The Fiery Era: Becoming an Industrial Giant

Chapter 244 Changing Methods to Demand a House
A crowd gathered in front of the factory's bulletin board after work, all there to see the housing allocation notice written in black and red on red paper.

The workers standing a little behind couldn't see those in front, craning their necks like giraffes but still couldn't see anything. They anxiously shouted for the workers in front to read it out for them.

"Look, it's true. The factory is really going to allocate houses to us. After this allocation, they will be our own houses, not staff dormitories."

"Ten square meters per person, regardless of family conditions, directly allocating living space to a family of three, that's thirty square meters, bigger than our current home!"

"Don't even mention it, my family of five is crammed into a mere 20-square-meter apartment. I wish I could have a proper place."

"Stop talking nonsense. Do you have enough merit? So many people in the factory are considered based on their family circumstances, with priority given to those with special needs and families of martyrs and soldiers. That's only right."

"It was Director Zhou who proposed the housing construction and allocation benefits. I knew that among all the cadres in the factory, only Director Zhou treated us workers like family."

"Huh? Where did you see that?"

"At the very bottom, isn't it written in black and red ink on red paper?"

The houses weren't even built yet, and the factory's Party Committee had only approved the plan a few days ago, but the factory had already set the housing allocation standards.

The primary reference criteria are seniority and family circumstances, with other factors serving as supplementary references.

The first batch of housing allocations will consist of about 500 units. Although the buildings are not yet constructed, the factory's Party Committee has already clarified the allocation of funds for the housing construction, which will be about half of the factory's fiscal funds.

In this way, we can only estimate how many buildings we can construct.

Ninety percent of the positions are allocated to frontline production workers, ten percent to logistics and office clerks, and management positions are allocated last.

Moreover, there are hardly any special housing options for section chiefs anymore; they all have their own housing and their salaries are not low, so it would be unreasonable for them to compete for housing provided by the factory.

The news spread quickly after the factory announced the housing allocation, which put everyone at the factory at ease.

This housing allocation plan is already quite fair, and the workers still make up the majority of the benefits. Deputy Factory Director Sun also cleverly stated in the announcement that this was a plan proposed by Factory Director Zhou, and that building houses as a welfare benefit was also suggested by Factory Director Zhou.

Zhou Zhiqiang's prestige in the factory directly won over the workers.

We certainly won't build too many buildings; with just over 10,000 people in the factory, it's impossible to satisfy everyone.

However, the fact that the Second Machine Tool Plant was the first in the country to offer housing as a reward to its workers, when other factories did not, is quite remarkable.

Moreover, they were allocated dormitory-style apartments. In those days, it was almost universally acknowledged that only cadres could live in such apartments. Back in the 1950s, only those with high ranks could be allocated dormitory-style apartments.

Now even their workers can get a share.

After the news was confirmed, almost all the workers in the factory became even more excited. Although they could concentrate on production, they would still discuss the housing allocation during their breaks.

After all, the factory even wrote the approximate completion time on the bulletin board. They will definitely start allocating housing before April next year, which is about five months at most.

Five months later, their factory directly allocated housing!

A few days later.

As soon as Zhou Zhiqiang finished his work, he immediately called Zhang Yaoguo in and said to him, "Yaoguo, go and call Ding Zhixue from the technical department."

"Okay, factory manager, I'll go right away."

Upon hearing this, Zhang Yaoguo left his office to go to the technical department to call for help. A short while later, Ding Zhixue arrived at Zhou Zhiqiang's office.

"Section Chief Ding, come and take a look at this."

Zhou Zhiqiang laid out the research and development plans for next year on the table, then waved and said, "Although our factory has a very heavy production task next year, the research and development task cannot be stopped."

This is my R&D plan for the factory next year: to add composite functions to the existing CNC machine tools and to address deviations that may occur during multi-process clamping.

"The biggest challenge now is whether the CNC system can coordinate the linkage of the two spindles, but you don't need to worry about that in the technical department, I'll take care of it."

Your technical department needs to resolve the issues with the machine bed and hydraulic power. I've already given you the requirements: stability, vibration resistance, and reduced hydraulic leakage fluctuations.

Zhou Zhiqiang assigned some tasks to the technical department, but as soon as he finished speaking, he felt that these tasks were a bit difficult for the current technical department, so he added...
Ding Zhixue frowned and looked at it for a while, then looked up and asked, "Factory manager, when did you ask for this?" "There was no request before the New Year. This is a research and development task after the New Year. Try your best to come up with a solution for me."

Zhou Zhiqiang said, "If you are unsure about anything, you can come to me anytime."

