The small town of Santa Ana is a settlement just 3 kilometers away from the Hanhua company's mining area in Mutong, where miners recruited from all over the country came to live as early as the late 70s, when the Mutong iron ore mine was first mined. They worked in the iron mines, lived in the town, married and had children, and gradually made the town lively.

Many of the miners currently employed in the Hanhua mine are descendants of the older generation of miners in Santa Anna. They have lived here since childhood, and their son has succeeded his father and become miners, continuing to guard this inexhaustible mine to make a living.

Due to the oversupply in the international iron ore market in previous years and the poor transportation conditions in Bolivia, the development of the Moutong iron ore mine has been unsatisfactory. Young people in small towns have high levels of unemployment, and those who can barely get a job in the mines are paid very little. In this part of South America, poverty always goes hand in hand with crime, and some young people who have no means of living have joined various criminal gangs one after another, and some have even been coerced to go to other places to become mercenaries and work for smuggling and drug trafficking gangs.

Lin Zhenhua and his entourage are now walking on the small streets of Santa Ana Town, and all they see are crooked wooden houses, shabby clothes drying like flags, and dirty children. A little farther away, groups of young people with cigarettes in their mouths leaned against the fence, looking coldly at their group of uninvited guests.

"Mr. Lin, are you afraid?" Cui Linmei, a girl who acted as a Spanish translator, asked Lin Zhenhua in a low voice.

"Okay, we're here to comfort the workers, they shouldn't do anything bad to us, right?" Lin Zhenhua replied. That being said, he still felt a little unapologetic in his heart. The working class is reliable, but this South American working class ...... Will it be a bit of an orange Huaibei meaning?

Leading the way was a local named Pinto, a low-level manager at the mine. Although he also responded to the call of the union to participate in the strike, he did not stand against the company. According to himself, he supported the company's decision, but the union demanded a strike, and he could not refuse, so he had to strike. Now the big boss of the company is here. Let him help lead the way to visit the old miner, of course he came running over without hesitation.

Pinto took Lin Zhenhua and his party to a dilapidated house, motioned for them to stop, and then walked up and knocked on the door himself.

The door opened, and a tall, wrinkled old man stepped out. He seemed a little surprised to see a group of people standing outside the door, especially since most of them were Asians. Pinto hurriedly stepped forward. After muttering to him for a while, the old man raised his eyes and looked up and down at Lin Zhenhua, who was in the lead, with some suspicion in his eyes.

"Ora!" Lin Zhenhua stepped forward with a smile and said to the old man.

Hearing this stiff Spanish greeting, the old man's eyes lit up, and his expression was obviously much softer, and he nodded and responded, "Ola." ”

Cui Linmei wasted no time in stepping forward and said to the old man in Spanish, "Excuse me." You're Mr. Guzmán, right? This is Mr. Lin Zhenhua, the chairman of our China Hanhua Heavy Industry Group, he flew from China to learn about the Mutong Iron Mine, and he very much hopes to be able to talk to a gentleman like you who knows about iron ore, can I ask if it is okay? ”

The old man's name was Guzmán, and when he heard Cui Linmei's introduction, he nodded again and said, "Then please." ”

The group followed the old man into his house, which was a wood-paneled house that was quite old, and the refrigerators, televisions and other objects in the house looked very old, and it was estimated that the old man had to buy them when he got married. can be used until today, I really don't know if it's time to praise the quality of those home appliance manufacturers. ..., "You may be seated, folks. Guzmán beckoned the group to sit down and asked, "What do you drink?" ”

"Whatever." Lin Zhenhua replied that he really couldn't think of any drinks that such a poor family could come up with.

Guzmán brought a coffee pot from somewhere, poured a cup of coffee for each of them, and brought some candy cubes. Let everyone add their own to the coffee. Lin Zhenhua couldn't help but think of the laid-off workers in those bankrupt enterprises in China in the past, no matter how difficult the economy was, when guests came to their homes. They will still find a way to find some food for hospitality, and people who are poor cannot lose face, which is the unique self-esteem of workers.

