Empire of Shadows

"I… I'm fired?"

Johnny looked at the manager in disbelief. Although this was his intention, he was still very unhappy that they fired him so easily.

The feeling was roughly like… we can break up, but I have to be the one to dump you!

Johnny's face turned visibly red. He grabbed the cup in front of him and threw it at the manager, "You son of a bitch, I'll kill you!"

The manager had been watching him. When he saw Johnny's throwing motion, he immediately dodged. The conference room instantly descended into chaos!

Vaughn hadn't expected things to erupt so suddenly. Although he was on Lance's side, letting Johnny beat up the manager was obviously not a good choice. He and the workers held Johnny back, and the manager took the opportunity to escape to the lounge.

In the lounge, the three directors looked at the manager, "You need to give us an explanation."

For them, there was always room for maneuver—the manager.

As long as the board felt they were reaching a dangerous point, they could deal with the manager to largely appease the resentment of the lower-level workers.

In ancient times, the rule of the nobility was actually much harsher than the rule of capitalists today, but why weren't there more rebellions?

Because when the rule became unstable, they would kill a tax collector, a sheriff, or even a few relatives, and the rule would become stable again.

People always believe that those who create all the misfortune and disaster are always the middle managers.

Not the bottom, nor the top. How could those masters who were born with a silver spoon in their mouths understand the common ground with the lowly commoners who rolled up their trousers and went barefoot?

Those who made things difficult for them were always those vicious, hateful managers.

But they never realized a problem: why did the masters always choose those evil managers, and why didn't they realize what these people were doing until the people were almost unable to bear it?

They would never understand, nor would they think about it, only playing an unthinking part in the rulers' game.

For the board of directors, the manager played such a role, a role that could calm the emotions of the workers.

Every time they encountered a similar situation, it was resolved in this way. For the board of directors, for the big capitalists, they actually had a mature method to deal with the lower-level workers.

So even though they were now somewhat dissatisfied with the manager's sudden decision, it was only dissatisfaction, not enough to fire him right now.

The three men sat, the manager stood, and he explained, "Johnny is clearly here to make trouble, gentlemen."

"I have already promised huge benefits, but he still won't be swayed by the price I offer. This shows that from the beginning, his goal was not to extort money from us, but to get a raise!"

"Even if we make more concessions in other areas, as long as his demand for a raise is not met, he will still cause trouble."

"Then, why don't we just fire him? If he likes to cause trouble, let him cause trouble. Let him sue us, or let him sue me, just let him do it."

"Goldenport City has 1.5 million people, gentlemen."

"And this is still the uncertain statistics from six months ago!"

"A large number of illegal immigrants have also come to this city during this period in Tanfitt. Perhaps the population here has exceeded 1.6 million or even 1.7 million!"

"So many illegal immigrants are waiting for job opportunities, please forgive me for being so direct."

"If the board of directors has the魄力 to adopt the method I proposed before, we can still lower the standard in wages to a lower number!"

The manager had previously submitted a proposal to the board of directors, which was to give 70% of the positions to immigrants and illegal immigrants.

If the immigration bureau investigates, at most they will just fire these workers.

Even if they are fined, the fine is actually saved from hiring these people.

Hiring an illegal immigrant only costs 18.5 a month. There are more than 10,000 workers here. If cheap illegal immigrant workers are used, then every month, they can save 200,000 just in wages!

That's 2.4 million a year!

2.4 million, the immigration bureau will at most fine a few tens of thousands, a few hundred thousand, a little more, a few hundred thousand at most, and the rest is "profit margin".

But the board of directors needs to consider many things, not only the wage expenditure, but also the social impact and social responsibility. Therefore, the mainstream group in the dock worker group is still the local federal people.

After listening, one of the directors said thoughtfully, "If it causes greater public opposition, what are you going to do?"

The manager was stunned for a moment. He suddenly realized that perhaps at this time, he was not too far away from his dream!

He swallowed, "Sir, if the workers' group has a large opposition, I plan to do three things."

"The first thing, I will find some of them and bribe them."

"These poor ghosts are very sensitive to money, one thousand, two thousand, if not, three thousand, five thousand!"

"If you don't want to, there are others who want to. We only need to win over some people with influence and divide the workers' group into two parts."

"Then, we can guide the conflict between us and the workers to the two camps within the workers, so that they become enemies of each other, and we only need to make some appropriate concessions, add some carrots and beef to their lunch, that's it!"