"Actually, there's one thing right now, Factory Manager: with two spindles, what about the size of the machine bed?"

dong dong!

Before Ding Zhixue could finish speaking, there was a knock on the office door, and the knocking sounded somewhat urgent.

Zhou Zhiqiang waved to Ding Zhixue, then said, "Come in."

After he finished speaking, Zhang Yaoguo seemed to be squeezed in, and then two more people walked in behind him.

Director Liu from the factory office and Director Wang from the Women's Federation—well, one of the people Zhou Zhiqiang didn't really want to see was from the Women's Federation.

After Zhang Yaoguo entered, he quickly went to Zhou Zhiqiang's side and explained, "Factory Director, Director Li and Director Wang are in a bit of a rush. I told them you were meeting with Section Chief Ding, but they insisted on seeing you."

"Alright, I got it. Go get them a glass of water."

After speaking to Zhang Yaoguo, Zhou Zhiqiang turned to Liu Aihua and Wang Qingtian and asked, "What's going on between you two? It sounds like you're about to fight. Tell me what happened."

"Factory manager, I'm not trying to cause trouble, but the factory has been too busy lately. One person in the factory office is doing the work of two. I've already reported this to you."

Director Liu immediately began to complain, "Factory Director, you said at the time that we could ask colleagues from other departments for help; I went around and found that the comrades from the Women's Federation were available, but when I went to discuss it with Director Wang, she wouldn't even let me finish speaking."

Wang Qingtian from the Women's Federation interrupted, saying, "Factory manager, it's not that we don't want to help. The Women's Federation has been quite busy lately, and we just helped a female worker escape domestic violence, so we're busy right now."

After listening, Zhou Zhiqiang took a deep breath and then asked, "You're only concerned about this?"
"Director Liu, Director Wang, do you think I'm free? Why don't I come and help you out? You're arguing about something so trivial in my office? Do you expect me to determine who's right and who's wrong?"

Towards the end, Zhou Zhiqiang's tone became a bit stern, silencing the two men.

In fact, Zhou Zhiqiang could roughly guess that the two of them were probably in a hurry and got angry, so they started arguing and neither of them would give in, and in the end, the argument came all the way to his office as the factory manager.

After they came in, they probably calmed down a bit, but neither of them was convinced of the other's superiority.

Zhou Zhiqiang thought it was a big deal after hearing it, but now he has to deal with even the smallest things.

"Director Wang, the factory is indeed short-staffed right now. Even the logistics staff have to work overtime, so don't argue with Director Liu just because he's anxious and upset."

He's probably having a headache right now because he can't complete the tasks assigned to him by the factory's Party Committee. And do you have anyone you can temporarily transfer? If so, please help Director Liu; we're all comrades from the same factory.”

After Zhou Zhiqiang finished speaking, Director Wang of the Women's Federation spoke up after a few seconds: "Actually, it was my fault for being able to borrow a few people earlier. I'm sorry, Director Liu, I was in a bit of a hurry because of something."

When Director Liu from the factory office saw Director Wang from the Women's Federation admitting her mistake, he also spoke up, saying, "I was also wrong; I shouldn't have said those things."

Zhou Zhiqiang banged on the table and said, "That's fine, it's a small matter. You are all old revolutionary comrades, what kind of person would I be to make a move?"

Alright, go back now, don't let it interfere with your work.

"Factory manager, there's something else we've recently discovered. There's a female worker in the factory who's very capable at work, but she's extremely frustrated at home, and she gets beaten and kicked by her unemployed, alcoholic husband."

Director Wang didn't leave immediately, but instead talked to Zhou Zhiqiang about their Women's Federation.
"Yu Xiuxiu is extremely hardworking, but she doesn't dare to stand up to her husband at home. Recently, she was injured on the head, which is when we discovered her and helped her get a divorce."
However, after the divorce, Yu Xiuxiu left the Zhao family with her two daughters and son. Now she has nowhere to live and can only stay temporarily in the staff dormitory, which is very inconvenient.

"Alright, I understand. You're Yu Xiuxiu, the fifth-level fitter in Workshop Six, right? She's definitely a hard worker."

After Zhou Zhiqiang finished speaking, he glanced at Director Wang and said, "But Sister Wang, next time please report to me in a normal way. You don't usually seem like someone who gets anxious or agitated, so I'm a little puzzled."

After saying that, Zhou Zhiqiang wrote a note granting Yu Xiuxiu a special housing allocation, and then stamped it with his seal and signature.

After handing it to Wang Qingtian, he said, "If you need anything in the future, just say so. Remember to ask Director Liu to lend you someone to help."

(End of this chapter)