I'm the Dauphin in France

Chapter 572 of the French Labour Protection and Safety Act

The gray-black "Jewel 3" horse-drawn carriage drifted around the corner, sped past the pedestrians, and then suddenly stopped outside the Lyon City Hall with the coachman shouting "Woo-oh".

Flimland, the general manager of Grand Manufacturing, leaped from the car and ran to the finance office with athletic skills that were beyond his 50-year-old self.

He finally breathed a sigh of relief after entering the door of the City Hall.

There were only five or six people queuing in front of him, so he arrived very early.

It's no wonder that he was anxious. After all, no one could be sure how much compensation would be. If he came too late and the money had been collected, or if he had to wait a long time, it would be too late to regret it.

The team moved very slowly, causing him to keep looking forward. He saw government officials talking to the factory owners who were applying for compensation.

After three hours, Flimlan finally came to the front of the line. There was already a long queue behind him. These big bosses with assets of tens of millions of francs had not lined up like this for a long time.

"Next person."

The sound of the finance official's voice came. Flemland took the briefcase from the attendant and took a few steps forward to place the company's various certificates and the most important order agreement on the desk.

"It's really cold. I salute you for your hard work." He said to the official with a big smile on his face, "Look, I have signed a total of 57 francs in orders. Yes, it's this 'Vienna Observer Caravan'.

"According to the government announcement, I seem to be able to receive 6 francs in compensation, is that right?"

The official put away the documents and nodded, "We need to verify the documents first, including checking whether your factory has produced the goods on the order.

"If everything is confirmed to be correct, you can receive the compensation later."

"Oh, that's great!" Flemland said excitedly, "Long live His Majesty the King! Long live His Royal Highness the Crown Prince!"

The official slowly handed over a pamphlet and said, "Oh, I must explain something to you.

“First, all compensation must be used to pay your workers, excluding company directors and senior management.

“And all workers’ wages must not fall below last month’s level.

"You can send someone to take the workers' wage receipts and come here every month to settle the accounts. This will last until all the compensation you deserve is paid out."

Joseph knew very well that after these capitalists lost money in their companies, they would immediately pass the losses on to the workers.

France's industrial construction has just started, and in order to reduce costs, companies have already reduced workers' wages to the minimum level that can survive.

If it drops further, it is likely to make it difficult for workers to make a living, eventually leading to large-scale strikes or even riots.

So he finally decided to use the 450 million francs for "special assistance." After all, the money was free, and the amount was not too much. If it could stabilize France's industrial environment, it would definitely be a win-win.

At the same time, he also plans to use the money to promote the French Labor Protection and Safety Law which was recently drafted.

The financial officer pointed to the booklet in Flimland's hand and said, "Also, you must be careful not to violate this decree. Otherwise, the compensation payment will be terminated."

Flimland flipped through the Labor Protection and Safety Law and asked in confusion, "When was this promulgated?"

"It has been in trial implementation for a month and a half." The official did not seem surprised at all. Today he only met one factory owner who knew about the decree. "It should be officially implemented next year."

Flimland looked at the clauses in the decree: workers employed in the factory must be over 9 years old... workers must not start work before 6 a.m., and must not work more than 14 hours a day. Overtime pay must be paid if the time exceeds the limit...

Factories must ensure that workers have a safe working environment, referring to the latest safety standards in each industry...

Factories must ensure that workers who have not completed basic education have at least 2 hours of class time per day...

Factories are not allowed to dismiss workers without reason. If they must be dismissed, they must pay one to three months' wages depending on the severity of their fault...

There was a lot more to come, so Flemland roughly read through it and quickly nodded, "Yes, I will follow it carefully."

The so-called laws must be obeyed, and he has basically confirmed that although this law will increase his production costs, it will not be too much.

Compared with the nearly 7 francs in compensation, this cost is totally insignificant.

Soon, Flimlan completed a series of formalities, signed the compensation agreement, and happily prepared to return to the company.

With this money, he basically doesn't have to pay the workers' wages from the company's account in the second half of the year.

"It is Mr. Edgar Destin."

Flimlan was startled by the voice of a finance official behind him. Destin's Larsko Textile Company had reduced production in the first month in accordance with the requirements of the Industrial Development Fund, so it should not have suffered any losses.

He turned around in surprise and heard Destaing say, "Well, my company only lost 1 francs, but according to the order amount, the compensation is 7 francs. Look at this..."

The finance official said without hesitation: “It will still be paid according to the stipulated compensation amount, no matter how much you lost.

"But I must explain to you first. First of all, the compensation must be used to pay the workers..."

Flemland's eyes widened when he heard this. How could he still make money after being scammed by an order? !

Even if I get compensation, I still lost nearly 20,000 francs!
He regretted it deeply. If he had listened to the Development Fund Committee's request to reduce production at the beginning, he could have earned tens of thousands of francs and bought the villa he had been eyeing for a long time...

The factory owners who came to collect their compensation had the same idea as him, muttering to themselves that they should trust the advice of the development fund in the future.

Half a month later, news spread that made them even more envious and jealous - the Industrial Development Fund believed that the factories that implemented production cuts in this incident showed "valuable foresight" and "keen sense of the market", so it decided to increase investment in them and apply for partial tax reduction.

The factory owners are simply going crazy.

The investment in the development fund is easily more than hundreds of thousands, and coupled with tax cuts, the scale and competitiveness of these companies will immediately be improved to a higher level.

It was simply a quick success! If they were in his place, they might not be able to achieve such development even after working hard for several years or even more than ten years.

……

Paris.

On the second floor of the Tuileries Palace, Joseph smiled at Kalona who was sitting in front of him and praised him generously: "You have achieved extremely outstanding results in Vienna this time, which is enough to prove that you are the top financial and trade expert in France."

(End of this chapter)