Shadow Empire

Chapter 1240 Impact
There was a brief pause, then the president immediately took off his coat and hat and sat down in his seat.

"What's the situation now?" he asked, looking at the people at the table. "I just learned about this. What did the city hall and the state government say?"

There is a process for registering a trade union, and there are some things that need to be strictly followed.

The union lawyer in charge of legal affairs shook his head. "That's what we were just talking about."

“The city hall said that this ‘labor agency’ was not registered with the city hall and told us to ask the state government. I called the state government and they admitted that it existed, but they were unwilling to give us any more information.”

The president rubbed his forehead. "Then is there any other way for us to confirm this?"

"For example...finding some officials who have a good relationship with us?"

The people in the room fell silent. After a long while, the manager in charge of external relations said softly, "Our relationship with the state government is not very good."

"Last time..."

Last time, they demanded improved welfare for construction workers, requiring that at least one meal a day should include meat, and that the meat should be at least half a pound.

Heavy physical labor requires more protein and nutrients to support workers in completing long hours of high-intensity work.

The work on construction sites is generally not easy. In the past, the construction site only provided each person with two pieces of bread and a small bowl of stew. These things were enough to fill you up, and if you ate them all, you would be full.

While it's important to fill your stomach, it's equally important to eat good food. Some construction workers have been found to suffer from chronic malnutrition.

The construction workers' union, like a shark smelling blood, immediately launched an "attack" on construction sites throughout the state, demanding that workers be provided with a meal containing meat.

Even if you use the cheapest chicken or fish as ingredients, half a pound would cost about ten to fifteen cents (in previous years). It might not seem like a big expense, but it was every worker's daily cost!

Some construction sites have one or two thousand workers. Taking one thousand workers as an example, if each worker's daily food expenses are increased by ten cents, that's one hundred yuan. So, it would be an extra three thousand yuan per month.

That's not a small amount; it's three thousand yuan, which is thirty-six thousand yuan a year!

How could capitalists possibly agree to lose so much money every year just because some workers are malnourished?

It may seem that the construction workers' union is entirely working for the benefit of construction workers, but in reality, they determined in subsequent negotiations that "capitalists are not trustworthy," so the actual meat meals provided on construction sites were provided by the catering companies they designated.

There are many shady dealings involved in the procurement of ingredients, and the Federalists are very good at it.

Just like some gang-owned pet sausage shops, the raw materials used for the sausages are not the "cheap meat scraps" they claim, but "priceless" materials.

There are over 350,000 union-registered workers in the entire state of South Yaan. Assuming that 70% are currently working, each person brings them one cent of profit per day.

That's an income of two thousand yuan, which is sixty thousand yuan a month.

The inability of both sides to compromise naturally led to demonstrations and then strikes. The federal government then got involved, and things escalated. The construction workers' union simply raised even more demands.

They not only demanded a one-hour reduction in working hours, but also required the construction site to purchase more work insurance for the workers to ensure that the insurance company would cover them should any accidents occur during work.

The capitalists were already unhappy with the extra three yuan per person per month, and now they're making outrageous demands for more insurance and shorter working hours. There's a huge disagreement between the two sides.

The state government tried its best to mediate, but the construction workers' union did not give the state government any face, and things became very unpleasant.

After more than a month of negotiations, the matter was finally resolved after the capitalists made appropriate concessions, providing a meat and vegetable meal every day and ensuring that everyone had accident insurance.

The state government did nothing in this matter, and they were not friendly to the construction workers' union.

The chairman felt a headache coming on. "So what should we do next?"

He looked at the lawyers on the legal side. The union lawyers had already come up with a plan: "Find out the specific nature of this agency as soon as possible, and find out if they are operating a business and what their funding sources are."

“They are now accusing us of violating relevant interpretations of the federal antitrust law, and if they cannot find their problems, the law may not support us in continuing this stunt.”

The chairman's mood worsened after hearing this. "Isn't there any other way?"

"What I mean is... we can't just stop and go to court after we've only just started doing something, can we?"

The union lawyer shook his head. "If the labor agency is affiliated with a union, then they are not suspected of violating the Labor Relations Law. Our demonstrations have no legal or moral support, so we can only make concessions on this issue."

"Otherwise, this will most likely become evidence for them to accuse us of trying to monopolize industry unions, seize industry resources, and control the industry, which will only make things more complicated."

Meanwhile, some terrible and horrible things are happening in the city of Scheer.

At the request of the state union, these unemployed workers gathered in the morning, preparing to march and demonstrate downstairs at the Wanli Group building. For them, this was nothing.

They would stand together and chat, and then the union would provide them with a simple lunch at noon—the cheapest bread and stew.

Then, after chatting and exchanging a few words in the afternoon, you can go home with fried chicken and food coupons in the evening. This is undoubtedly a good thing for people who are not planning to look for a job or cannot find a job at the moment.

Many people would first gather together and then head to Wanli Group. The incidents would occur at some of these small gathering points.

The workers who were preparing to participate in the demonstration had just gathered together when they were suddenly rushed out by gang members who beat them up with steel pipes and sticks!
These thugs wielding steel pipes and clubs attacked these people without any reason, then ran away, giving the attacked workers no time to react.

By the time they realized they needed to call the police, these people had already vanished without a trace!
Even if they call the police, the police will basically just go through the motions when they arrive.

