The Untouched Core Interests

The strong influence of Labor Union in the Bayer Federation stems from their role in mediating/controlling labor relations.

When workers are powerful, they will side with the capitalists and help them suppress the workers. This is easy to do; just provide the capitalists with more cheap labor, and those workers who want to cause trouble will have no choice but to bow down to the Labor Union.

When capitalists are powerful, all they need to do is instigate a few strikes while these capitalists are rushing to meet their deadlines, and that's enough to make the capitalists agree to all their demands without hesitation.

After all, breach of contract means losing not only a business deal, but also all costs and huge compensation.

Labor Union have many ways to balance the relationship between labor and management, which is why the largest faction in the Socialist Party is the workers' representative faction.

These people represent the Working Class across the entire Federal, giving voice to their concerns in politics. Their voices may not be loud, but they are certainly noticeable.

However, if Lin Qi skips the Labor Union and the special link of the factory, and directly connects with the workers, upgrading them all to small workshop owners who are just starting out, then the labor-management relationship will not exist, and the Labor Union will have no value.

The Labor Union could not afford to risk the consequences of agreeing to Lin Qi's demands, and this was precisely Labor Union greatest advantage: they controlled the choices of all Federal workers.

When they send staff to convince all the workers that something is a capitalist conspiracy, these workers, who are not highly educated and some are only literate and do not have much culture, easily fall into the lie.

Add a few strikes, some free fried chicken and beer, and they can make everything unresponsive. They've become accustomed to controlling the working class in this way, and the working class has become accustomed to being dominated in this way.

However, before this, the union management, who claimed to represent Federal workers and be the spokesperson for the Working Class, raised a somewhat ambiguous question: whether the union played any role.

This was a near-blatant probing, and it was also the Labor Union President emphasizing his and the union's bottom line.

No matter what Lin Qi does, there must always be a link in the chain that involves the Labor Union. Only in this way can the union continue to exercise its power and functions, and continue to use the power of tens of millions of Working Class to realize its demands for wealth and politics.

Lin Qi smiled slightly. Looking at the gentlemen opposite him, some pretending to be calm and others smiling, he suddenly thought of the dog his neighbor kept in the yard.

It was a very funny dog. It would give every resident a weird, comical smile, sticking out its tongue and grinning, but it would also bare its teeth at all the community workers, and sometimes even bark and cooperate with their work.

This is an intelligent dog; it knows how to survive. Seeing these people in front of him, Lin Qi couldn't help but think of that dog.

He pursed his lips. "You know, I'm still young. I still plan to study. I have a lot of things to manage. I can't find every suitable family to take my orders. I need someone to help me with this."

"Select suitable families in need of help, provide them with a short-term training program, then assign them any or any orders, and ultimately these items should ideally be stored in a specific location."

"And all I have to do is see these things and then pay for them. Is that clear enough?"

The union members exchanged glances, and the chairman finally smiled noncommittally. "We need to have a meeting to discuss this, Mr. Lin Qi. We need to talk to some professionals about whether these things are appropriate and legal. You know, there are some things we think are right, but we are actually wrong."

The chairman's attitude underwent a noticeable change; he started using some boring platitudes to deal with Lin Qi again, but at this moment, his words were not entirely perfunctory.

In fact, there are roughly three different attitudes during the negotiation process. The first is firm opposition. In this case, it is impossible to have any further discussion on the issue of scale, and the discussion will not continue at all.

The second attitude is strong support. This statement will use the reason of "if we can reach an agreement" to continue to explore some deeper issues and send a clearer signal.

The third type is somewhat ambiguous, perhaps yes, perhaps no. This attitude seems wavering and gives people a feeling that it is difficult to guess, but that is not actually the case.

Because if they really wanted to refuse, they wouldn't be acting this way. For example, if Lin Qi had said he wanted to exclude the Labor Union, these people would probably be sternly asking him to leave and telling him that if he didn't leave, they would call security.

Not refusing is a form of affirmation, which may not work in other situations, but it is very likely to work in negotiations.

