Conquering the world from the Kaiser's driver

After sincerely thanking Andy, Lin Shangzhou began to eat.

After lunch, all the workers seemed to have forgotten what happened at noon and went about their business. Lin Shangzhou, Huo Wen and Chris from Factory No. 3 discussed relevant matters in Factory No. 2.

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Chapter 47 Discussions before the Strike

Lin Shangzhou, Huo Wen and Chris sat in Factory No. 2, each holding a notebook and a pen.

Chris spoke first: "You two have already decided that our way of resisting the factory is to go on strike, right?"

Lin Shangzhou and Huo Wen nodded. He had a strange feeling in his heart after knowing that the foreman of Factory No. 3 was named Chris, and he felt even weirder after meeting him.

This Chris is somewhat similar to the one in Resident Evil. Both are strong men, but they look different.

"Since you two have confirmed it, I have no objection."

"Let us now discuss the precise purpose of our strike and our demands on the factory owners."

Lin Shangzhou said.

"I'll tell you my thoughts first, and you two can listen. If you have any questions, feel free to ask them. After I finish, you can also tell me your thoughts. How about that?"

Hovan and Chris nodded.

Then Lin Shangzhou cleared his throat and said, "First of all, the hourly wage. I hope to increase the hourly wage to 30 pfennigs per hour."

Howen and Chris looked at each other in surprise. This request was a little bit high. It’s not that they thought it was too high, but if it was too high, the factory owner would never agree to it.

Chris said to Lin Shangzhou worriedly:

"Fritts, isn't this too high? The factory owner will definitely not agree to it."

Huo Wen didn't say anything. He had organized a strike before and now understood Lin Shangzhou's intention.

"Chris, all I want is for the boss to disagree."

Lin Shangzhou smiled and said to him, which made Chris a little confused. What does "what I want is for the boss to disagree" mean?

"We can't ask for too low a price, otherwise the boss will get a bargain. If it's too high, I know that's not good either. But setting it higher will be good for us when the boss bargains with us."

After listening to Lin Shangzhou's explanation, Chris nodded slightly in sudden enlightenment.

"That's it. I'll raise the hourly wage to 30 pfennigs per hour. Is there any objection?"

"no comment."

Hovan and Chris shook their heads.

After determining the new hourly wage standard, the next aspect Lin Shangzhou wanted to mention was working hours.

"Next is the working hours. We are working 11 hours a day now. How about asking the boss to cancel the night shift and reduce the daytime working hours to 8 hours, with Saturday and Sunday as rest days? That is, let him agree to an 8-hour work system and two days off a week? What do you two think?"

Lin Shangzhou looked at Huo Wen and Chris and asked.

Hoven nodded without hesitation. Chris was still hesitating. He felt that this was a bit too much to ask, and he personally didn't want to have two days off a week. For him, working more meant he could make more money. But when he saw Hoven nod, he hesitated for a few seconds and nodded.

"Well, since everyone agrees, let's move on to the next requirement. The factory is required to sign a labor contract with each worker currently in the factory. After that, all new workers must be hired under a contract."

"no comment."

"I do not have either."

Chris and Howen had no problem with the issue of re-signing the contract. They did not hesitate when they shook their heads, and Chris also knew the necessity of signing the contract.

Lin Shangzhou nodded with satisfaction.

"Very good. Next are the requirements for foremen and administrators."

“How about the foreman of each plant needs to be elected by the workers themselves, and the current administrator needs to be fired and a new responsible administrator hired?”

Huo Wen and Chris shook their heads, indicating that they had no objection. While listening, they wrote down all of Lin Shangzhou's demands in their notebooks.

"Then here comes the last point."

Lin Shangzhou looked at the two and said, "Request to renovate the dormitory and improve the quality of the three meals."

This time Huo Wen was confused. He felt that the three meals provided in the dormitory and canteen were good enough and there was no need to improve it. Moreover, adding more requirements would only increase the chances of the factory owner disagreeing.

“Fritts, is it necessary to put forward such a condition?”

he asked confused.

"Of course."

Lin Shangzhou nodded affirmatively.

“The money spent on renovating dormitories and improving the quality of meals is nothing to the boss, and we have finally united the workers to resist the factory’s oppression, so we should raise all the demands we can.”

"It would be best if he agrees. If he doesn't agree, then lower the requirements in this regard. It's not necessary anyway. As long as he agrees to the first few items, it will be fine."

After listening to Lin Shangzhou's words, Huo Wen nodded.

"You're right, we should do this."

Lin Shangzhou looked down at the five requirements written on his notebook, then looked up and said, "Let me repeat my five requirements."

"The first and most important point is to increase the hourly wage to 30 pfennigs per hour and pay back the wages that were not paid in the past."

"Second, we need to agree to an eight-hour workday and two days off a week."

“Third, all existing factory workers must sign additional contracts and recruit new workers through contracts in the future.”

"Fourth, the foreman of each factory building must be elected by the workers themselves. If they are dissatisfied with the foreman, they can vote to remove the foreman and dismiss the current factory manager and hire a qualified and responsible person as the manager."

“Fifth, renovate dormitories and improve the quality of food.”

"Okay, I'm done. Brother Hoven, Chris, you two tell me what requests you would make."

Lin Shangzhou looked at Huo Wen and Chris expectantly, waiting for them to make other requests.

They looked at each other and laughed. Huo Wen said to Lin Shangzhou, "Fritts, you have already put forward your request. There is nothing more for us to say. You have already said what we wanted to say."

