National Tide 1980.

Ning Weimin never imagined that he, who was born under the red flag and grew up in the Republic, and who had known since school that "labor is glorious and exploitation is shameful," would one day face striking workers and be asked to improve his wages and benefits in order to resolve the troubles of class antagonism.

This shift in his personal stance made him find it somewhat amusing, and it also gave him a deeper appreciation for the changes in his life circumstances.

However, despite this, he had no intention of showing any mercy to these Japanese.

This is by no means a betrayal of his own values ​​and beliefs, nor is it simply a matter of letting his self-interest dictate his thinking.

Rather, these people were simply taking advantage of the chaos to try and force him to abdicate, and they didn't deserve his kindness at all.

The biggest problems facing Pierre Cardin Ltd. in Japan today are high costs, low performance, overstaffing, and a tendency to stick to old ways.

In particular, Japanese companies generally use seniority-based systems and lifetime employment to improve employee loyalty.

This has resulted in the average age of Pierre Cardin's Japanese employees being over forty, who have long lost their ambition and blocked the promotion path for young people. The key issue is that they still have to give them salary increases every year.

This "iron rice bowl" job is incredibly desirable; it's even more like a state-owned enterprise than domestic companies.

Ning Weimin was already worried about the cost of supporting these useless people who could eat but couldn't do anything. He wanted to lay off a group of people, but he didn't have a suitable excuse for the time being, and he also didn't have the time to spare.

He's only putting this matter aside for the sake of the company's stability.

The idea was that it would be better to support these people for a while without them causing trouble.

Unexpectedly, these people didn't cherish the good time of not working and getting paid for nothing; instead, they wanted to cause trouble.

Since they are so ungrateful and still dare to think that a servant can bully his master, then it's no wonder he's ruthless.

To put it bluntly, the essence of this matter is that these people lack ambition and are unwilling to change.

Unable to accept the fact that they lacked competitiveness, and even less believing that Ning Weimin could manage the company well, they were especially worried that the company would undergo major changes and their comfortable lives would be in jeopardy. That's why they deliberately caused trouble and demanded higher treatment.

As for the company's actual predicament, whether it needs to change and innovate, and how to reduce costs and increase efficiency, they don't care at all.

As the saying goes, a short pain is worse than a long one.

For Ning Weimin, eliminating these parasites as soon as possible, even if it costs more money, is worth it; it's better than having trouble in his backyard from time to time.

Besides, these people were all Japanese, and Ning Weimin didn't like them from the start.

While it's not accurate to say that someone harbors hatred and deliberately uses these ordinary people for revenge, the national and personal grievances do reside in the hearts of every Chinese person.

His own bloodline makes Ning Weimin absolutely intolerant of certain people and certain things.

For example, those who look down on Chinese people from the bottom of their hearts directly wear their contempt and disgust on their faces.

There are also those who outwardly comply with Ning Weimin's wishes but inwardly defy him, appearing respectful on the surface but enjoying gossiping behind his back.

In particular, there are some older employees in the company who were originally veterans who participated in the invasion of China.

They were not only close confidants of former president Hasegawa, but also members of the "War Bereaved Families Association," a veterans' organization that Hasegawa had secretly established.

These people were all personally recruited by Hasegawa back then, and they are absolutely his loyal followers.

Even though Hasegawa is gone, they remain unrepentant right-wing elements and enemies of the Chinese people.

They might even be acting as Hasegawa's informants behind the scenes, and this strike might be the result of their instigation and sabotage.

Therefore, whether for public or private reasons, Ning Weimin could not back down and allow these people to get what they wanted.

In fact, Ning Weimin rushed back to the company that year not to compromise, nor even to contact and negotiate with these people, but to set the tone for the matter and clearly express his tough attitude to all the company's managers.

Therefore, after getting out of the car at the company entrance, he didn't even glance at the people at the entrance, went straight into the building and returned to the company, and then called several key personnel into the conference room to hold a management meeting.

“I’m back because of the strike. No matter the reason or justification, this behavior is unacceptable to me. I hereby declare that all those who participated in the strike will be dismissed. As for those who did not participate, if any of them are dissatisfied with the current conditions, they may resign voluntarily.”

Ning Weimin started by issuing a direct order, demonstrating his unwavering determination to not back down in such an uncompromising manner.

Upon hearing this, everyone was astonished, stunned, and unable to react immediately; they were completely dumbfounded.

For no other reason than that these company executives still believe that employees are their own people and the foundation upon which the company depends for its survival.

If companies take a hard line when faced with employee strikes, they worry that it will damage employee loyalty.

