Chapter 845: Eve

On the weekend, Debbie (Director of the Textile Workers Office of the Labor Federation's Likai State Branch) called Lanse. She wanted to talk to Lanse.

Lanse let her come directly to his office. Gangs are not the kind of formal enterprises that have the saying of not working on weekends.

Debbie came in the morning. Most companies don't have too important things in the morning. She was worried Lanse would have other things in the afternoon.

This wasn't her first time coming to Lanse's office. Lanse greeted her at the office door.

"Please sit."

Lanse didn't let her sit in a chair; that would make this conversation too stiff and too formal. Instead, he chose to sit on the sofa, so it wouldn't be so formal.

The girl brought coffee and small snacks. Debbie took a sip of coffee, her brows relaxing as she praised it.

The coffee was indeed good because the price was high enough.

"If you like it, I'll have them pack some for you to take back.", this wasn't a question; it was a positive sentence that had already been determined.

"I'm not very keen on coffee, but they say these are hand-picked coffee beans, and everyone who has drunk them says they are good."

Debbie didn't decline either, saying thank you.

"Lanse, the Labor Federation is pushing for a strike and protest during this time. Their real target is you.", she took a deep breath, holding it in her chest, and said the purpose of coming here this time.

Lanse nodded slightly, "I heard some.", his gaze toward Debbie carried a trace of inquiry and curiosity, "I remember you are also a person from the Labor Federation."

Debbie didn't deny it; after all, this is a fact, and no one can change it, "I have lived in Jincheng for many years and have contributed a lot to the textile industry of this city. I don't want it to become a sacrifice for some people to play politics."

"We should be purer, rather than like now, full of politics."

Lanse didn't believe what she said. The ambition and desire of these people in the Labor Federation have already started to run wild under their uncontrollable power. Lanse believes that if possible, Debbie would also more actively join in.

Watching Lanse not speak, Debbie could only smile bitterly and say, "Actually, I... they actually don't understand Jincheng at all, nor do they understand you, Lanse."

"I have been in Jincheng for so many years, so I am like a Jincheng person, so I know very clearly what kind of person you are."

"I don't want to cause trouble!"

Lanse nodded slightly, "Do people in my factory also want to participate in the strike?"

Debbie was very embarrassed, "It's like this. I have warned them that this has nothing to do with us, but you know some people's minds are not entirely on production."

This is also the reason why the Labor Federation wants to establish a Workers' Party, because the "positions" in the Labor Federation are too few.

For example, each industry office of the Likai State Branch has one director plus two or three staff members. There are too many people who want to become upper-middle class and fly to the sky taking advantage of the current great situation.

The Labor Federation cannot provide more management positions for them to become people above others, so they think of pushing for party building. This way, a political party can provide more positions for them, and they also have the opportunity to obtain political power.

In Debbie's description, there are also some famous workers in the textile industry in Likai State—

In order to increase influence, the Labor Federation has its own newspapers and magazines. Every issue of the magazine will introduce some "star laborers" who are very outstanding in the region, introducing their excellent work ability and deeds.

Some people can work peacefully after being introduced, but some people can't work quietly after being introduced.

Debbie didn't let those workers under her participate in any strike activities, because she knows very clearly that this is equivalent to confronting the interest groups of Jincheng head-on.

Just look at the end of those people who went against Lanse in the past few years.

Either they were imprisoned and disappeared from people's sight, or they disappeared inexplicably and could never be found again.

No one can oppose Lanse and persist until now. Those big shots couldn't do it, and Debbie herself couldn't do it even more.

She doesn't want to die!

But those people under her want to take advantage of this strike to show off again, and some even started eyeing her position.

The more she behaved restrained and low-key, the crazier those people behaved. Plus, the textile industry itself is a disaster area for unions, and some capitalists are also contacting Lanse about support issues, so they took the opportunity to launch.

After listening to her relatively straightforward real inner thoughts, and even saying some thoughts about the Labor Federation, and even that the Labor Federation might deliberately provoke Lanse.

To this, Lanse made a positive response, thanking her for revealing the information.

"Rest assured, Ms. Debbie, I have already understood what you mean."

"I can guarantee that no matter to what extent this strike develops and in what way it ends, we will always be friends."

"In the past, now, and in the future!"

Watching Ms. Debbie breathe a sigh of relief, Lanse walked to the door and asked, "Pack two pounds of the coffee beans we drink, pack them well."

Saying this, he returned to the table, took out an exquisite envelope, walked back to the sofa, and handed it over, "A shopping discount coupon; you should be able to use it."

Originally, Ms. Debbie thought this was "cash." She wanted to refuse, but once she heard it was a discount coupon, she changed her mind and said "thank you."

