Chapter 762: Collective Punishment

"Do you know why they were fighting?"

"I don't know! Just now, a technician from Workshop 8 called our technical group, and I rushed over here to report it to you."

"A technician called you?"

Li Ye found it a bit strange. Logically, shouldn't a fight be reported directly by the workshop director to the two factory managers? Why would a technician report it?

However, when Li Ye dialed the Workshop 8 number, no one answered.

"Forget it, Old Lu, let's drive over there immediately."

In any case, the Hydraulic Equipment Factory wasn't far from Branch Factory 1; with a heavy foot on the gas, it would only take five or six minutes.

After Wen Leyu invested in the Hydraulic Equipment Factory, she built many modern workshops, and Li Ye then "abused his power for personal gain" by leasing many of them.

Workshop 8, where the incident occurred, was responsible for assembling vehicle chassis—installing engines, transmissions, axles, wheel hubs, and other chassis components onto the frames. The vast majority of the workers in this workshop were frontline staff.

And because the frontline workers at Branch Factory 1 received position subsidies, performance bonuses, and overtime pay, they were the highest-paid group in the branch. That was why Li Ye couldn't figure out on the way there why the workers in Workshop 8 would fight over wages.

When Li Ye's car drove directly to the entrance of Workshop 8, he found the situation somewhat complex. The college and technical school students who had come to Branch Factory 1 for internships were all there, and they had clearly formed a faction, arguing and confronting the workers from Workshop 8.

Li Ye helplessly asked Xiao Zhu, "Didn't the phone call mention that this matter had anything to do with the interns?"

Xiao Zhu said woodenly, "I don't know! Oh, right, that Xiao Zhiyu is from the microcomputer room. The person who called me said the people from the microcomputer room were also beaten; maybe it was her."

"Maybe it was her? Well, is it her or not! Sigh."

Li Ye shook his head and didn't continue to blame Xiao Zhu, who didn't know anything. After all, he was a tech-savvy guy; one couldn't expect him to be well-rounded, right?

Seeing Li Ye and Lu Zhizhang arrive, the gathered workers immediately cleared a path.

"Factory Manager Lu is here, Factory Manager Li is here. Everyone move aside, everyone calm down."

Li Ye's prestige at Branch Factory 1 was quite high. As he walked into the crowd with a sullen face, everyone subconsciously stepped back, keeping their distance from him.

Reaching the center of the crowd, Li Ye saw at a glance that Zhang Zui, the accountant from the finance section, had a swollen eye, and Xiao Zhiyu, the typist from the microcomputer room, had a flushed face—she had clearly just been crying.

And among the dozen or so interns gathered together, several had signs of fighting on them, and everyone's face was filled with anger.

Lu Zhizhang's expression immediately darkened.

This was no longer a simple fight. Li Ye and Lu Zhizhang had long reached a consensus that they must find a way to keep this batch of college and technical school students. Now that they had formed an opposition to the workers, the impact was significant.

"Chen Zihe, what is going on here?"

Lu Zhizhang questioned Workshop 8 Director Chen Zihe immediately, his tone severe and preemptive.

Chen Zihe explained somewhat flustered, "It's like this, Factory Manager. Today, our Workshop 8 received this month's wage statement and found that the numbers didn't match what we had calculated ourselves. So, we reported it to the finance section..."

"The finance section sent people over this afternoon to verify it with us, and then... then they started arguing. You know how it is, frontline workers have short tempers; one slip and..."

"Short tempers? One slip?"

Li Ye looked at Chen Zihe in surprise and said sarcastically, "My temper is also quite short. If I were to give you a punch right now because of a 'slip,' do you think that would be appropriate?"

Chen Zihe subconsciously stepped back and then stubbornly explained, "Deputy Factory Manager Li, this matter is their fault. They arbitrarily deducted wages from our Workshop 8. All eighty-plus people in our workshop had their wages deducted..."

Li Ye paused, and immediately understood what was going on.

At this moment, Zhang Zui also said angrily, "How could we be arbitrarily deducting your wages? Your Workshop 8 had a serious technical accident last month. We calculated the wages according to the regulations."

"You said our wage calculation was wrong, so I immediately brought the microcomputer operator over to verify it with you. You started hitting people before we even said three sentences. This is bullying."

Chen Zihe also shouted unconvinced, "Is that what you call verifying with us? You said we were uncultured illiterates. Are college students so amazing? Do college students just find ways to deduct our money?"

As soon as Chen Zihe finished speaking, the dozen or so college and technical school students were unhappy.

"You are just uncultured brutes, and you're saying we're wrong?"

"Exactly, hitting people at will, this is too much bullying!"

"..."

Li Ye frowned and glanced at Xiao Zhiyu.

The wages for Branch Factory 1 were entered into the microcomputer, and the wage slips were also printed using the microcomputer. It wasn't unreasonable for Xiao Zhiyu to come over with the finance section to verify the wages.

But how could she call the workers of Workshop 8 uncultured? She usually seemed like a very smart girl!

Xiao Zhiyu was indeed a smart person. After seeing Li Ye's gaze, she immediately said to the Workshop 8 workers led by Chen Zihe, "Let's all stop arguing."