"Mr. Lin, I am no longer a worker in the mine, what do you want to know about coming to me?"

After Guzman poured coffee for everyone, he found a stool to sit down, habitually took out his cigarette case, and asked Lin Zhenhua while holding the cigarette outside.

Lin Zhenhua smiled slightly, took out a box of cigarettes from his pocket, took out one, handed it to Guzman, and said, "Smoke mine, try our Chinese cigarettes." ”

Guzmán showed a shallow smile on his face, he put down his cigarette case, took the cigarette handed over by Lin Zhenhua, lit it on the lighter that Lin Zhenhua was playing, took a deep breath, and then made a gesture to Lin Zhenhua, meaning to let Lin Zhenhua smoke it himself.

Lin Zhenhua put the cigarette box in his hand directly in front of Guzman, waved his hand and smiled: "I'm sorry, I don't know how to smoke, this box of cigarettes is specially given to you." ”

"Thank you." Guzman felt the other party's kindness from Lin Zhenhua's actions, and he said: "If you want to know anything, just ask directly, you don't have to be polite." ”

Lin Zhenhua said: "I heard Mr. Pinto say that you are the earliest miners of the Mutong Iron Mine, and you know a lot about the things in the mine, so I want to know a little about the history of this iron mine, can you introduce it to me?" ”

"Okay." Guzman Road.

Next, he began to tell the story of the entire iron ore mine from his first arrival at the Mutong iron ore mine to the present day. From his account, Lin Zhenhua learned that since the discovery of the Mutong iron ore mine, dozens of companies in seven or eight countries have been involved, and Guzmán alone has worked for local employers in the United States, France, Brazil and Bolivia. All of these mine owners have a catch-and-go mentality, and are reluctant to make large-scale investments in the mines, let alone provide little help to the workers.

Because employers are harsh on workers, workers have to organize themselves to defend their rights. The confrontation between the union and the management. It began more than a decade ago, and the experience of this period can be described as thrilling and full of blood.

"Where there is oppression, there is resistance, and this is true." Lin Zhenhua muttered.

When Guzman heard Lin Zhenhua speak, he stopped his mouth and set his eyes on Cui Linmei. Cui Linmei glanced at Lin Zhenhua and hesitated whether she should translate Lin Zhenhua's words to Guzmán. Lin Zhenhua smiled. Nodding to Cui Linmei, Cui Linmei then repeated Lin Zhenhua's words to Guzman in Spanish.

"That makes so much sense." "The mine owners say that the unions are destroying production, but they don't understand that if they weren't too harsh on the miners, how could the unions be against them?" ”

"But, Mr. Guzmán. Do you know about the recent strikes organized by trade unions against us? Lin Zhenhua asked.

"I heard that my youngest son works in the mines, and he told me about it," said Guzmán, with a look of embarrassment. The men in this town are all employees of your mines, how could I not know about their strike? "So, do you think our management system is too strict for workers?" Lin Zhenhua continued to ask.

Guzmán shook his head and said, "I don't know much about this. However, Mr. Lin, the fact that you were the first foreign mine owner to greet me in Spanish makes me think that you may not be like them. ”

Lin Zhenhua smiled dumbly, it seems that he taught Zhao Yongqun this trick. It really works. It's not difficult to say "hello" to someone in Spanish, but it shows that you're willing to acknowledge the other person's culture, which gives you a basis for equal dialogue. Bolivia is a poor country, and the more such a country is, the more fragile your self-esteem becomes, and your words and deeds will be interpreted as respect or discrimination against others in the eyes of others.

In this way, Guzmán is willing to let them into his house and pour them coffee. There is also a detailed introduction to the history of iron ore to them, which originated from Lin Zhenhua's greeting. This kind of greeting is really beneficial and not costly.

"Mr. Guzman, China is also a developing country and a poor country. When I was younger, I didn't even have a TV or a refrigerator at home, and not only at home. We don't have any people in the whole factory. Lin Zhenhua said.