Very soon, the coffee beans outside were sent over, and a bag was thoughtfully prepared. Lanse packed everything into it and handed it over.

He knew the chat ended here, Ms. Debbie also explained her purpose, and Lanse also felt her sincerity; that was enough.

"I'll see you off.", Lanse sent Ms. Debbie to the door without allowing refusal. She drove here herself, otherwise Lanse would have planned to have someone drive her back.

After saying goodbye again and again at the door, Ms. Debbie left here and returned to the car.

After saying these things, she breathed a big sigh of relief, and at the same time, a look of pleasure appeared on her face.

Those people were thinking about her director position every day with sarcasm. Now it's good; they won't have a future.

Based on her understanding of Lanse, these people won't have a good end.

When she was in the office before, her heart was beating very fast. She knew with high probability what would happen to these people. These people died because of her "snitching," which made her feel some burden and condemnation on her conscience.

But now she feels much better. As long as she puts down personal morality, she can enjoy a beautiful life.

When she returned to the detached house where she lived and took out the bag of coffee beans, she thought of the discount coupon Lanse gave her.

Her income from this job is very high. There are always some factories that need to hire some skilled female workers, and now the Federation's economy is on the rise, and newly built textile factories are increasing.

These factories want to get skilled workers, so they have to find her.

And finding her, they certainly have to spend money.

She was not very willing to accept Lanse's cash, mainly because she was still a bit afraid. She didn't want to have too much contact with Lanse, nor did she want to appear too strange. She wanted to maintain a distance that was neither too far nor too close.

When she took out that discount coupon, she still couldn't help but show an expression of amazement.

Lawrence Supermarket 100-off-1000 discount coupon, all product types!

On the other side, Lanse called Reid (the old tailor's son-in-law, currently the general manager of Lanse's garment factory) to ask about the garment factory.

The call was connected very quickly. The outbreak of war caused the production of many people's livelihoods in countries affected by the war to stagnate. Like Slard, less than 30% of enterprises were still producing daily necessities.

Other enterprises were producing military supplies or producing goods that were positively useful for the war.

Plus the instability of all walks of life, domestic prices soared, whereas the Federation was unaffected by the war, and prices remained stable.

So compared to manufacturing themselves or buying expensive domestically produced goods, it was better to import directly from the Federation.

Lanse's factory also received many orders, and the schedule was arranged until three months later.

Every day, the factory was producing at full capacity. Although the weather was not yet warm, the workers in the factory were all wearing short sleeves.

"Boss?"

After hearing Lanse's voice, Reid's face involuntarily revealed a smile. The better the company's operation, the more commission he got. More importantly, this matter was fulfilling!

The factory expanded several times over, and now there are more than 1,000 workers. Reid also planned to continue expanding to meet more order demands.

After the two chatted casually for a while, Lanse put the question on those workers, "I heard from Debbie that some workers in our factory also want to participate in the strike?"

Reid was stunned for a moment, "I saw some people mention these things, but it seems no one responded. I have to ask."

Originally, his mood was still good, but at this moment, it was gone.

He knew very clearly what a strike would bring, because he was also a person who operated the factory with his feet on the ground. Once production was affected, orders would soon have problems.

Failure to deliver goods in time would bring large-scale compensation litigation problems, and all subsequent order schedules might have problems.

This also means that if production cannot be restored in a short time, he has to consider completely abandoning two or three orders to satisfy the production of subsequent orders in advance.

Although it was just the beginning of the year, the factory would definitely have losses this year!

After Reid came out of the office, he walked toward the workshop. It was already approaching noon, but it wasn't time for a break yet. However, he saw some workers who were not at their workstations at this time, but chatting outside the workshop.

He knew these workers; they were all skilled workers transferred from the Labor Federation in the first batch.

Anyone in this line of work knows very clearly that these "big workers" are the core of the textile industry. Their work is to make samples for the things produced by the whole workshop, basic production.

Then other workers produce and assemble according to the parts they produced.

Although they wouldn't always be doing production work, running outside so openly was not very good.

Those workers also saw Reid. They didn't greet Reid, just watching from afar, lacking respect for the boss, which also made him realize that the situation Lanse said was indeed existing.

After he got closer, a senior worker responsible for cutting among these people took the initiative to greet him, "Manager..."

Reid stood in front of them with his hands on his hips, "What are you chatting about here?"

"Is the production task for this morning finished?"

These skilled workers looked at each other, none of them spoke.

Only the cutting worker had a smile that wasn't much on his face, saying, "Manager Reid, we have something we want to talk to you about. Shall we go to your office?"

Reid shook his head, "Right here."

That worker shrugged, "Alright."

"We recently think our income and our contribution are not equal, Mr. Reid."