The so-called discussion was just a formality. They would then explore how to gain more benefits, discuss their own advantageous position in this cooperation, and then talk to Lin Qi.

Such negotiations cannot be concluded in a single day. Lin Qi expressed his agreement with the other party's demands. They briefly discussed some minor details, agreed on a time for the next consultation, and then parted ways.

Negotiations can be long or short. For example, during the armistice negotiations of this World War, the two allies sat down, and before they could even say a word, the Foreign Minister of Gefra tore up the documents in front of him, uttered a few inappropriate swear words, and shouted that the war would not end, before turning his hand and leaving.

The negotiations lasted less than a hundred seconds, but each country had prepared for them for a week.

Lin Qi, who had come from the Labor Union, knew that the matter was basically settled. What remained was just an atmosphere they were creating to make it seem like a tough negotiation, and also to try and get more benefits from Lin Qi.

And that was indeed the case. As soon as Lin Qi left, the Labor Union President closed the door and held a small meeting.

"What do you think?" The Labor Union President's smile had faded, and the moment the door closed, an irresistible air of authority emanated from him.

Those who can sit in this position are no ordinary people. For the chairman, if he takes one more step, he will almost be promoted to a politician, and he already has the qualities of an ordinary politician.

The person sitting next to him coughed. "I don't think it's a big problem. We've always maintained the upper hand. If Lin Qi shows any disharmony with us, we can use the same tactics we use on capitalists to deal with him!"

What other tricks are there to deal with capitalists? Strikes, demonstrations, marches, UNEP investigations, public pressure from human rights organizations—unions have many methods at their disposal.

The chairman frowned slightly. "This matter is not as simple as it seems. In the past, the workers would stand on our side because we could protect their 'legal rights,' but this time we are facing different people than before."

He leaned back slightly, one hand still resting on the table, fiddling with a pen. "In the past, we could use all sorts of laws and regulations to restrain both sides. When the workers wanted to cause trouble, we gave the capitalists cheap labor. When the capitalists wanted to overturn the table, we brought out those legal clauses. We always had a way to make both sides listen. Lin Qi is different."

"He doesn't have an employment relationship with those workers. In other words, we can't use existing legal provisions as a weapon to restrain his behavior. When he's dissatisfied, all his actions will turn into pressure on us."

The chairman threw his pen onto his notebook. "For example, if he suddenly terminates the cooperation, the workers will immediately lose their jobs. This time is different from before. We can't force him to accept our demands by suing him for huge compensation."

"He can simply ignore us, because we can't do anything about him. I believe there are no laws that can solve our problems, and we will become the target of hostility from those 'cooperative workshops'."

"If Lin Qi stirs things up again, these people will think that we made them lose the order, and they may end up causing trouble for us, and we don't have any good way to deal with them."

The person sitting next to the president also frowned. "Should we reject him later?"

"Refuse?" The chairman paused for a moment. "Of course not. We'll agree to his request. Although we can't gain an advantageous position in the cooperation between Lin Qi and those workers, at least we won't come away empty-handed."

"Moreover, Lin Qi's model is limited to light industry, which has little technical content, and this is also our weakest point in management. We can cooperate with him!"

Many industries in the light industry involve low-skilled and low-barrier-to-entry jobs. Some jobs can be started after simple training. More importantly, many small and medium-sized light industrial enterprises have very loose management of their employees and do not sign formal long-term employment contracts.

When they receive orders, these small and medium-sized enterprises will expand their workforce. After the orders are completed, they will lay off temporary workers. Therefore, the Labor Union does not exert a high level of control over these enterprises.

The real power of Labor Union lies in large enterprises and factories with technological barriers to entry, as well as in the heavy industry sector. These industries are significantly more dependent on workers than light industry enterprises without technological barriers, and their workforce is stable with a higher proportion of skilled workers.

These workers are also more inclined to cooperate with Labor Union because they understand that to get better treatment from capitalists, they must let the Labor Union speak for them.

Since they wouldn't get much benefit anyway, and Lin Qi's offer is actually more favorable to the union, why not agree?