Da.

Da.

Da.

The heel of the shoe made contact with the tile, making a crisp echo, and the huge conference hall became silent, and countless eyes looked at the door, there.

Arthur was walking slowly.

Different from the previous situation, this time, Arthur became the focus of the meeting, and everyone looked at the prince who had been forgotten and ignored by them, and sighed and couldn't help but be a little nervous.

No one knows what Arthur's rise will bring.

In full view, Arthur sat down at the Labour table with the prepared manuscript in advance, closed his eyes, and waited for the congress to begin.

When the Speaker's hammer falls,

Arthur, who was the convener of the council, got up and walked to the podium, glanced at the councillors sitting on either side, paused slightly as he passed Mavi, then took a deep breath and said:

"Honourable Speaker, colleagues, in response to the recent strikes, the Committee of Labour Representatives, entrusted to us at Labour, has put forward the following three demands to the Government, and if all of them can be met, they will immediately resume their work here, and I have been authorized by them to speak on their behalf."

Clearing his throat, Arthur read aloud the requirements on the manuscript:

"One: Raise the salary package, which I think makes sense given the high rents in London at the moment."

"Two: Give workers more time to rest."

"Three: When it comes to safety, workers need more protection."

After reading the three requirements, the conference hall was extremely silent, the eldest prince leaned on the side and closed his eyes to recuperate, looking unwilling to participate, the second prince held a cigar in his mouth, staring at Arthur with a gloomy face, clicking on the cigarette holder, like a gambling frog.

All the people he installed in the Labor Representative Committee were overthrown, this was definitely Arthur's hand, from the beginning, Arthur intended to let him meddle in the affairs of the committee, and now Rabiot and others have been arrested, if they confess, the situation will be troublesome.

But Arthur did not seem to intend to blackmail him with Rabiot and others, but only re-elected the workers, and formally demanded it from the Labour Party, and this time, the workers were united and menacing.

No matter how stupid the second prince is, he understands that Rabiot and others are tools to provoke the anger of the workers, and now that the goal has been achieved, they can argue with the council without them.

Even if Labour has only 51 seats in the House of Commons, with less than a tenth of the voice, it is enough to pry the scales in Parliament.

The Labour Party is not terrible, it is the tens of thousands of workers behind the Labour Party that are terrible!

"Your Highness, we should accede to their request." Baron Frederick whispered from the side: "If this continues, we will be the first to be unable to withstand it." ”

Factories have a large number of orders, including iron mines, coal mines, railways and other companies, a day of shutdown, will face huge losses, once the order is overdue, the compensation is enough to make people bankrupt.

And that's not even counting London's growing predicament, and if it continues, the king will soon be coming to the king.

The second prince was in a very unhappy mood, and after a circle, they had to bear the consequences of rising housing prices!

In this case, wouldn't the money earned by speculating in the past few days be put in?

"Nicholas, you have a lot of ideas, do you have any good ideas?" The second prince suddenly asked.

"Approach. Your Highness, what do you mean?"

"The way to keep Arthur from succeeding." The second prince emphasized: "Is there another way to let the workers return to work? It's better not to pay for it. ”

Ma Wei smiled bitterly: "Your Highness, you have also heard the request of the Labor Representative Committee, and they are rushing to ask for money, if you don't give money, how can they go back to work?" ”

"That being said, I really don't want to bleed."

"I see, Your Highness, you want to minimize your losses as much as possible."

"Yes, that's why my workers are so obedient, why are your workers so obedient, that Manstein Potions is the only one that has not been affected by this wave of strikes? Did you use magic? ”

"It's not magic, from the very beginning, I paid the workers that they couldn't refuse, the potions factory is too important, it is full of recipes that need to be kept strictly secret, of course I want to increase the pay to make them obey orders."

"If I pay my workers three shillings a week, they dare to be lazy and fish under my nose," he said. ”

"If I pay my workers 10 shillings a week, they will be extremely respectful to me and work hard."

