shortage of Chinese workers throughout Malaya, their wages are high, which will affect the income and profits of construction industry bosses."

"Penang is such a great place, which Chinese worker would want to leave after arriving? They came here to build houses, but after building houses for others, they have to build houses for them too, so it seems that there are not enough houses."

“But if Malays and Indians come to Penang to build houses, they will leave after they finish the work. Moreover, the wages are low, and the bosses can make them do heavier work. By simply increasing the number of workers, we can improve the efficiency of each construction site, which is good for us.”

"For these Malays, even if they earn only one-tenth of what the Chinese earn from illegal work, it is still a good income for them.
After they finish their work and take the money home, they can be proud of themselves in their village, marry wives, and build tiled houses."

"This money circulates between the villages in the Malay and Indian regions, which in turn helps to boost the village economies. Isn't this also a form of exchange?
These illegal workers who have made fortunes working in Penang are the bridge for communication between the Chinese and Malays.”

"Only through more communication can we all live in harmony, and only through more communication can we eliminate ethnic conflicts."

"Moreover, sir, the reason why the Malays are difficult to control is largely because they lack a market economy. They rely on farming for a living, and sometimes they don't need to sell their food to survive. Sometimes they don't even have enough to eat themselves, and there is a lack of sufficient currency in the market."

"If we allow them to use currency, and let them use the Penang coin, which is our currency, and allow the Penang coin to circulate among the states of Malaya, or even surpass the Malaysian ringgit and become the general equivalent, wouldn't this be a way to rule them without bloodshed?"

"Labor laws are good. With labor laws, we Chinese workers can gain security and happiness, while those Indians and Malays who come here to work illegally will gain the advantage of lower human rights."

"This method is of the greatest benefit."

Zheng Yi: “…………”

The advantage of low human rights.

What a familiar word.

Why does he feel that this guy is even more cruel than the capitalists?

(End of this chapter)