"Now that both factory managers and the union leaders are here, let's calmly explain the sequence of events and let the leaders judge, okay? Otherwise, everyone arguing back and forth is endless and hurts the feelings between colleagues."

Li Ye looked at Lu Zhizhang, they nodded to each other, and then he pointed at Xiao Zhiyu and said, "You speak first."

Xiao Zhiyu said in a calm tone, "Today, Workshop 8 said that everyone's wages were wrong, so I was worried that there was a problem with the microcomputer operation, so I came along to verify it."

"But after Accountant Zhang and I verified it, we both believed there was no problem, because according to our unit's reward and punishment regulations, once a technical accident is confirmed, performance subsidies must be deducted according to the rules."

"But no matter how we explained it to them, Director Chen and some workers just didn't understand, and then it turned into a mess..."

"..."

After listening to Xiao Zhiyu finish, Li Ye asked, "Then who said the workers were uncultured illiterates?"

Xiao Zhiyu pursed her lips, hesitating without speaking.

But another intern said, "It was Lu Zixue who said it. When Xiao Zhiyu was helping to mediate the fight, she was the one who got hit by them..."

Li Ye scanned the crowd and saw Lu Zixue on the outermost edge of the group of interns.

This guy was still the same coward as he was a few years ago; he caused trouble but didn't dare to stand at the front, shrinking back and letting others act as human shields.

Li Ye asked Chen Zihe again, "Director Chen, I won't ask you about the fighting, because no matter what, it's wrong for you to hit people. I'm asking you now, the finance section explained the reason for the punishment, why didn't you comply?"

"I can't comply, Deputy Factory Manager Li. We were wronged!"

Chen Zihe said aggrievedly, "Last month's production plan was very heavy. It was just a small technical problem, but it was classified as a technical accident. I originally thought it would only punish me, so I accepted it. Who would have thought it would be so serious? If I had known, I wouldn't have accepted it even if I died..."

"You wouldn't have accepted it even if you died? When you were retrofitting the new radiators, you didn't replace the new radiator brackets, which caused the radiators of the new cars leaving the factory to be damaged during use, eventually leading to the engine being scrapped. Is this not a technical accident?"

Li Ye was almost speechless. He had personally handled the retrofitting of the new radiators last month, so he knew this technical accident clearly; Workshop 8 wasn't wronged at all.

In the 80s and 90s, if you asked any veteran driver what the most headache-inducing problem with various trucks was, engine overheating was definitely one of the top three persistent ailments.

When the car was new, the engine radiator's cooling efficiency was high, and it might just get by, but it wouldn't be long before the radiator suffered from poor cooling due to corrosion.

For this kind of problem, the Light Automobile Company didn't even consider improvements in the past, because cars in the 80s all used well water as coolant, and radiator corrosion was an inevitable result.

But Li Ye didn't believe there were no unsolvable problems. He simply and crudely enlarged and thickened the radiator, increasing the cooling redundancy at the cost of production costs, thoroughly solving this difficult problem.

Even if the radiator only had 40% to 50% cooling efficiency after ten years, it could still guarantee normal use.

But after the radiator was enlarged, the dimensions changed, and the radiator bracket had to change accordingly. However, Workshop 8 mistakenly used the old-style brackets, causing the radiator's ground clearance to be insufficient, and it was damaged by bumps on uneven roads.

Although this technical accident only occurred in a few dozen cars, Li Ye and Lu Zhizhang didn't treat it as a small matter. Punishing Workshop 8 according to the pre-established rules and regulations was perfectly fine.

"One person does the work, one person takes the responsibility. Even if it's a technical accident, it should only punish the corresponding team, not all of us! Deputy Factory Manager Li, there's no such thing as collective punishment in this day and age!"

"Who is talking? Who said collective punishment?"

Li Ye stared at a worker in the crowd and said sternly, "According to the regulations, your wages include a collective performance subsidy. Since someone in the collective made a mistake, should this performance subsidy still be issued?"

"..."

That worker felt uncomfortable being pierced by Li Ye's gaze, but still muttered, "But you can't punish us that much! Forty-plus yuan is half a month's wages for me in the past!"

"Do you still remember what your wages were in the past?"

A gloomy voice suddenly sounded, and Master Old Miao squeezed in from outside the crowd.

Everyone dared not make a sound, because Master Old Miao's prestige was no lower than Li Ye's.

Master Old Miao walked up to Li Ye, first nodded to him, then suddenly swung his arm, and a big slap landed on Chen Zihe's forehead.

Li Ye couldn't help but curl his lips, feeling that Master Old Miao's hand was truly ruthless.

Chen Zihe was stunned by the hit, and it took a long time before he swayed and asked Master Old Miao, "Master, you are..."

"I want you to remember, you used to make 86.5 yuan a month, now it's 243. If this wage can be raised for you, it can also be deducted from you!"

Then Master Old Miao turned around and said to the surrounding disciples and grandchildren, "I'll tell you one more thing. Since last month, twenty-seven people have come to me to plead for a transfer to our Branch Factory 1."

"Whoever thinks it's not good here, I'll swap you today... Hehe, people have given me benefits~" ===== CHAPTER 763 =====