A construction worker, clutching his head, stood next to the police and shouted, "I know one of the guys who hit me, his name is..., and he lives on...the main street!"

The police officer who was taking statements at the scene glanced at him sideways. "Okay, sir, I understand. I will arrange for a colleague to verify your lead."

He spoke as if it made sense, but his face was full of perfunctory attitude, which made the worker, who had been beaten bloody, even more irritable.

"Fuck, what the hell is your attitude?" he shoved the officer.

These construction workers are actually less well-off than factory assembly line workers in some respects. This isn't referring to their income; in fact, their income is considered middle to upper class compared to other workers. The point here is their level of education and "intelligence." Construction work is purely manual labor; it involves moving materials from one place to another.

Then, through mechanical mixing, it is delivered to the construction site for construction.

This job doesn't require them to have any specific skills; no one will lose their job because they can't push a cart, unlike assembly line workers.

Assembly line workers sometimes need to master certain skills, such as assembly and even some basic knowledge of circuits.

But construction workers don't need that, which means that construction workers are often the least educated and have the worst tempers.

Take this guy who got beaten bloody, for example. He was already furious. He came out in the morning hoping to get a free lunch, but as soon as he met up with his friends, a group of gangsters rushed over and beat him up, leaving everyone injured.

His head was also broken, and we don't know the specifics of the wound or whether it needs stitches.

If stitches are needed, will he pay for them himself or will the union pay for them?

The thought that some of his colleagues had already registered with that labor agency and started preparing for new jobs made this guy, who was leaning towards the union, a little irritable.

Now, the police are being so dismissive of the clues he provided, and with so many problems weighing on him, his bad temper finally flared up.

He instinctively shoved the officer next to him, swore, and then expressed his opinion: "Why don't you take the clues I provided seriously? Are you protecting criminals?"

The officer stumbled as he was pushed, and the writing board in his hand fell to the ground. Several officers around him looked over.

The officer who had been shoved turned slightly red. He walked back and stared at the guy face to face, their angry gazes meeting.

Then the officer suddenly shoved him hard with both hands, yelling, "Are you fucking looking for trouble?"

The construction worker, who was pushed back a few steps, cursed "Fuck!" again. He was about to retaliate when his companion stopped him.

But it was too late.

Several police officers suddenly pounced on him and tried to subdue him. The two sides struggled for a while before the worker was finally pinned to the ground.

Other workers tried to plead for him, but to no avail. Instead, other officers warned him to "mind his own business" and "get lost."

The worker, who had been subjected to a severe ordeal, was finally handcuffed. As he was being lifted up, the very officer he had shoved stood in front of him. "Brother, the rules have changed, understand?"

"I'll serve you well from now on, and I hope you can be as tough as you were just now!"

“Take him back…”

The police officer's words were pointed. Although construction workers are considered to be at the bottom of the working class in terms of skills and intelligence, it doesn't mean they don't understand what he meant.

The officer seemed to be implying that there were powerful figures involved behind the scenes.

The other injured workers refused the police officers' offer to call an ambulance and left on their own despite their injuries.

They don't have a house to appreciate these minor injuries yet; they're worried about other things now.

It's not just them; many affected worker groups seem to realize that some things have changed.

Around 10 a.m., the vice president's car had been parked outside Wanli Group for quite a while. He waited for a long time before only 70 or 80 workers arrived, which made him feel that something was wrong.

Moreover, these workers who gathered together no longer acted as before, waving placards and chanting protest slogans when people passed by.

They were talking in hushed tones, as if discussing something, something happening out of his sight.

“Go and ask what happened,” he said to his assistant.

His assistant quickly got out of the car and jogged across the street to the group of workers. He first identified himself as a union worker and then asked what had happened and why only they were the ones who had come.

Construction workers are often connected, forming what is commonly known as "individual networks" in impoverished and underdeveloped societies.

The less developed a society is, the closer the relationships between people are; this is a normal social phenomenon and a truth.

The more developed a society is, the more channels people can use to understand the world and exchange information. As a result, the relationships between people become more distant, because they no longer need to rely on close connections to ensure their position and rights within the social system.

Society in this era cannot be considered developed. Of course, federal scholars and experts believe it is developed, and their views are not necessarily wrong; it is a relative concept.

Just like how the primitive people who mastered fire-making were considered to have mastered advanced technology compared to other primitive people who had not yet mastered the skill of fire-making, they were still far behind those who later possessed lighters.

The workers hesitated for a moment, but in the end, it was someone loyal to the union who explained the situation.

“Some of my colleagues were attacked on their way here. Some went to the hospital to treat their injuries, while others went home out of fear.”

“And…” The worker who spoke looked somewhat embarrassed, and the vice president’s assistant glanced at the people around him.

"Come with me!" He led the worker back to the car. Although the worker was a little worried in front of such an important figure as the vice president of the state labor union, he still told him what he knew.

“They say this might be related to the Wanli Group, and some even say that the Wanli Group instructed local gangs to do it, but either way, it’s very dangerous for us!”

"They were just talking about how this demonstration might not be able to continue."

As they spoke, some more people broke away from the protesters across the street and quickly left.

They didn't want to cause trouble, and this matter didn't really concern them anyway!

They don't care about registering labor agencies or labor unions!
No one is stopping them from registering as a labor agency; it's all at the union's behest. They're just here to take advantage of the system...

(End of this chapter)