Hearing this sentence, Reid's anger grew quite a bit, "I gave you a raise after the New Year!"

That worker smiled and said, "It's already April."

"So?"

The worker revealed an expression that was very much in need of being cleaned up, "So it's time to raise wages, and our income is lower than the industry average income, Manager Reid. This is unreasonable!"

He subsequently mentioned a report on "Labor Occupational Levels and Industry Wages" released by the Labor Federation this year, which mentioned that in the textile industry, high-level laborers at their level had incomes much higher than they have now.

These people now basically have sixty or seventy dollars a month, but their current demand is about eighty dollars.

The industry average wage level they published is actually not standard. Can the income and consumption in advanced regions and backward regions be the same?

Can the income of workers in the western region and workers in the south or the strong industrial regions in the middle of the Federation be exactly the same?

But clearly, workers don't think so. They feel that if they have put in the same labor, they should have equal pay for equal work.

But clearly this is impossible, so often this is when unions or the Labor Federation appear.

They will talk to the factory, and then the factory will raise wages a little more as a price to appease the workers. The union expands its influence again and can even profit from it.

This time, just after raising wages, they demanded a raise again. They were just taking this opportunity to make trouble.

Reid looked at them, very unhappy, "I thought we were friends."

He himself was in the same class as these people before. He was also a worker who produced clothing by hand, but only after meeting Lanse did his status change.

He would raise wages for these workers every year. Although it wasn't much, in Jincheng, it was considered to be in the forefront of income.

But their current appearance made Reid feel very cold.

One of the workers responsible for setting the version shook his head, "You are a capitalist, we are workers. We cannot be friends!"

The worker talking to him used a slightly threatening tone, "If you cannot agree to this request, then we can only use some of our own means."

He pursed his lips and revealed a smile, "Strike."

Reid stepped back a few steps and gave the middle finger, "F***, go on strike if you want!"

"Remember, this is f***ing Jincheng!"

Saying this, he stepped back two steps, turned around, returned to the office, and told Lanse what happened here.

"These people just want to provoke me. The salary they proposed is simply unreasonable, and I just gave them a raise of one dollar and fifty cents!"

Reid felt he had been let down, and his tone was full of resentment.

Lanse laughed and appeased him, "Don't be so angry. Write down their names; they will regret it."

"You have to do a good job with other workers. We also have some people in the factory. Talk to them, let them not get mixed up with those troublemakers."

"But don't be too difficult. If they also decide to follow these people to the end, then let them."

"Calculate how many labor gaps there are, and I'll arrange it for you."

Reid said "Hmm", "I will figure it out."

There are many Imperial people in the factory. Although at first the Labor Federation required a high proportion of skilled workers and Federal workers, with the expansion time and again, the number of Imperial immigrants in the factory has caught up later.

These people have worked here for several years, and some of them with good ability have actually reached the standard of skilled workers.

If it were just losing these skilled workers, Reid wouldn't be very nervous. If it really didn't work, he could also fill in, and his father-in-law also had tailors with better skills.

The main thing is still those ordinary workers; they represent the true production capacity of a factory.

On Monday, the Labor Federation called Lanse again, asking if he had considered clearly whether he wanted to explicitly oppose the Labor Federation to the end.

Lanse gave them a clear answer: Wanli Labor Agency temporarily will not sign contracts with workers with union backgrounds, and this does not violate any law of the Federation.

There is no law requiring workers to join a union, nor is there any law requiring that only union workers can work.

The last communication between the two sides ended in failure. The tone of wanting to bump into Lanse that permeated their words made Lanse a bit dumbfounded.

Mayor Williams also called, saying the Labor Federation also contacted him, hoping he could come forward to stop this farce of the labor agency, but he refused.

This is a market and enterprise individual behavior, and has nothing to do with the government.

This also determined that a big strike would come very soon.

In the following few days, more reporters came to Jincheng. They had already received the wind, and even Senator Cleveland took the initiative to call to ask about this matter.

Jincheng's position is very special, and a special event is about to break out, so he needs to figure it out.

"I heard they are going to have a big strike in Jincheng?"

The senator asked very directly, and Lanse also answered very directly, "Hmm, it's still that matter from last time. They feel I am destroying the foundation of the union and the Labor Federation, so they demand I give up doing so."

The senator knows about this matter. He also encouraged Lanse to fight the Labor Federation and the union to the end.

"How about it, do you have confidence in solving this matter?"

"I heard there are many reporters there, and those people under you might not be able to be used."

Lanse laughed and answered, "Senator, no need to worry. At most two days, the strike will end!"

Senator Cleveland's tone also became relaxed, "Then I'll wait for your good news!"

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 846 =====