Chris nodded and agreed, "Yes, your request is perfect enough. There is no need for the two of us to interrupt."

"Well, let's talk about something else."

Lin Shangzhou scratched his head. He didn't expect the two of them to say that. Since they said so, it was time to discuss other things next.

"Next, I will talk about my personal action plan for this strike. Please listen and see if there is anything you need to add."

"Agenda of action?"

Huo Wen and Chris looked at Lin Shangzhou in surprise. They didn't expect that Lin Shangzhou had even formulated an action plan.

Lin Shangzhou cleared his throat and said, "The action plan for our strike this time is that the workers unite together to carry out strike protests in order to ensure that their rights and interests are protected, their treatment is improved, and their labor is proportional to their income."

"Do you have any opinions on this?"

Lin Shangzhou looked at the two of them and asked.

Huo Wen and Chris fell into deep thought. They had never formulated such a thing before, so it was difficult for them to judge whether the action plan formulated by Lin Shangzhou on the spur of the moment was good or bad.

"I have no opinion."

Hoven was the first to shake his head, and seeing that he had no objection, Chris followed suit and said, "Me too."

Seeing that the two had no objections, Lin Shangzhou said:

"Well, that's settled. Next, let's discuss the specific plan for the strike."

Huo Wen was the first to put forward his own opinion:

"First of all, the timing of the strike. I suggest the sooner the better, before everyone's enthusiasm wanes."

Lin Shangzhou nodded, thought for a moment and said, "How about after lunch the day after tomorrow?"

"can."

Hovan and Chris nodded.

Chris then said: "Our ultimate goal in the strike is to find the boss and confront him, but the boss is usually not in the factory. He is at home. Only the manager in the factory knows where his home is, so we first have to let the manager take us to the boss's home."

After thinking about what Chris said, Lin Shangzhou said, "So we're going to go out for a parade later, right?"

"Ah."

Chris nodded.

Lin Shangzhou thought for a moment and then looked up and said to the two of them, "In that case, we also need to formulate rules for the period of the strike and march. We will talk about this later."

"Our strike slogan is 'Improve our treatment'. Do you two have any other suggestions for the slogan?"

Hoven and Chris thought about it for a while, then shook their heads. Chris said:

"This is enough to reflect our demands. After all, what we want is to improve our treatment."

“Who goes to negotiate with the boss in the end?”

Huo Wen asked, and then he and Chris focused their attention on Lin Shangzhou.

"I go?"

Their intention was very clear. They wanted Lin Shangzhou to negotiate with the boss. After all, he was the one who proposed all the requirements, so it was most appropriate for him to do the negotiation.

"Otherwise, the request was all made by you, so it's most appropriate for you to go, but we will be with you when the time comes."

Chris said to him.

"Then...okay."

Lin Shangzhou hesitated for a few seconds and then nodded. Asking him to negotiate with the boss put a lot of pressure on him.

"Let me summarize our specific plans for the strike."

Huo Wen said, "First, we will go on strike at noon the day after tomorrow. From today until tomorrow night before dinner, we will go back and have a good discussion with the workers to see if there is anything else that has been overlooked. We will go on strike after lunch the day after tomorrow."

"The first thing we have to do during the strike is to go to the East Building and scare the administrator so that he will take us to the boss's house. Then we will go out for a march."

"Fritts will explain the rules during the parade later. When we get to the boss's house, we will shout our slogans loudly and make it clear that we will not be reinstated unless our salaries are increased. When the boss chooses to negotiate with us, you will go and negotiate with him. Chris and I will accompany you."

"Is there anything else you want to add?"

Lin Shangzhou and Chris shook their heads.

"Well, Fritz, tell me the rules for the parade."

Huo Wen looked at Lin Shangzhou and said.

Lin Shangzhou nodded and said:

"First of all, every worker must abide by the rules during the march, must not fall behind, and must not disrupt the normal lives of other citizens. Our strike is to harass factory owners, not ordinary citizens. We must inform every worker when we return."

Hovan and Chris nodded.

“Secondly, if the police come to stop us during the march, we must not have any conflict with the police. If there is no way to avoid conflict with the police…”

Lin Shangzhou thought for a moment and said:

"Then go ahead and curse them as hard as you can, but you must not engage in physical conflict with the police. Doing so will not benefit us in any way."

Lin Shangzhou finds this issue very difficult to deal with, because as long as there is a conflict with the police, no matter who starts the fight first, it will definitely have a negative impact on the workers in the end, and the workers are also likely to be injured in violent conflicts.

"I know that. I will notify everyone."

Hoven nodded to him, and so did Chris beside him.

"These are the two points I can think of right now. I'll think about whether there are any other points that need attention this afternoon. If there is anything else I want to add, we can talk about it at dinner."

"Well, okay, that's it for now. In the afternoon, let's think about whether there is anything we need to add, and then we can discuss it together in the evening."

Chris said.

Then the three of them left. While Cadentis had not returned yet, Lin Shangzhou gathered the workers from Factory No. 1 in the dormitory (I forgot to mention, there was one dormitory for each factory), and told them about the strike plan and the rules for the march. No one had any objections.

After saying these things, Lin Shangzhou returned to his bed. When he turned around, he was startled by Andy squatting beside his bed.

"Andy, what can I do for you?"

He asked, trying not to overpower the urge to punch Andy.

"It's nothing. I just think you're awesome, Brother Fritz. First you stood up for me, then you went to argue with the administrator, and now you're organizing a strike. How come you're so awesome?"