That year the flowers bloomed 1981

Chapter 1305 I'd Rather Let It Rot Than Not Be Fair

When he saw his workers "collectively skipping work," Factory Director Han's face darkened considerably.

He turned around and demanded of the people behind him, "What's going on? Where are the people from the shearing workshop?"

The person who was scolded looked aggrieved, clearly adopting a "you're asking me? Who should I ask?" attitude.

Fortunately, a quick-thinking person said, "Factory manager, they've all gone to help in the stamping workshop. There are some large pieces of equipment that need to be moved, and we don't have enough manpower."

"Then why don't you go and call them?"

"Hey~"

The group ran off, prompting Factory Director Han to yell again, "What are you running for? What's the panic?"

"."

Ten minutes later, dozens of people in work clothes ran back, lowered their heads and crawled into the shearing workshop, forming three rows in front and behind.

Li Ye carefully examined the workers and noticed something was amiss.

Because these workers all had resentful expressions on their faces, and some were even muttering to themselves, which was very abnormal.

How could you throw a tantrum in front of the factory leaders and visiting guests?

Hmm, there's definitely something fishy about this.

Factory Director Han stepped forward, first giving a few lectures on principles, and then announcing Li Ye's suggestion.

"The First Factory is a star enterprise in Beijing, and everyone has seen the Beijing-branded cars it produces. But I want to remind you that the First Factory is also a high-standard production unit."
Putting aside everything else, it's common knowledge that the workers at the First Factory often work overtime. Think about it yourselves; if you don't have the skills and abilities, you won't be able to keep your jobs there.”

Li Ye: "."

Lu Zhizhang: "."

After Director Han finished his stern address, he turned to Li Ye and Lu Zhizhang and said, "Directors, which workers would you like to select for the visit?"

Li Ye glanced at Factory Director Han, then smiled at the workers and said, "First, let me explain. Our factory's production schedule has indeed been very tight these past few years. For example, orders for Beijing-brand minivans are booked until next summer, so overtime is definitely a possibility."

However, overtime at our factory isn't free. Regular overtime is paid at 1.5 times the basic wage, and overtime on holidays is paid at double the basic wage. That means if you normally get one yuan an hour, then you'll get one and a half or two yuan an hour for overtime.”

"."

The workers, lined up in three rows, immediately stirred, with some in the back rows even trying to push forward.

Overtime pay? Double the amount?

Come on, let me overwork your factory until it goes bankrupt.

However, Li Ye did not immediately select people. Instead, he smiled and said, "Then everyone should go back to their respective workstations. We'll do a simple demonstration, and then select twenty employees to go and have a look, okay?"

As soon as Li Ye finished speaking, some people went to their respective workstations, but the majority of the remaining people were at a loss.

These were the people who were later called back from the stamping workshop.

Factory Director Han shouted, "What are you all standing there for? Get back to your posts right now!"

But when Director Han shouted, everything went wrong. As soon as he did, everyone was thrown into chaos. If you went east, I went east; if you went west, I went west. It took a long time for them to disperse and gather around the equipment in the workshop.

Li Ye and Lu Zhizhang both laughed.

Isn't that clear enough? These people were just pulled in from other workshops to make up the numbers. The discipline at the Red Star Manufacturing Plant has deteriorated to the point of mass absenteeism.

Of course, many state-owned enterprises that don't have production tasks are in a similar situation. If you have no work to do and no wages to pay, why would you call the workers over?

Are you just bored and want to cause trouble for others?
But Li Ye and Lu Zhizhang were here to visit today! So everyone came in the morning to make an appearance, and then dispersed in the afternoon.

Who would have thought that Li Ye would come back again in the afternoon.

Li Ye carefully observed these people, and finally walked to a shearing machine, took out his notebook and drew a simple processing diagram.

"I need an irregularly shaped diamond-shaped plate, with the side lengths and angles made to match this."

Several workers took the sketches drawn by Li Ye. It wasn't that they couldn't understand them, but when it came to operating the shearing machine, apart from one young man, the others were really quite unfamiliar with it. It was obvious that they weren't used to this kind of work.

But these inexperienced guys were very friendly and eager to help, so much so that the young man couldn't get a word in edgewise.

[Earning overtime pay, two yuan an hour.]

But after the workpiece was machined, when you measured it with a measuring tool, it turned out to be a defective product.

Factory Director Han was furious, and he started yelling at the young man, "Jin Xiaochuan, you've been working for two years, haven't you? You can't even process such a simple part properly? What kind of attitude is this?"

"Screw your attitude!"

"."

A young man named Jin Xiaochuan blurted out a Beijing swear word, which stunned Director Han.

"Yeah, right. This kid was doing a good job just now, but he was pushed aside by some people from other workshops. You leaders can see that, so who are you yelling at now?" After Jin Xiaochuan finished yelling, he decided to give up and started taking off his clothes while cursing.