Moreover, it is currently the "Spring Battle" season. If companies completely disregard the demands of their employees, they will not only be considered heartless and shameful, but Japanese labor unions will also likely not stand idly by and will absolutely side with the employees.

Although in contemporary Japan, the antagonistic relationship between labor and management is not as pronounced as it used to be.

Spring negotiations have essentially become a formality of bargaining, with large enterprises and labor unions giving each other face every year, while small and medium-sized enterprises adjust their own treatment based on their capabilities.

But if given the chance to flex their muscles and make their presence felt, the union would probably be quite happy to do so.

Pierre Carton might end up being an unlucky company that unwittingly walked into the line of fire, leading to even more troublesome issues.

In short, in their view, Ning Weimin lacked experience and necessary understanding in managing Japanese companies, which is why he made such a haphazard decision.

Even though Ning Weimin had declared that the order was beyond question, Fukuda Sakae and Sekiguchi Osamu, who were well aware of its seriousness, couldn't help but speak up, trying their best to explain the pros and cons to Ning Weimin, hoping that he could understand the matter correctly and rescind the order.

However, Ning Weimin had already made up his mind and wouldn't easily back down just because of them. Although he had listened to their persuasion, he still stated firmly, "No. These strikers must be fired. There is no room for compromise on this matter. First, if I let them succeed today, they will definitely use strikes to blackmail me again in the future. Having tasted the benefits of strikes, who would give up such a powerful weapon? It's like a dog that has bitten its owner; it must be killed to prevent future troubles. Second, these employees are definitely not the foundation of the company, as you say. They have indeed contributed to the company in the past, but now they have become obstacles to the company's continued development. I originally wanted to resolve the company's problems gradually, but since they are in such a hurry, let's deal with them first."

“But…” Sekiguchi Osamu continued, still unwilling to give up, “President, don’t you consider the company’s stability and reputation? If we handle it this way, things will definitely escalate. The media will report it, and the union will get involved. It might really get out of control. And you said you’d fire all the strikers, isn’t that too many people? Fire more than a hundred people at once, and the company’s size will almost halve. The company’s operations will probably fall into chaos as a result…”

"No, there's nothing to worry about."

Ning Weimin confidently replied, "It's not that I'm prejudiced or emotional. The fact is, these people are not the foundation of the company, but rather a cancer. I won't even discuss whether their labor value justifies their wages; I'll just point to their insatiable nature. Even though I haven't assigned them any work and have given them a few days off, they still manage to cause trouble. Not only are they ungrateful for the salary I'm paying them, but they also try to interfere with my future plans and prevent me from selling the factory. Such employees can't even recognize their own place; they only add obstacles and extra burdens to the company. The only right thing to do is to completely remove them from our company."

"Besides, why can't we fire over a hundred people? Anyway, I've already sold the factory, and the supply will be temporarily provided by the joint venture factory in China. Do you think I'm going to expect those workers to produce clothes for me? And those field staff, they've been running around for so many days, and all they've got is collected accounts receivable. How much have they actually brought back? I haven't asked them to expand sales; just maintain the status quo. Is that so hard? Right now, the company clearly has too many people and nothing to do. Our current situation is precisely where we need to reduce labor costs to save ourselves."

"Also, please note that I did not ask you to use illegal means to do this. Japanese law does not stipulate that companies experiencing business difficulties cannot dismiss employees and are left to die, right? So just follow the normal procedures and provide the compensation that is due. In the short term, although dismissing these people will cost money, in the future, with fewer people, not only will the salaries that need to be paid be less, but even the transportation expenses will be less, so it is still worthwhile. Do you think the union and the media will oppose us because we have done something reasonable?"

Ning Weimin's point-by-point explanation is logically clear and well-founded.

This left the company's senior executives speechless; they could only lower their heads and listen quietly.

However, when the issue of compensation came up in the end, Fukuda Sakae had a sudden thought and seemed to have found a new excuse.

"President, I'm not questioning your orders. But you can't underestimate the issue of compensation; you must think it through carefully. Many of the striking workers are long-time employees who started the company with Hasegawa. Because they've been with the company for so long, their compensation won't be a small amount. It could easily reach tens of millions. In other words, if we fire them, we'll be creating trouble for ourselves. A company that's already struggling financially will be worsened by having to come up with such a large sum of money. I'm worried that it might actually plunge the company into an even more serious predicament."

"Is that so? The compensation is really that high?"

Ning Weimin was indeed a little surprised and turned his attention to the newly appointed supervisor to verify.

Because normally an employee's salary is only 500,000 yen, he thought that firing someone would only cost him two or three million yen.