"The second thing, for those who resolutely oppose us, not only must we fire them, but we must also have lawyers sue them for inciting workers to disrupt production and make them compensate us for our economic losses."

"Whether the lawsuit can eventually be won or not, as long as we can drag them to death in the lawsuit, that's fine."

"Finally, we can recruit those immigrant workers on a larger scale. Isn't their current salary eighteen to nineteen?"

"We will increase it to twenty dollars for them and adjust the ratio of local workers to immigrant workers."

"As long as these three steps can be implemented, gentlemen, I can ensure that it will be difficult for them to make any waves!"

Some surprises flashed in the eyes of the three directors. They exchanged some opinions with each other and finally approved the manager's plan.

"You have a very outstanding brain, don't let God's favor on you down."

"This matter is fully entrusted to you to do."

The three directors then stood up, "We don't want to waste time here. If you can handle this matter and these people, and lower the wages."

"I will nominate you as a candidate for the company's partner list next year at the quarterly meeting in September."

The corners of the manager's mouth could no longer be suppressed. He quickly bent down, lowered his head, and submissively expressed his gratitude to the directors.

The company only has two to three people who can become partners of the company every year, but there are many lists reported by each branch and each region.

After discussion by the board of directors, they will select some of the most outstanding employees and let them become partners or even senior partners.

As long as they can enter this class, it means they are standing in the upper middle class!

There are stable dividends every year, as well as incentive shares. They will also become shareholders of the company, not just ordinary employees!

"I guarantee I can handle this matter well…"

In another room, Johnny's emotions had calmed down a lot, and he sat on the sofa in a daze.

When his emotions calmed down, he felt a trace of fear.

Yes, fear.

He has been working on the dock all his life. This is like the life of most lower-level federal people. For them, this job will accompany them throughout their lives.

But now, he suddenly lost this job, just like a piece was suddenly missing from his life, empty, so that a musclehead who never thought about life also began to think about life.

He even had a sense of unease that he wanted to shit!

It's like being caught in the act by the teacher when doing bad things in elementary school!

"Johnny, are you okay?"

Johnny turned around and looked at them, somewhat blankly, as if it took several seconds to come back to his senses, "I'm fine, I'm fine…"

The other worker representatives stood beside him, "We will support you. If they really dare to fire you, we will definitely launch a strike."

Vaughn also expressed his support for him, "If you need legal aid, we can provide you with free legal aid."

Perhaps these comforts worked, Johnny squeezed out some smiles, "I feel much better!"

He paused, "Even if they really want to fire me, I won't compromise. This makes me even more determined in my ideas, and fight them!"

He waved his fist, "Fight to the last moment!"

This was obviously a very unsuccessful negotiation. After the representatives of the board of directors left, the manager obtained almost unlimited power.

When he returned to his desk again, he didn't even intend to let this boring game continue.

"Johnny, you have been fired, and I will have lawyers collect evidence of your affecting production and destroying the company's benefits, and I will also sue you!"

"And you, don't think you can threaten the company. Goldenport City will never lack people to work!"

"I suggest you be smart and think about who is paying you your salary, so that you and your family can maintain a stable life."

"Don't mess up your life because of other people's affairs. You are not heroes, and you can't be heroes."

"Being a hero comes at a price, possibly your life, or possibly your job!"

He glanced at Vaughn one last time, "I'll have to reconsider next year's donation!"

With that, he picked up his belongings and left without looking back.

In the meeting room, only the union members and worker representatives remained, and they all seemed to become... somewhat silent.

After returning to his office, the manager directly called Charlie. Charlie's sudden announcement to run for city councilman was partly due to the manager's strong urging.

After all, the "Bay Area Hound" had served the city for many years, and everyone had seen his capabilities.

The call was quickly answered, and the manager offered to donate a sum of political contributions to him, but requested his help in resolving the issues at the docks. Charlie immediately agreed.

He was the Bay Area's Hound, not the working class's hound. He had no reason or obligation to serve the lower classes!

With Charlie's coordination, the port area quickly arranged for some police officers to come to the company building to maintain order.

The appearance of the police caused the emotions of the worker groups, which were not too tense originally, to become somewhat nervous and uneasy.

People have an innate fear of the police, and the more impoverished they are, the more obvious this feeling becomes.

Because they cannot afford any losses in their lives. Even when they are alone, they don't even dare to look directly at these police officers!

Who knows if these police officers would think their gazes were unfriendly, arrest them, cause them to lose their jobs, and lead everything to destruction!

The police officers couldn't detect it, but the atmosphere on the scene was indeed changing.

