Chapter 382

In the morning, still in the hotel conference room, there were as many people as last time, maybe even more. Before the negotiations began,

In the morning, still in the hotel conference room, there were as many people as last time, maybe even more.

Before the negotiations began, Lance gathered all the worker representatives in a room. Vaughn was also there.

They looked excited.

“…The worker brothers in that city have also started a strike to support us. This proves that what we’re doing is right, Lance.”

“When we found out last night, everyone was very excited. We are not alone, at least not at this moment!”

The big-bearded man’s status among this group of representatives was, if not the highest, among the top. The others watched him speak quietly.

His face was full of smiles. “Someone contacted me yesterday and said we can ask for a little more. The situation is in our favor now.”

Other worker representatives expressed similar ideas. The Federation had had several major strikes, and each one had ended in victory for the working class.

This was why the workers believed that as long as they were united, there was no opponent for them in this world. They had always been winning.

Lance glanced at Vaughn. Vaughn shook his head. “Not my people.”

Their conversation caught the attention of the others. Lance had a bit of a headache now. Undoubtedly, someone had contacted them.

These people didn’t need to contact every worker on the docks. As long as they released this information, it would be quickly exchanged and spread among the workers. This could be called a conspiracy, or it could be called an open plot.

Using a strike to further promote the strike.

Vaughn was clearly having a terrible headache. They also saw that Lance and Vaughn didn’t seem to want to talk right now, or didn’t know what to say. The excited expressions on their faces also subsided a bit.

Dave frowned and asked, “What’s wrong, is this situation not right?”

Vaughn didn’t know what to say, so in the end, it was Lance who communicated with them.

“It’s not that it’s not right, but that you are being used as a weapon to deal with some people and handle some things.”

He sat there, his mind spinning rapidly. “The dock management company has already made appropriate concessions and compromises. To be honest, from my perspective, the fact that they promised a pay raise is already enough. For the rest, we should fight for what we can. What we can’t get, we probably won’t get even with a national general strike.”

Lance was a bit at a loss as to how to explain these things. “I’m not saying you shouldn’t fight for your interests, I just feel that the whole thing has become twisted and deformed.”

“When we needed them, we couldn’t find them. But when they found that they could find enough benefits from us, they took the initiative to jump out.”

“They don’t really care about you. They only appear when you have value.”

The others all nodded, but some nodded with a very firm expression, agreeing with Lance’s statement, while others nodded just to “cooperate with the group,” not because they really thought so.

In fact, if Lance’s and their identities were switched, as an ordinary dockworker, he wouldn’t think there was any problem with the Federation of Labor now.

Because he would indeed gain actual benefits for himself from the Federation of Labor’s actions. Their wages would increase, their working hours would decrease, and their benefits would become better.

These were all positive feedbacks for the working class. They had no reason not to support them.

Even if they knew they were being used as toilet paper.

But as long as the benefits were sufficient, forget about being toilet paper, even being a toilet wouldn’t be a problem.

Johnny and Dave had a better relationship with Lance. Johnny was Lance’s man to begin with, and Dave had been harassed by the gang, and Lance had helped him solve the problem.

“What do you plan to do?”

Dave asked Lance.

Lance had a terrible headache. Tom’s request seemed simple, to have him do some ideological work on the worker representatives, but in reality, this was something that could easily offend people.

For the workers and worker representatives who didn’t think too deeply, if you persuaded me to accept the conditions offered by the capitalists, that would be persuading me to surrender, and you yourself would have surrendered first.

So this matter was very difficult to handle, but no matter how difficult, it had to be done.

He pondered for a moment, and just as he was about to say something, Vaughn suddenly spoke.

“I am a member of the union, but this time I am not on the union’s side.”

“I don’t know what they promised you. Maybe they told you that as long as you continue to raise your demands, the dock management company will definitely compromise and meet your demands…”

Someone nodded, but suddenly realized this was not the time to nod, and turned his head to the side with a straight face.

“Don’t be like that. I actually know everything. But have you ever considered?”

“Even if the dock management company agrees to your demands, it will be under duress. It won’t be voluntary.”

Someone interjected, “They’re not voluntary now either, they’re being forced.”

Vaughn looked at that person, looking straight into his eyes. “But they can accept the current negotiation results, and cannot accept the further conditions you propose!”

“So even if they agree, the conflict will not disappear. It will still exist, and it will continue to escalate.”

“For the benefit of others, we are making a mess of our own lives…”

The big-bearded man couldn’t take it anymore. “Just say it directly, tell us what you’re thinking.”

Lance pursed his lips. Vaughn was still a bit useful now, so he raised his hand to stop Vaughn from continuing. “The dock management company has made new concessions. The daily working hours will remain unchanged, but there will be an extra half hour of rest time.”