"However, I have heard that China has become very rich over the years, and that there are people in our town who have brought back Chinese goods from Sucre. It looks very exquisite, much better than the Brazilian goods. Guzman said.

Sucre is the capital of Bolivia, and according to Guzman's words, Chinese goods can only be bought in the capital, and they are regarded as high-end goods. Workers in small places do not know much about the outside world, and they judge the wealth and poverty of a country by what grade the goods from that country belong to.

Lin Zhenhua said: "It is true that China has become slightly richer than in the past few years, but our prosperity is also won by hard labor. Today, we have come to Moutong to create a prosperous life with the Bolivians. We mine the iron ore here and ship it back to China for production, creating a prosperous life in China, and at the same time, we will make Bolivia rich in the process. ”

Guzman smiled bitterly: "This is impossible, all the people who come to Mutong to mine have taken a fancy to the iron ore here. They took the ore away, leaving us with nothing but poverty. You see the town of Santa Ana, when I first came, it was still a beautiful town, although not rich, but at least the environment is very beautiful. And now, it's overcrowded, it's dirty everywhere, and it's all because of this mine. ”

"It was our mistake." Lin Zhenhua said sincerely, "Mr. Guzman, please forgive us for our negligence. Our original intention is to enable the miners to live a prosperous and comfortable life in the process of iron ore mining. However, some time ago, we were so focused on the progress that we neglected to improve the lives of the miners, and we disappointed an old man like you. ”

"Improving lives? What do you mean? Guzmán asked in surprise.

Lin Zhenhua took a drawing from an entourage, spread it out on the small coffee table, and pointed it out to Guzmán: "Mr. Guzman, you see, this is the iron mine plan we made at the beginning. In addition to the mining area and roads, we also plan to transform these dozens of towns around the iron ore mine into satellite towns of the mining area. In these satellite towns, there will be a lot of buildings to be built as homes for the workers, and we will build large supermarkets, cinemas, bars, in short, everything that you have in the big cities, we will have it here. ”

"What you say is true?" Guzmán's eyes sparkled, who wouldn't want to live in a prosperous town in their old age, and who wouldn't want their descendants to live a prosperous life? It's just that what the Chinese in front of you said, can people believe it? ...,"I'm telling you all the truth. Lin Zhenhua looked at Guzman's eyes and said firmly.

Lin Zhenhua really didn't lie, in Hanhua's development plan for the Mutong Iron Mine, there was indeed a number of "workers' new villages" to be built. Hanhua got the mining rights for 25 years, which is not a one-shot deal, and it is necessary to settle the workers to ensure the long-term development of the mine. Hanhua is not the kind of black-hearted enterprise, when operating in China, the treatment of workers is very good, and this tradition will not change when going abroad.

In fact, the cost of building a workers' residential area is not much, and there is a lot of wasteland around the Mutong iron mine, and there is no need to pay high demolition costs to build a house. For example, the 150-ton truck used in the mine is enough to build a large residential building in a small town like Santa Ana for the price of one vehicle alone.

Previously, the mining company did ignore this matter, on the one hand, because they were anxious to put the iron ore into production as soon as possible to alleviate the urgent need for domestic iron ore, and on the other hand, because these miners were all Bolivians, and the Chinese executives in the company lacked emotional ties with the workers.

Zhu Tiejun's lesson to Lin Zhenhua caused Lin Zhenhua to rethink the company's overseas strategy, realizing that foreign workers should be treated like domestic workers, and this principle should be implemented not only in Mutong Iron Mine, but also in all overseas companies.

The task of the working groups sent by Lin Zhenhua this time is to publicize the employee benefits that the company will introduce to the miners, so that they can have expectations for the future and a sense of ownership and responsibility for the company. This is a bit like the way the Red Army mobilized the masses in those days, after arriving at a place, without saying a word, first beat the local tyrants to divide the fields, and delivered food and drink to the peasants, and the people's hearts naturally converted.

Zhu Tiejun is right, when it comes to mass work, how can a gangster like Canelas be an opponent of the Chinese? (Your support is my biggest motivation.) )