A few minutes later, Johnny and the others walked out of the company's main entrance.

The people immediately surrounded them, asking about the results of the negotiation. They didn't say anything, just shook their heads.

"I'm sorry everyone, I wasn't able to get the company to compromise on the wage increase, and I was even fired!"

This one sentence caused an uproar among the workers around him!

A person who requested a wage increase from the company for them was fired by the company!

Many people stood at the company entrance and sent the most sincere and enthusiastic greetings to the manager's entire family, but these words were of no use.

The workers' emotions had obviously reached the extreme of anger. At this time, while they were still noisy, some blue-collar workers suddenly stood together in a group.

A young fellow stood up, "Although we are not formal workers, I can also understand the solidarity of the working class."

"This is a special time. The dock management company is trying to force us to bow our heads by using this method."

"If we remain silent and no longer speak out, then they will further exploit us and oppress us."

"I don't know the great principles that those big shots know. I only know that if someone bullies you, and you don't want to be bullied."

"Then the only thing you should do is give them a punch and tell them that you are not to be trifled with!"

"We are workers, and workers united have power!"

Originally, an idea that people had thought of, but had not fully exposed, began to break ground under the promotion of these people. Johnny looked at them, and although he knew this was a script, he was still very moved.

He walked over and hugged these people, "Thank you, thank you for your support, but it's completely unnecessary."

He turned to look at those ordinary local workers, "I used to do a lot of bad things. I want to make amends to everyone, but it seems that I didn't do well."

"I don't want you to do anything for me. After all, a stable job is still not easy to come by. You have families, you have lives."

"Maybe... they are not very nice to you sometimes, but you can always get through it if you endure it..."

"Fuck!", a young man suddenly yelled loudly, "Can you guys endure it?"

"I'm not familiar with Johnny. I don't care what he was like before. At least he's been fired for asking for a raise. We owe him!"

The young man took off his hat and slammed it hard on the ground, "I'm not going to endure it anymore, and I'm not going to do it anymore!"

Sometimes, emotions are like sparks falling into a gasoline tank, instantly gaining unimaginable power!

Soon, the second young man took off his hat and slammed it hard on the ground, "I'm not going to do it anymore either. Whoever can endure it, let them endure it!"

The blue-collar workers neatly threw their hats on the ground. These actions were like a contagious disease caused by a super virus, beginning to fission around them!

The police officers standing below the company maintaining order saw this scene, and their expressions changed.

They had already realized the seriousness of the problem!

Strikes have never been an easy topic.

The manager quickly learned about the situation, but he didn't care at all. He even asked people to count which people were the first to say they wanted to strike, and then fire them all.

As for the strike?

In his opinion, they couldn't afford to strike!

Soon, a large number of recruitment posters were posted outside the dock. They didn't require whether they were locals or not, even illegal immigrants were fine. As long as they were willing to work, they could come to work at the dock.

The turmoil at the dock was still developing further. When the mayor heard the news, he also frowned tightly.

"Ask what's going on."

He asked his secretary to inquire about it.

Now the mayor's power is constantly expanding and swelling. Naturally, many people are willing to get on the bandwagon at this time.

Political speculation is always a more exciting gambling game than ordinary gambling. If ordinary gambling is lost, at most you lose your wealth, turning you from a rich man into a pauper. But political speculation, sometimes what you lose is not just money.

It could also be life, or other precious things.

Some people who were optimistic about the mayor had already defected to him. These people were often those who were frustrated under the original social system!

Although they may not have such a high social status, they may be more convenient in obtaining information.

Soon, the turmoil that occurred at the dock reached the mayor's ears. After listening, he immediately frowned.

If a strike occurs at the dock, it will become very troublesome.

Thinking of this, he dialed a number. The call was quickly answered.

"I heard that a strike is brewing at the dock?"

"What exactly is going on?"

The person on the other end of the phone roughly explained the course of events. After listening, the mayor began to worry, "I'm going to hold a public speech tomorrow, and now the workers at the dock are going to strike."

"That old dog Charlie suddenly announced that he wants to run for city councilman. It seems that all the things are very coincidentally concentrated together. Is this really a coincidence?"

The person on the other end of the phone couldn't answer his question, because no one knew whether this was a coincidence or if someone was pushing everything to happen behind the scenes!

"Is there a way to solve this problem?"

The answer on the other end was that they could only try.

The mayor hung up the phone, lit a cigarette, looked at the secretary, and said softly, "Williams has made his move..."