The Giantwood Alliance's official currency was called Resource Points.
These colorful round tokens looked much like the chips used in certain entertainment venues.
The value of resource points was pegged to fresh water. One resource point could be exchanged for one liter of fresh water.
An ordinary worker earned roughly ten resource points a day, while skilled workers could earn fifteen.
Southern refugees who had just received temporary status earned only five resource points a day.
They had to put in two years before they could receive the same treatment as ordinary workers.
The military uniform factory paid somewhat better, offering southerners seven resource points a day.
Such generous pay was rare throughout the industrial district.
Even so, the factory director, Goff, had not let his guard down.
Before taking office, he had asked the other factory directors in the group for management advice.
Apparently, these southern refugees were not docile. Unlike the civilized northerners who had been conditioned by large-scale industry, these southern farmers and herders had never needed to clock in and out on schedule every day. They were more lax by nature and unwilling to submit to discipline.
In particular, many refugees who reached the north had once been prominent figures in the south-farm owners and the like. They were accustomed to being above others, to having their every need attended to. How could they willingly work on an assembly line?
Faced with this situation, the directors in the industrial district split up new employees and assigned them to teams of veteran workers. Through daily exposure, the new employees gradually adapted to the collective environment.
But the 516 Military Uniform Factory under Goff's management was a newly established enterprise. Where was he supposed to find veteran workers?
Its initial eight hundred rank-and-file employees were all female workers