Empire of Shadows

The hissing sound of electric welding echoed throughout the production workshop. A huge steel-structured warship module was being produced in a heavy factory.

Last year, the federal government had allocated funds to expand the federal navy. The navy had even felt that their good days had finally come!

At this time, it had been almost ten months since the bidding, and this module was at most six months away from being completely finished.

At that time, it would be transported to a dock for assembly, and a warship would be born.

The Federation’s mature industrial support system was beginning to show its unparalleled potential and strength in the construction of large-scale industrial products!

All the shipyards, the heavy industrial enterprises that could manufacture modules, as long as they had no demand for producing chariots and tanks, were now all producing the structural components of warships.

There were many workers on site, and also engineers. They were checking against the drawings to see if every process was qualified, and checking if the data of the ship’s hull was consistent with the requirements of the drawings.

Because in the final assembly, even a small difference could make it impossible to assemble, so in terms of specifications, there could not be a single mistake.

The entire factory, with more than two thousand people, was working in three shifts, twenty-four hours a day. At any time, in any place, when you came here, you could see the sparks from the electric welding constantly falling from high places.

The manager walked out of his office. He beckoned to the leaders of each work group, signaling for them to all come over.Soon, the group leaders in the production workshop had all gathered in the manager’s office. Because the production tasks had been increased, each workshop had its own production tasks.

This might be the most ”fulfilling” period for this factory in the past five, or even ten years. There were no workshops that had stopped work, only workers who were exhausted.

They had also recently heard of the failed major strike on the Golden Port City side. To be honest, whether it was these group leaders or the company manager, they were actually quite envious of the situation on the Golden Port City side.

Logically, a group leader also has a working-class background. He shouldn’t be on Lance’s side.

But the group leaders had actually already broken away from the most basic level of labor workers. They had already come to the stage of managing workers. They no longer obtained their wealth and social status by working in the workshop themselves.

On the contrary, it was produced by supervising other workers to complete the work with quality and quantity. They were no longer a simple working class.

Compared to the worker brothers who would, at any moment, demand to stop and rest for a while, they actually also preferred the workers who were not afraid of hardship and fatigue, and could endure hardship, even if they did not have the status of a federal citizen.

It’s just that this kind of talk, they were not very good at saying.

At this time, the manager’s office was crowded with these people. The manager had them stand or sit separately, and then began to convey the decision of the board of directors.

”The board of directors just called me...” he pointed at the phone, as if by doing so, people could, by observing the phone, really see what had just happened!

”The meaning of the board of directors is that our construction period is still too long. We have to continue to shorten it, to shorten it by another 20%.”

As soon as these words were spoken, all the group leaders were against it.

They were arguing, speaking loudly, and nothing could be heard clearly.

Only after the manager had said ”quiet” several times did they gradually quiet down.

”I know the problems we are facing now, but this is not a reason why we can’t shorten the construction period.”

”You go and talk to the workers. If they can hold on, then have them hold on a little longer. Eight hours will pass very quickly.”

”If they really can’t hold on, then have them shorten it by two hours, and then go and recruit another batch of people.”

Hearing the manager say so, the group leaders felt that this method was okay, but some people also asked, ”Then how to calculate the wages?”

The manager had a matter-of-course look. ”Of course it will be calculated according to six hours!”

”The other factories work for eleven hours a day. We are considerate of them and have them work for eight hours a day. They still want a rest. Then they might as well have a good rest!”

”For how many hours you work, you get paid for how many hours. The company’s money is not from a flood, but is also earned cent by cent.”

”How much value they create, we will give them how much money. This is very reasonable!”

The group leader who had spoken added with some dissatisfaction, ”They will definitely make a fuss!”

The manager’s attitude was very tough. ”Then fire them. A qualified society will never be short of workers. You can tell the others that if more positions are created, we will consider negotiating a labor service agreement with the Wanli Group.”

”At that time, they will have plenty of time to have a good rest!”

To use the labor service of the Wanli Group to stimulate them, this was indeed a good idea.

The Wanli Group now had a not-so-small reputation in the Federation. Its practice of de-unionizing had received the efforts of many employers.

And, it was said that the welfare and treatment of the signed workers were not bad.

They could still have a great impact and deterrence on the ordinary workers and the union workers. In fact, everyone was not afraid of competition, but was afraid that there would not even be a chance to compete.

Someone in the crowd said ”despicable.” The manager raised his eyebrows and looked in the direction from which the voice had come. He was not sure who had said it. ”I know who it is, but don’t let me find it a second time. Otherwise, you go back to the workshop. There are plenty of people who are willing to take your job.”

He paused for a moment. ”Alright, that’s it.”