Tokyo Barrister: Start the law firm bankruptcy

Chapter 864 The End of Negotiation

Just as Nippon Steel was steadily advancing its strategic investment in Future Space and its financing plan with the bank, something unexpected happened again. General Manager Uejima promptly reported to the company the news that the union might launch a strike. At first, the management was reluctant to believe it. However, later, when they saw the union soliciting opinions from members on the strike, they knew that this time the union was not just talking.

There are 70,000 industrial workers under the Nippon Steel Workers' Union. To launch a strike action, there must be a fierce debate within the union. After all, once the strike begins, the workers will also start to lose income.

Strikes are a powerful weapon, but they can also hurt workers when used. Many workers are unwilling to participate in strikes, preferring to earn a small income rather than lose their income completely.

Therefore, in order to successfully launch a strike, the union must also win the support of a sufficient number of workers. In the factories inside Nippon Steel, union officials began to give speeches and propaganda. Many union pamphlets were distributed in the factories, informing workers that Nippon Steel's assets were being eroded by banks.

Although there have been three successful strikes in the history of Nippon Steel, there have been hundreds of aborted strike plans.

From this, it is conceivable that it would be difficult to initiate a strike.

However, this time God seemed to be on the side of Nippon Steel's labor union.

The suspension of operations of the sixth and seventh steel mills means that the workers of these two steel mills must support the strike.

Although the first to fifth steel mills are operating normally, the number of workers off duty has begun to exceed the number of workers on duty.

Those who resist strikes are often the workers who are working.

They don't want to sacrifice the income they have now.

But when the number of off-duty workers exceeds the number of on-duty workers—

The situation here has undergone subtle changes.

The number of workers supporting the strike is growing.

Before the official decision on whether to strike was made, the union also began its own actions. The union set up a patrol team and began to patrol the factory during the day, specifically to drive away lawyers and accountants who came to conduct due diligence.

After learning that the situation had worsened, Minister of Internal Affairs and Communications Terada once again rushed to Nippon Steel, hoping to ease the tension between the union and the company. Many union officials, including Toyama, held rounds of meetings, consultations, and negotiations with Nippon Steel management and bank representatives.

Things have come to this point, and there is no way to bypass the union to launch the financing plan.

However, no matter how much the unions and the banks talked, the core conflict could not be resolved.

If banks want to inject funds into Nippon Steel, they need assets as collateral.

The union did not agree to the mortgage of assets.

Minister of Internal Affairs and Communications Terada also proposed a plan, that is, while mortgaging assets, the loan funds from the bank would be placed in the joint account of the union and the enterprise, ensuring that the union would have certain rights over the operation and use of the enterprise funds. However, this proposal was rejected by the strategic investor, Future Space Co., Ltd.

Future Space does not want to see that Nippon Steel's use of funds will be restricted everywhere. The market is like a battlefield. Everything changes rapidly. If you need to go through layers of approval to start a business and use funds, you need to go to the management of the company and the union for approval. Then the efficiency of this company will become extremely low and it will definitely not survive in the market competition.

Things almost reached a dead end.

There are conflicts between the unions and the banks.

However, the proposal that could make the two parties compromise could not be agreed upon by the strategic investors. This seemed to be an impossible triangle.

You can't satisfy the unions, the banks, and the strategic investors all at the same time.

Currently, the accountants and lawyers of the bank and Future Space are unable to stay on site and have been driven away by the union. The entire project has essentially come to a halt.

Terada was also very anxious. Now, time was life. Every day that passed was burning the little cash on Nippon Steel's books. Terada also sent people to lobby the union, but still with little effect. The union had a high degree of distrust of external creditors such as banks.

In fact, the union's attitude is also related to the age structure of Nippon Steel workers. A large number of Nippon Steel workers are approaching retirement age. They are not afraid of Nippon Steel's bankruptcy. On the contrary, the bankruptcy of Nippon Steel can give them a generous severance pay in advance, which is enough to support their lives until they retire and receive annuities.

Therefore, unions value the tangible assets in front of them.

As for how Nippon Steel will operate in the future, and whether it will be reborn as a manufacturer of advanced materials, this is not what the union is most concerned about. Such narratives about dreams and passions are nothing more than "pie in the sky" in the eyes of industrial workers. Whether a company can successfully transform is unpredictable.

If Nippon Steel's assets were not mortgaged to banks, at least the wages and severance pay of industrial workers would have priority over all other creditors and could be paid before all other ordinary creditors. If Nippon Steel really collapsed, the industrial workers would have at least one last chance to get some money. There was really no need for them to risk losing everything.

Therefore, it is understandable that the unions’ attitude tends to be conservative.

However, Internal Affairs and Communications Minister Terada is still actively promoting meetings between unions and banks.

We meet almost every day.

Terada still hopes that there is room for compromise between the two sides.

However, as the possibility of the strike plan gaining approval from the union increased, the union's attitude became increasingly tough. On several occasions, Secretary Toyama even pointed at the bank representatives and cursed them, saying that they were trying to rob the company assets belonging to industrial workers and were using complicated business contracts to deceive workers who lacked sufficient legal knowledge.

Terada did not give up and continued to push forward the negotiations between the two sides.

Finally, in a meeting—

A union official accidentally discovered the materials that the bank representative had left in the meeting room. The materials contained confidential information about Nippon Steel's financing plan. From the financing plan documents, the union discovered that Nippon Steel not only had to pledge most of its assets to the bank, but also the accounts receivable generated from the sale of steel products.

This means that it is not just the assets that are swallowed up by the banks.

Even the banks will be the first to get a share of Nippon Steel's future operating income stream.

The content of the financing plan document immediately made the union furious. Toyama turned his face away and refused to participate in any future meetings with the bank. The union took a completely refusing attitude.

Unions, banks, strategic investors——

The three parties broke down in the talks!

(End of this chapter)