"If I pay the workers 11 shillings a day, they will treat the company as their home, and the company's business is their business, and they will maintain the company on their own initiative, needless to say."

The second prince was puzzled: "But won't this cost too much?" ”

"Potions is a profiteering business, so it's nothing, and I'm just an example." Ma Wei responded: "A high enough salary can change the lives of workers, and once they get used to this life, they will become dependent on wages, and if they are dependent on wages, they will be dependent on the company." ”

"Alas"

The second prince sighed: "That's what I said, but who wants to share the money they earn?" Is there any other way than to pay a high salary? ”

"Yes." "The reason why these workers are on strike is because they can't continue to live on their current salaries, and they are asking for money to consume, so why don't we do something on this basis?" ”

"Little hands and feet?"

"For example, we can build dormitories around the factory, provide shelter for workers, and open a canteen for them to eat together." Ma Wei said: "It is not expensive to build a few dormitories in the suburban factory area, and if you bear the cost of three meals a day, won't you save a lot of salary?" ”

The second prince's eyes lit up: "That's right! How I didn't expect that! There are three levels of dormitories built in the suburbs, the lowest level is a collective dormitory for six people, which does not cost money, if you want to mention a medium-level single room, it will cost some money, and as for a small apartment that can live with your family, the price is even higher, as long as the price is lower than that of an apartment in the city, I think they will accept it! ”

Baron Frederick also smiled at this moment: "Yes, Your Highness, the canteen can also be used in a similar way, ordinary staff meals are not oily and unpalatable, but as long as you are willing to spend money, you can eat better, and you can cook by yourself, we can set up a market around the factory, and make it into a farm and manor, the price is of course lower than that of the city, but there is also money!" ”

"What a good way, Nicholas!" The second prince nodded again and again: "We did increase the wages of the workers, but what? There are other ways we can make that money back! At the end of the day, it's us who benefits! ”

“.”

Looking at the excited Second Prince and Baron Frederick, Mavi's expression was very subtle.

Providing food and lodging for workers is definitely a great way to address the high cost of living.

But.

In the eyes of different people, a good method can also be turned into a means of making money.

Ma Wei's words opened the minds of the second prince and others, and after some discussion, Councillor Girard stood up and made a proposal that seemed to be his own, but was actually a Liberal Party:

"First, on the issue of raising wages, I think that the original wages of workers should be increased by 30%, but these 30% salaries should be converted into performance bonuses, which can only be obtained if performance is achieved."

"Second, it makes sense for workers to ask for more breaks, and I think it's acceptable for everyone to take an extra half-hour lunch break every day at noon."

"Thirdly, on the issue of security, this is indeed a headache, but I have good news that I have heard that in recent times, Thames Bank is going to introduce a life insurance policy, which can be insured for only 1 pence a week, and during the insurance period, in the event of death, you can receive up to 30 gold pounds"

Illness is not the biggest fear for the people of London at the moment.

Sudden death is terrifying.

The Immortal Realm of the Church of the Three Goddesses of Fate can bring the dying back from the brink of death, but it cannot reverse life and death and bring the dead back to life.

To put it simply, if you have an accident, such as being hit by a flower pot falling from the sky, or being hit head-on by a carriage with no priest around.

You're probably going to burp.

This is where life insurance comes in handy.

"As a representative, I can accept the proposal made by Councillor Girard on the issue of rest time and safety and security, but the issue of wages is not enough to meet the demands of the workers."

Arthur said: "At a time when rents in London have doubled to half of the average worker's salary, a 30 per cent increase in wages in the form of performance bonuses is not enough. ”

Mat Girard sat down, and a second Liberal MP stood up and replied: "I have a foolproof plan to deal with London's rising house prices." ”

"On the basis of the performance bonus that has been increased by 30%, we may wish to give workers a certain amount of accommodation protection, for example, the company should provide free accommodation for workers, and at the same time have free three meals a day, so that the problem of accommodation can be solved?"