“In addition, the lunch meals will be improved on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, and everyone’s salary will be immediately raised by one dollar and fifty cents.”

Lance thought this condition was actually quite good, because in this period, most jobs had a working time of eleven to twelve hours, and only a few jobs were ten hours.

This was not universal. It’s like many workers think they are the same as workers in heavy industry. They are all workers, so why are the benefits and income different?

Johnny and Dave were both thinking. Others were also considering it, but someone had already raised an objection.

A guy wearing the work uniform Lance had distributed stood out. “Mr. Lance, I don’t understand any grand principles. I only know that the conditions they proposed are beneficial to us.”

“We can work less every day, get more pay, and have more food improvements.”

“Every single item is beneficial to me. I can’t find any reason to oppose them.”

“I don’t know… of course I shouldn’t say this, I just want to fight for my own benefits, that’s all!” He didn’t say anything unfriendly to Lance, but his meaning was expressed.

Lance glanced at him and nodded slightly. “This is normal. Does anyone else have the same idea?”

“Don’t worry, I’m just here to understand the situation. In fact, you are the parties involved.”

“I will not retaliate against anyone, nor will I cause trouble for others. You can just make the choice you want to make.”

Soon, some other worker representatives stood out, including the big-bearded man.

The big-bearded man had also dealt with Lance a few times. “Mr. Lance, just as they and you said just now, every one of these people’s conditions is beneficial to us. It’s hard for us to refuse.”

“And!” he emphasized his tone here, “Mr. Lance, have you considered, even if you can persuade us, can you persuade every worker?”

“You can’t persuade them. Including us, we actually can’t persuade them either. It’s all over the place now, a ten-hour workday, a two-dollar raise, meat at every meal!”

“If we support you and ask them to support you as well, they will abandon us.”

“I don’t understand any grand principles either, but I know that they trust me and elected me. I don’t just represent myself alone, but also them!”

“I hope you can understand. Thank you for your help during this time, Mr. Lance.”

The group quickly left the room, leaving only Johnny and Dave, and three other worker representatives.

“What about you guys?”

Lance asked the remaining few. They looked at each other, and in the end, it was Johnny who spoke first. “We all believe in your judgment, Mr. Lance.”

Lance glanced at Vaughn. He was more or less gratified. At least there were still people who believed in them.

However, this was the workers’ choice. It seemed that they were very heartless. On one hand, they were wearing the clothes Lance had given them, and on the other, they turned around and kicked him away.

Actually, one shouldn’t think this way. Why?

Because the vast majority of workers hadn’t even spoken a few words with Lance, and Lance had also supported their strike before.

They hadn’t taken much advantage of Lance, and Lance hadn’t taken any advantage of them. Now it was just a clean break.

Vaughn asked, “What do we do now?”

Lance shook his head slightly, which made Vaughn also feel despair. “You don’t have a way either?”

Lance looked at him with some surprise. “When did I say I didn’t have a way?”

Vaughn was a little confused. “Then why did you shake your head?”

“I shook my head because I felt sorry for them. Did you think I shook my head because I was powerless?” he chuckled. “Vaughn, do you know what the most abundant thing in this world is?”

“What?” he asked.

“People!”

After Lance and the others came out of the room, they went to another room on the other side. Tom was attending a small meeting here. Someone knocked on the door. He went to take a look; it was Lance.

“It’s Lance knocking on the door. He probably wants to say something to me. I’ll go out for a moment.”

Senator Cleveland, sitting inside, stopped him. “Just call him in. I’m also very concerned about the current situation.”

Tom pulled open the door and said in a low voice to the two people outside, “The senator wants you to come in. Mind your manners.”

Vaughn even specially straightened his collar. Lance smiled and just nodded.

Tom didn’t say any more, led them into the room, and then closed the door.

“Morning, Mr. Senator.”

Compared to Vaughn, who didn’t even dare to breathe, Lance was obviously not so nervous and even took the initiative to greet the senator.

Of course, he wasn’t foolish enough to walk over and shake hands with the senator. After greeting him, he stood in the middle of the room.

Vaughn, a little nervous, also followed with a greeting. “Good morning, Your Excellency.”

The senator also nodded in response. “Get them two chairs. Don’t let them stand and talk.”

Tom and the other subordinates quickly brought two chairs. Lance was not polite at all and sat down directly.

Senator Cleveland casually asked, “How did your talk with the worker representatives go just now?”

Lance shook his head directly. “Very bad!”

“The Federation of Labor may have already contacted these workers and worker representatives privately. They are having the workers put forward harsher demands in exchange for the opportunity to drag out the negotiations.”

“Vaughn and I tried to persuade these people, but we failed for the most part.”