"You're all just good-for-nothings. You'll starve if you leave your jobs, but I won't. My mentor's gone, so I guess I should leave too. If they don't want me here, there are plenty of other places that will. Talented people are always in demand."

"."

The workers nearby quickly went over and pulled Jin Xiaochuan aside.

After gritting his teeth for a long time, Director Han called Li Ye and Lu Zhizhang aside.

"Two factory managers, I won't hide it from you. There are private companies that are specifically trying to poach our workers. A few experienced workers have indeed been lured away, but it doesn't affect our normal production."

However, you must guarantee that you are truly merging with us, and not just selectively poaching our employees, before we can continue discussions. It's not that we don't trust you, it's just that we've learned too many painful lessons like this.”

Li Ye: "."

Lu Zhizhang: "."

Private enterprises in this era do indeed have wild ways of doing things, and it's true that they spend a lot of money to hire experienced workers, but you can't put that label on us! Our branch factory is a state-owned enterprise. If we poach your workers, it's still our own business.

Factory Director Han sighed and said helplessly, "You may think that our Red Star Factory is not doing well, but I can tell you that we are in a much better situation than the Eighth Machinery Factory and the Miyun Forging Factory."
First, compared to the other two companies, we have the least external debt and the smallest financial hole. In addition, we are closest to the city center, and the land on which our factory is located is worth more than the other two companies combined.”

Li Ye sighed, unsure of what to say.

This Factory Director Han is too confident, so confident that he thinks Li Ye and Lu Zhizhang would definitely choose Red Star Factory even if they had to choose one of the three.

But land isn't as scarce now as it will be decades from now! You can buy land anywhere with just a little money.

As for what Director Han said, "Our factory's situation is not very good," that was what Li Ye cared about the most.

The situation at the Red Star Manufacturing Plant was not just not good, it was clearly very bad, extremely bad.

Because Director Han and his team no longer have the ability to control all the factory's employees, they don't even know if they can still organize the factory's employees to produce normally.

It should be noted that although Li Ye repeatedly emphasized that more workers and fewer cadres should be accepted, with the "balancing and coordination" of higher-ups, in the end, some managers would still have to be accepted, otherwise there would be no way for the higher-ups to arrange them.

So these managers don't need to be exceptionally capable, but at the very least, they need to be competent.

But now it's clear that the management and organizational capabilities of the Red Star Manufacturing Plant are far inferior to those of Director Kong and his team at the Eighth Machinery Plant, and their attitudes are worlds apart.

At least Director Kong understood that if the workers' real living difficulties were not resolved, the core production backbone would leave. If you don't lower your stance towards Branch Factory One, Branch Factory One will not merge with you.

If you don't have elite troops in a war, you can't overcome any challenges; if you don't have core personnel in production, you can't produce anything at all.

You still stubbornly demand "equal status" from the branch factory, saying you'd rather not merge than be denied rights and status, and that you'd rather continue to rot than not have fair rights.

[Anyway, it's a state-owned enterprise. Even if the state doesn't care about these workers, it still has to care about us XX.]

Are you kidding me? Do you really think Factory One cares about you bunch of old men? One rotten apple spoils the whole barrel; they'd avoid you like the plague!

. . . . . . . . . . . .

In the end, Li Ye and Lu Zhizhang selected fifteen workers from the Red Star Manufacturing Plant and five managers to "visit and intern" at the First Branch Plant, which was actually a "trial run".

However, by the time Lu Zhizhang and Li Ye left, both of them had already given up hope for the Red Star Factory.

Financial holes are relatively easy to solve, but emotional holes can never be filled.

Lu Zhizhang then asked, "Li Ye, it's quite a long way to Mi Yun tomorrow, shouldn't we set off earlier?"

Li Ye chuckled and said, "I'm not going, you go by yourself!"

Lu Zhizhang asked in surprise, "You're not going? Why?"

Li Ye said helplessly, "Because their factory manager is named Li Gang. I had contact with him when I went to Shanghai to attend an auto show."

Li Ye rattled off a long explanation to Lu Zhizhang about the unpleasantness between him and Li Gang, and also mentioned that Li Gang knew Niu Hongzhang.

Then Li Ye said, "In this situation, if we don't merge with them in the end, what if Lao Niu accuses me of using my position for personal revenge and not separating public and private matters?"

"Is there such a thing?"

After listening, Lu Zhizhang gave Li Ye a series of glares, and then suddenly laughed and said, "Alright, you can hold a production responsibility meeting at home tomorrow! I'll take over the inspection task for Mi Yun."

"Well, I'll trouble you then."

"What's the trouble? We're like family!"

Lu Zhizhang chuckled.

He had already made up his mind to go to the Miyun Forging Factory tomorrow, and when he came back, he would kill them all.

Since Li Ye has already made it clear that he doesn't want to go, shouldn't I, being astute and discerning, solve this problem for him?

When two people work together, they need to help and understand each other. Otherwise, if you make the other person feel uncomfortable, they will feel uncomfortable with you in the future.

(End of this chapter)