Chapter 158: The Eighth-Grade Worker System

"Mother, there is more good news; Huairu is pregnant, almost three months along."

"Really?"

When Bang Geng was two years old, Zhang Xiaohua had already been urging Qin Huairu and her husband to have a second child; now that her wish had come true, she almost couldn't resist setting off firecrackers again.

"Good, good, good, a double blessing!" Zhang Xiaohua paced back and forth in the room, thinking about how to celebrate.

"Lao Jia, let's be extravagant for once; let's go eat roast duck on our day off."

"Hehe, alright."

A meal of roast duck could hardly be called extravagant for their current wages and savings, but having been frugal their entire lives, they still rarely ate out; having it two or three times a year was considered a lot.

After breakfast, everyone left for work; on the way, He Daqing asked curiously, and the others also pricked up their ears to listen.

"Brother, what happy event is at your place? Setting off firecrackers first thing in the morning."

"Dongxu, you tell him."

"Uncle He, it's my wife who is pregnant; my mother was so excited she set off firecrackers."

"Hehe, that's a good thing, it should be celebrated. Congratulations, Dongxu."

The others didn't find it strange either and offered their congratulations one after another; after all, Bang Geng was already over three years old, so it was time to have another child.

A flash of loneliness passed through Yi Zhonghai's eyes, but he quickly let it go; his two children at home were both top of their class and very sensible, which brought great comfort to him and his wife in their old age.

Zhang Ping'an also nodded secretly; he took in everyone's expressions, and everyone was offering heartfelt blessings, with only Yi Zhonghai's expression being slightly complex, though he followed up with blessings as well.

Everyone was very satisfied with their current life, and since Lao Jia was kind-hearted and they were all old neighbors of many years, naturally no one stirred up trouble.

As for who received the work quotas for Yi Zhonghai, Lao Wu, and the others, everyone was tactful enough not to ask.

At this time, Lao Jia was already mentoring seven or eight newcomers under him, all of whom were relatives; Lao Jia was not stingy with what he had learned and even handed his own fitter's notes to Li Ze and the others.

Yi Zhonghai also mentored five people, though only Zhou Ming from the same courtyard counted as his apprentice; the other four were assigned by the factory.

Liu Haizhong went without saying; ever since he became a team leader, the number of his apprentices had reached ten. Of course, he taught them with all his heart and soul, even if his words might not always be pleasant to hear.

He Daqing and Shazhu also each selected two apprentices from the newcomers; the ones Shazhu chose were exactly the ones from the original story, Ma Hua and Pangzi. Both were self-taught, so three years of chopping vegetables was likely unavoidable.

In the back courtyard, Lao Wu was also assigned three people, and adding his own three sons, he had six people under him. Of course, he would definitely pass his main technical skills to his three sons; as for the other three, that would depend on his mood.

One day a month later, which was May of 1956, the Rolling Mill's large broadcast system transmitted explosive news.

"Ssh, ssh, ssh, hello, hello, hello, workers please pay attention: one month from now, the factory will implement the Eighth-Grade Worker System. Simply put, worker skills can be divided into grades one through eight, uniformly assessed by the Ministry of Heavy Industry, and finally graded. The higher the grade, the higher the wage. Chefs are the opposite, and other professions will also be divided into grades."

"Below, the leaders of each unit will read the specific documents to ensure everyone can understand the content."

"Ssh, ssh, ssh, hello, hello, hello..." X2

Zhang Ping'an also received the specific wage standard for purchasing agents: the lowest is a Level 30 wage, equivalent to a Level 12 Clerk, at 23 yuan per month.

All the purchasing agents in their Third Section were in this sequence; although the base wage was low, there were various subsidies, and in the end, it should be about the same as a First-Grade Worker.

Zhang Ping'an belonged to the administrative wage scale; currently, he was a Level 16 Section Chief, with a wage of 110.5 yuan.

Jia Dongxu was an Acting Deputy Section Chief, and since the "acting" title had not yet been removed, he was on a Level 19 wage, with the treatment of a Level 1 Clerk, at 78 yuan. Two months later, he would transfer to Deputy Section Chief, with the treatment of a Level 18 Deputy Section Chief, at 87.5 yuan.

