Back to Ming Dynasty with Industrial Revolution System

Chapter 1015 Much Needed Labor Law
"As of today, there have been 13 incidents of workers destroying machines in the Jiangnan area, covering Suzhou City, Hangzhou City, Songhu and other places. Among them, 1 person died, 34 people were injured, tens of thousands of taels of silver were lost, and more than 100 prisoners were involved. They were arrested and are awaiting trial. Then tens of thousands of workers went on strike, demanding that the government guarantee their rights in the process of machine popularization, and properly handle the arrested prisoners.” Officials from the Ministry of Industry reported to Chu Yun the latest incidents involving Jiangnan workers Condition.

Chu Yun rubbed his temples with a headache. Originally, he was planning to enter Dongying. The Zhili Fleet and the Fourth Fleet were both ready to go and prepared for war. As a result, two major events occurred in the territory at the same time—— One is the Jiangnan labor movement incident, and another is that some local forces in the Western Regions and Southeast Asia have staged a new round of rebellion.Two emergencies forced Chu Yun to postpone the foreign war to the next spring.

Regarding the rebellion in the Western Regions, Chu Yun ordered the highly mobile Monan Cavalry Regiment to advance to the Yili area, and cooperated with the Moxi Cavalry Regiment who was familiar with the terrain of the Western Regions to put down the rebellion.The Nanyang rebellion was quelled by the Nanyang Fleet and Marine Brigade.To mobilize troops and horses twice is another additional military expenditure.

To deal with the rebellion, Chu Yun can still use force to settle it directly. As for the Jiangnan workers incident, Chu Yun has to solve it more properly and gently.Labor-capital conflicts are unavoidable in the development of productive forces.

"Our court of the Ministry of Criminal Justice was discussing the drafting of the labor law. I didn't expect that before the labor law was formulated, there would be conflicts between workers and machines." Chu Yun tried his best to let the law go ahead, but the problems caused by the machines came sooner rather than later. It will appear.

"The workers in Suzhou have four demands. One is that the government should properly resolve the incident of destroying the machines; The daily workload of the manual workshop is about seven hours." The Ministry of Industry officials succinctly summed up for Chu Yun the demands of the workers in the Jiangnan area.

"The person who destroyed the machine has violated the requirements of the law after all. You can't give mercy because of the request of other workers. Otherwise, everyone will make troubles to solve the problem in the future. Where is the law? There is also the ban on the sale of steam engines. Nonsense. The steam engine is the foundation of our country’s power, and popularizing steam engines among the people can boost productivity, and technology dissemination cannot be banned just because of the pain caused by technological progress.” After learning about the Jiangnan workers incident, Chu Yun planned to stick to these two principles.

One of them is that the law cannot be violated, and anyone who violates the law must be judged according to the law.The second one is to insist on promoting industrial technology.

"Then, Lord Commander, you mean to reject the first two demands and agree to the latter two?" The Ministry of Industry officials heard Chu Yun's implication.

"It's easy to reduce their workload. You only need to stipulate the maximum working hours in the form of law. But it is difficult for our government to meet the requirements of increasing wages. People from all walks of life and different levels of proficiency The wages received by workers are different. How does the government determine the wages? If the government stipulates too high, then employers will think that it is unnecessary to hire so many workers, and some workers who could have been hired will lose their job opportunities. There is also a market Adjustments will be made, and there will always be workers who are willing to accept lower wages, and under fierce competition, wages will return to the current level." Chu Yun understands the demands of the workers, but the situation he faces is very complicated, not to improve The conditions of workers can be improved.

"Just reducing the workload of workers may not satisfy them as a group. They are generally worried that they will be fired. If they can't relieve this worry, they may not return to their posts with peace of mind." Ministry of Industry Officials are also worried about the matter.

"The labor law we are thinking about is to ensure that workers have the rights of other employees, but it will take some time to be perfected. Originally, I planned to promulgate it after the end of the civil war in Japan next year. It seems that the labor law should be improved as soon as possible. .” Chu Yun said.

"Jianghuai Chief Secretary is still waiting for our reply. The most urgent task is to appease the hearts of Jiangnan workers and convince them that our government is sincere to improve their situation." The official of the Ministry of Industry suggested.

"Let's reply to the Chief Secretary of Jianghuai in this way, and let the various counties in the south of the Yangtze River announce to the local workers that the government is legislating to protect their interests. There is currently one item under consideration, that is, the actual working hours of workers in a day shall not exceed six hours, including One-hour break in the middle. Take two days off every seven days." Chu Yun said.

Six hours is 12 hours, with a 2-hour lunch break in between, and the actual working time is 10 hours, five working days.Such a requirement was very conscientious in the early days of industrialization.In order to increase production, factory owners generally require workers to work for more than 12 hours, and even rarely have holidays.

"There are also no deductions from workers' wages without justified reasons, the regulations on employing child labor, and the reemployment system for re-employment through unified training by the government for dismissed workers. Our government is considering it, but it is a matter of great importance. It does not mean that we can immediately What has been done, please local workers and people trust the government." Chu Yun added.

"This subordinate is going to convey your meaning, Lord Military Master, and let the Chief Secretary of Jianghuai and the Chief Secretary of Jiangsu and Zhejiang pass it on to the workers in Jiangnan to stabilize their emotions. As for the prisoners who were arrested..."

"Prisoners will continue to be detained and judged after the labor law is promulgated. Although they made mistakes, they can be regarded as contributing to the promulgation of the labor law as soon as possible." Chu Yun found that with the popularization of machines, he was gradually driven by objective forces .

Even if he didn't take the initiative to propose a special labor law, the workers' movement would make him think about the difficulties brought about by the process of the industrial revolution from the perspective of workers, otherwise there would be civil strife.

The use of machines has indeed made a large number of manual workers unemployed, but it has also created batches of new jobs, such as skilled workers in manufacturing industries such as shipyards, smelters, mining farms, and lathe factories, as well as newspaper offices, banks, and schools. , railway and other service industry personnel.However, unemployed craftsmen do not have the corresponding knowledge and skills to meet the needs of new jobs. Unless they can get training and find new jobs, this problem can be completely solved.

"Isn't this structural unemployment..." Chu Yun realized that he used to think more about military issues, but now that he has a territory, he thinks more about economic issues.

(End of this chapter)