Frowning slightly, Arthur felt that there was something wrong with these conditions, he knew the second prince and others too well, and knew that they would definitely not be happy if they easily compromised.

But for a while, he didn't know what the problem was.

Arthur, who was a little undecided, quietly looked at Mavi, who nodded lightly and gave him a hint.

"These conditions are acceptable." Arthur said.

Seeing that Arthur was relieved, the speaker hurriedly struck the hammer and asked everyone: "Now for a vote, please raise your hand if you agree." ”

The second prince raised his handkerchief, and the Liberal MP sitting behind him immediately attached himself, and the eldest prince opposite still had his eyes closed, but the hand holding the handkerchief was raised, sending a signal to the Conservative Party.

Now it's not a question of whether he votes or not.

Arthur's Labor Party has already voted in favor, plus the second prince's Liberal Party, even if the eldest prince does not support it, there is a high probability that the proposal will be forcibly passed.

Let the second prince and Arthur make trouble, it is best to end the strike, otherwise the Conservatives will be very uncomfortable.

The eldest prince agreed, and Russell Benjamin immediately led the northern councillor to express his support, and Freya glanced at Mavi, who was holding up a handkerchief, and also raised her handkerchief.

"Unanimous vote! Proposal Immediate Execution! ”

In the evening, there was a burst of cheers in London, and the workers all celebrated with their crowns, and they won the advantage for themselves by striking out, and the nobles compromised! Compromise under their unity!

Although it was not the same as the expected increase in wages by 50%, the results were already very good, at least the vast majority of workers were satisfied, and they returned to work that evening to do the backlog of work from the previous days.

The railways were the first to be restored, trains came and went in and out of London's major stations all night long, freighters came and went at the docks, and navigation gradually resumed, fresh vegetables and wheat flour were brought into the shops, and the smell of toasted bread wafted through the streets again.

The second prince and others did not break their promise, and the next day they issued a week's meal allowance in advance, a kind of ticket, which can only be used in the company canteen.

At first, the workers were happy, but who didn't like a free canteen? The money saved for meals can be used to pay back the rent, and as long as you stay up until next week, everything will be back on track, and life will get better and better

Just a week later, the workers felt that something was wrong, and in the first few days of the canteen's establishment, the free food provided was delicious, although it was a little lighter, but at least it could fill their stomachs, and after only a few days, the level of food dropped sharply.

The bread exchanged for a bread meal voucher is only the size of a fist, hard as a stone, and there is sand in it, which is toothy and difficult to swallow, and there is even a situation where the supply exceeds demand, and only the workers who rush to the canteen can grab it.

As soon as the workers tried to protest, they found that a new window had opened next door to the free window of the canteen, which contained beef stew and fragrant soft bread, which unfortunately could only be used at half the price.

After hesitating for a long time, the workers accepted the reality and ran to the new window to redeem the food with the meal voucher, which was indeed delicious until a week later

"What?! Can't use the meal voucher?! ”

"Meal vouchers are issued by the company to you to redeem free meals, we are here at the charging window, of course we don't charge meal vouchers!"

The meal staff at the new window said impatiently: "If you want to eat, go to the door to buy a ticket!" ”

When the workers arrived at the door, they found that there was a completely different kind of meal ticket at the door, which required money to buy, and the price was not expensive, and for 2 pence you could eat a large bowl of beef curry and half a pound of wheat bread, which was much cheaper than what was sold outside.

So the workers began to pay out of their own pockets for new meal vouchers, which cost 3p a day, and some of them calculated that the money they spent in the canteen every day was about the same as they would eat at home, but it was more convenient, they didn't need to bother their wives, and they could exchange the extra meal vouchers for bread to take home as snacks.

Some clever workers found that although there was a lot of sand in the bread redeemed for meal vouchers, as long as the bread was boiled in water, the sand could sink to the bottom, and then you could eat the paste on it!

(End of chapter)