Chapter 321, Labor Disputes
The Seine flows through Paris and continues westward, into the department of Earle, and then right here into the perennially choppy Atlantic Ocean. Just not far from the mouth of the Seine is a small town called La Rivière-Saint-Sauveur. It's a small town with a beautiful view. Looking west from the mound near the town, on a good day, you can see the wide estuary of the Seine River flowing into the English Channel.
It's also a peaceful town. The town is very small, with only more than 100 households, and even if you count the elderly, women, children, etc., there are less than a thousand people. As for the adult men, there are only two or three hundred, so that the people in the town are quite familiar with each other, and when they meet each other, they can not only call each other's names, but even many times, they can also tell all kinds of stinky things when the other party was a child.
The Seine is a busy river, and the traffic and shipping are quite developed, but the quays of this town are quite deserted, because when the river flows here, it is supported by the tide, and the speed of the water becomes very slow, and a large amount of sediment is deposited. Here the river becomes wider, but the depth of the river is shallower so that navigation is affected and not as convenient as it is upstream. In addition, there are not many prosperous cities nearby, and there are a large number of goods that need to be disembarked from here and transported by land. Naturally, there are a lot fewer people coming here. So much so that while the world is changing at an astonishing rate, the town seems to have been forgotten by the times.
But this tranquility was soon shattered. A few months ago, a huge pig farm was started near this town. It is a large pig farm covering an area of more than 200 acres, and according to the plan, when this pig farm is put into use, hundreds of thousands of pigs will be sent from here to various markets every year, as well as a canning factory and feed factory that are also being built not far away.
A business of this size certainly needs employees, and the local residents of the town are certainly the most convenient source of workers. So the townspeople became the workers in these factories.
Pig farming is not new to the town's residents. Isn't it just pig breeding? Put it in the pigsty, and when it's time to let the child go and throw some pigweed or something into the pigsty. Or what kind of sweet potato vine, rotten vegetable leaves or whatever, who hasn't raised pigs?
However, the company, called the Seine Pig Farm, raises pigs in a completely different way than the townspeople are familiar with. Before officially going to work, you still have to carry out the so-called "technical job training", isn't it just raising a pig? As for it?
But since you have taken other people's money, you have to obey other people's management. Therefore, although the workers do not think about "technical job training" or anything, they still have to listen honestly.
Argun walked into the makeshift classroom for the "Technical Jobs" training. According to the arrangement, he will be responsible for feeding the pigs in the future. His neighbor Farat is also in charge of feeding the pigs like him.
"Farat, why do you think these city people are so boring? Isn't it just raising pigs, just feed the feed to those pigs on time? What else to train? Is it necessary to learn such a simple thing? β
"Argon, people are the boss, what do you want you to do, you just do it honestly?" Farat didn't have that many doubts, and sat honestly in his chair, holding a pair of calloused hands cross-folded on the table in front of him.
At this time, the door to the classroom opened, and a young man in a white lab coat walked in. He walked straight to the front podium and began the first lesson.
"Hello everyone, my name is Matt, and I'm your skills training teacher. Responsible for teaching you some of the technical requirements for feeding pigs......"
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"Argon! What are you doing! Overseer Sergei scolded, "Is this how you wash your hands? Is it washed like this? Did you fall asleep during the training? Haven't learned the rules? You damn stupid ass! Farat! Come and show him how to do it, let him learn with his eyes wide open! β
"I know what to do." Argonne muttered disapprovingly, "Isn't it some 'seven-step handwashing method'?" What's running water moisten your hands, apply soap, palms facing each other, fingers together and rub each other. Rub it or something? Is it such a hassle to wash your hands? Besides, my hands are clean. β
"Hell yes! I sue you, Argonne! If you don't want to do it, go home by yourself! Don't bother me! If those guys up there see you washing your hands like this, I'll be fired with you!" Why don't you hurry up and wash it again! Sergei roared.
Sergei and Argon, neighbors, were promoted to be a small overseer because of their good performance in the previous training, and were responsible for supervising the disinfection of the workers before entering the breeding area. This job seems simple, and the income is higher than that of ordinary workers, but when it comes to doing it, Sergei realizes that this work is not simple. Because those farmers didn't pay attention to the process taught in the training, they were often lazy and didn't do a few actions, such as the seven-step handwashing method, and many guys didn't even do the first step at first.
Originally, Sergei didn't want to scold people, but just two days ago, an employee was lazy while washing his hands, and the neighbor who served as a supervisor turned a blind eye, and as a result, he was discovered by the management above, and the two were fired together. So Sergey also had to make a face to his neighbors.
"Alright, Sergey, I'll go wash again." Argonn replied reluctantly.
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"Mr. Luther, as I said a long time ago, don't be greedy and recruit directly from the local peasants. Our pig farm is not a farm, it is a factory! We should go directly to the workers' quarters of Paris to recruit workers, not those peasants in this place! Those guys completely lack the basics of being a worker. I don't know how to be disciplined! This will severely reduce our efficiency and lead to an increase in costs! George, the technical director of the factory and a representative of a joint venture, was speaking to Luther, the farm's manager, in French that he was not fluent in.
"I'm not to blame for that." Luther replied, "This farm was placed here of your own choosing. In the beginning, I wanted to set up a factory near Paris. β
"The price of land in Paris is not cheap, and the distance to the grain producing areas is closer, and the freight is relatively cheap." George said.
"But you want the workers of Paris to work in such a country? Then they wouldn't want to. You must know that as long as a Frenchman enters Paris, he will die, and he will not go to the provinces. Unless you're willing to give more money. Luther explained.
"That's not going to work!" George immediately dismissed the suggestion, "We're here to make money, not to do charity!" If regular teaching doesn't make them obedient, teach them to be obedient with a whip! Is your factory guard team just an ornament? In the future, don't stop them as soon as they find out that they have violations, but wait for them to violate the rules and let them touch the feed or something, then catch them, beat them, and let them compensate for the loss! In addition, it is too troublesome to find a way to divide them, a factory, where the workers are all fellow villagers. Send some people to feed mills and meat processing plants, and from there bring in workers from other areas. Then set an example for those farmers. I don't believe that they can watch people get their full salary, but they will continue to be deducted from their wages, and even deducted until they are in arrears, and they can not remember it for a long time. β
"Okay, let's just try it."
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