The senator leaned to the side, listening very attentively with his head tilted. Hearing this, he repeated a sentence, his tone slightly tinged with doubt, “For the most part?”

“Yes, for the most part.”

“About seventy to eighty percent of the worker representatives rejected our lobbying, but there are also five worker representatives who are on our side.”

Cleveland confirmed that he had not misheard. “You said seventy to eighty percent refused?”

He sat up straight, facing Lance directly, and leaned back in his chair. “Do you have a way?”

He could of course see that Lance should have some method, otherwise he would not be so calm. This also made him a little curious about Lance’s method.

People should not be curious. Once they are curious, they will want to know the answer.

Obviously, Senator Cleveland also wanted to know the answer.

“Now Golden Port is flooded with a large number of refugees. Most of the work on the docks is simple manual labor.”

“We can pay people to do the operation of those large machines. Since they are willing to stand on the other side for one less hour of work, they will also be willing to stand on our side for an extra ten dollars.”

“First, let the docks start moving again. This can solve the current conflict on the docks. If they are willing to strike, let them continue to strike.”

“At that time, have the dock management company announce that they have been fired and are no longer dockworkers, so they will not pay any attention to any of their demands.”

Senator Cleveland nodded slightly as he listened. He thought for a moment. “A very good solution, but it’s only applicable to Golden Port,” he looked at the others and made a summary.

What he actually meant was using illegal immigrants to solve the labor problem. They had actually been doing this all along, but other places had fewer illegal immigrants. If a large-scale strike occurred, they couldn’t do as Lance said.

He then asked, “What if these workers start to make trouble?”

“Golden Port has just stabilized. If it becomes chaotic again, it will become a focus again.”

Lance showed his clean white teeth, which were a bit dazzling.

“Mr. Senator, the local police and I are willing to contribute some strength to maintain local public security!”

Senator Cleveland heard the meaning in his words and couldn’t help but laugh. “Lance White?”

Lance stood up. Vaughn, not knowing what was going on, also quickly stood up.

Lance bowed slightly. “Yes, Mr. Senator.”

“You are very interesting, one of the few interesting people I have met!” He pondered for a moment. “This matter will be handled as you said. After the matter is resolved, I will give you a business card before I leave…”

Coming out of the office, Lance clenched his fists, feeling a little excited in his heart.

The purpose of Senator Cleveland giving him a business card was not to say that he owed him a favor and would repay it in the future. Lance’s face was not that big, and Tom would definitely make it clear to him when he handed over the business card.

This business card could not do anything for him. He could not contact Senator Cleveland and ask him to do anything for him.

The only value of this business card was that if someone was going to take his life, and it was a government agency, then this business card could let him live.

The subsequent negotiations were just as Lance had expected. The dock management company had already released their sincerity, but most of the worker representatives gave feedback that they would not accept it, and they put forward new demands.

These demands, as soon as you heard them, were the kind that were impossible to be agreed to. Naturally, the result was that they broke up on bad terms.

But this time, the worker representatives, the Federation of Labor, and the industry union people left first, including Vaughn.

Lance didn’t let Vaughn stay here any longer. He was enough here.

“Mr. Senator, you’ve already seen that they have no intention of talking with us at all!”

“We have already made appropriate concessions. Not only do they not move towards the result of our joint efforts, but they have also put forward even more outrageous demands.”

“This time, even if someone wants to launch an anti-monopoly investigation against us, it will be very difficult for us to continue to talk with them.”

The executive director was fuming. He originally thought that they could reach an agreement today. Everyone was here, just to sign. But he didn’t expect it to be like that at all.

Edward looked at Lance, who was sitting not too far from the senator, and found it a bit interesting, because Lance’s position was much closer to the senator.

Senator Cleveland smiled and raised his hand to appease the executive director’s emotions. “Relax, there are not that many problems.”

“Previously, Mr. Lance and I…” he glanced at Lance, who leaned forward slightly to respond to this “title,” letting people know who the senator was talking about.

This also made everyone look at him a little differently.

They all knew what role Lance was, but they didn’t expect that before they could even get on Cleveland’s line, Lance had already contacted him privately.

The way these people looked at Lance had also changed, including Edward’s father and James, who had been listening on the side.

“Mr. Lance has proposed a constructive idea. He will find a large number of new workers to solve the problem of no workers at the docks. We have a batch of old workers who can take them to work.”

“Then some technical positions, cranes, forklifts, sorry, I don’t know what other technical positions there are. In short, you go and talk about these positions separately.”

“First, let the work at the docks return to order, and then deal with the problem of whether these people are on strike.”

“I’m very curious, when they no longer have a job, what strike are they on?”

(End of chapter)

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