Ten million yen is really a bit scary.

As for the supervisor, he was promoted because of Ning Weimin, so he was naturally more loyal than others.

But at this point, he couldn't lie; lying would be disrespectful to his boss.

There was nothing he could do but agree with Fukuda Sakae's statement.

"Yes, President, Executive Director Fukuda is right. According to relevant laws, dismissing an employee without cause requires compensation based on years of service: one month's salary for each full year of service, half a month's salary for less than six months, and a full year for more than six months. Additionally, 30 days' average wages must be paid as compensation for not giving prior notice. In other words, based on the establishment date of our Pierre Cardin Japan company, if we dismiss those people, the highest compensation we could receive would be 26 months' salary. Besides that, companies that value their reputation usually pay a one-time special consolation payment as a token of appreciation for the employee's long-term contributions. If we were to do that, it would cost approximately 14 to 15 million yen to dismiss one person. Of course, this is the maximum. Most people would only receive half that. Even so, on average, dismissing more than 100 employees would probably require 4 billion yen. And many of those employees who joined during the early days are already quite old and will be retiring in a few years..."

"His age is a factor, and his dishonesty only exacerbates the negative impact on the company. Leaving even a day earlier is a good thing. As for needing four billion yen... wait, let me think..."

As Ning Weimin asked Director Gu Kou next to him to bring him paper and pen, he hesitated and began to draw on the paper, as if he was calculating something.

Fukuda Sakae and Sekiguchi Osamu, who had just managed to prevent the incident from happening, finally felt a little relieved.

In their view, although Ning Weimin's stance was very tough, when it came to the actual implementation, he was definitely worried about the money.

Given the company's current situation, spending half of the 8.7 billion yen raised from selling the factory on this matter is tantamount to voluntarily going bankrupt, so there's simply no reason for them to dismiss anyone.

Unexpectedly, Ning Weimin quickly recovered from his troubles. He raised an eyebrow and asked the supervisor, "You just said that when we dismiss employees, we also need to pay them thirty days' average wages as compensation for not giving prior notice."

"Yes, if you insist on firing these people, the law requires 30 days' notice. That means you have to pay them an extra month's salary."

"Does that mean that if I notify them now that I will fire them in a month, I can pay them the actual severance pay a month later?"

The supervisor was taken aback, somewhat not understanding the purpose of Ning Weimin's question, but still gave an affirmative reply, "Yes, according to the law, it is entirely possible to pay one month's salary first, and then pay the severance pay after thirty days."

"Then there's no problem. Let's do it this way."

Ning Weimin smiled happily, "You may not know this yet, but the company's funds have already earned 20% since I invested them in the stock market. I will definitely be able to exit next month. The money earned then can be used to solve the company's debt problems. So you can rest assured about the money."

Even so, Ning Weimin's words exceeded the common people's understanding of the world, and instead brought more doubts.

"What? How is that possible? How can you be so sure? You're not joking, are you?" Fukuda Sakae couldn't believe it.

"President, forgive my bluntness, but this is how the former president left. Have you forgotten? The stock market is never reliable. What if something goes wrong?" Sekiguchi Shuuya objected.

But at this point, Ning Weimin was too lazy to explain anything to them anymore.

Anyway, no matter what he says, nothing is more effective than showing them money when the time comes.

So he adopted the air of a club president and decisively made the final decision.

"I'm not Hasegawa, nor am I blindly gambling in the stock market. I know what I'm doing and I can take full responsibility for my actions. To be honest, I never expected you to be of any help. With the current business model, the company is doomed to bankruptcy. Only my methods can save the company. Whether you believe me or not is up to you. If you don't believe me, that's fine too; you can leave. The compensation will be the same, at most two sums of over 100 million yen each. I can afford that. So, to put it bluntly, there's no need to discuss layoffs anymore. It doesn't matter how many people leave; even if you all leave, I won't be worried. I'll hire other people to work. They're all just laborers anyway. It doesn't matter who I hire."

These words, which were utterly blunt and exposed the essence of the matter, were like a bolt from the blue for the Japanese, leaving everyone stunned.

Fukuda Sakae and Sekiguchi Osamu finally understood Ning Weimin's determination and truly learned what a domineering CEO really meant.

They're not stupid; they understand that large-scale layoffs are inevitable, and if they keep talking, they'll lose their own positions.

So if not now, when? The change in attitude was utterly complete.

They all understood the hardships of middle age, but none of them thought about leaving the company.

At this point, they stopped defending their employees and all felt that those people were brainless and had only themselves to blame. (End of Chapter)