As for Procurement Section 1, they were all veterans of over two years, with a minimum of a Level 28 wage, Level 10 Clerk, at 27.5 yuan; the Second Section was one grade lower.

The minimum for workshop workers, Apprentice Worker, was 23.5 yuan; a First-Grade Worker was 35.5 yuan, and an Eighth-Grade Worker was 99 yuan.

Cooks were grades one to ten; Grade 1 was the highest at 99 yuan, and Grade 10 was 27.5 yuan.

According to Zhang Ping'an's estimation, He Daqing was around Grade 2 or 3, Shazhu was around Grade 7, and Cai Quanwu hovered between Grade 8 and 9.

Brother-in-law Lao Jia and Lao Wu were estimated to be Grade 5, but Yi Zhonghai had high talent and might be Grade 6, while Liu Haizhong should also be hovering at Grade 5.

As for his several nephews and cousins, having only been in the factory for two and a half years, it would be good if they could reach First-Grade Worker.

After this news was broadcast in the factory, the workshop workers were immediately excited, each and every one of them rolling up their sleeves, wanting to reach a higher grade; the workers' enthusiasm during this month hit a new high.

In the blink of an eye, a month passed; led by the Ministry of Heavy Industry, with Eighth-Grade Workers from the Northeast serving as examiners, a vigorous grading activity was carried out at the Rolling Mill.

The more than 4,000 apprentices who had just entered the factory for over three months didn't need to be tested; it started directly with those who had been in the factory for more than a year. Li Cheng, Li Ze, Daniu, and the others were in this batch.

To Zhang Ping'an's surprise, his nephews and cousins all passed the assessment for Second-Grade Worker, although it was quite a struggle.

"Hehe, Uncle, I passed the second grade; the wage is 42.5 yuan!"

"Not bad, not bad."

"Uncle, after the exam, we all decided to treat Brother-in-law to a good meal; without his full-effort feeding this month, we couldn't have passed the second grade."

"That's right, Ping'an, we really must thank Brother-in-law."

"Mm, okay."

That explained it; it seemed Brother-in-law Lao Jia hadn't cared about his own grade this month and had focused all his efforts on training these few people.

A week later, it was finally the turn of Lao Jia and their batch of Intermediate Workers. Just as Zhang Ping'an expected, Brother-in-law Lao Jia, Lao Wu from the back courtyard, and Liu Haizhong were all Grade 5 workers with a wage of 63 yuan; Yi Zhonghai was a Grade 6 worker with a wage of 76 yuan.

The three sons of Lao Wu from the back courtyard were Grade 1, 2, and 3 workers respectively; this family's monthly wage exceeded 200 yuan, so they would likely be the richest in the courtyard in the future.

He Daqing was Grade 3, but he was a Deputy Cafeteria Director, so his wage followed the administrative grade, equivalent to a Level 3 Clerk, at 62 yuan.

Shazhu performed exceptionally well as a Level 6 Chef, the highest grade allowed by the factory, with a wage of 43 yuan; including subsidies, it was 45 yuan. Cai Quanwu was Grade 8 at 33 yuan.

Xu Fugui's wage was 43 yuan, and Xu Damao's was 37.5 yuan, but they had a subsidy of about 2 jiao for every screening, so their wages were not low either.

As for Zhang Xiaohua and Qin Huairu, the four of them were all First-Grade Workers at 33.5 yuan; Fourth Sister Zhang Lanhua was slightly higher at 37.5 yuan. Li Chen, Li Jing, and the others were all around 30 to 40; the eldest sister-in-law, Liu Xiaoli, was the lowest at only 23.5 yuan, but that was still 5.5 yuan more than the initial 18 yuan.

Wang Xiaoling's wage was also not high, only 32.5 yuan, but it was enough for the family's monthly food and living expenses.

Yan Bugui said he only had 27.5 yuan; this old guy had also learned to hide his light under a bushel these past two years, but Zhang Ping'an estimated he had at least 40 or 50 yuan.

The assessment results for everyone were out, and everyone couldn't hide the joy in their hearts; after all, even the lowest apprentice workers were getting several yuan more than before.