Rebirth of the Industrial Tycoon

"What did you say? Another 5% are going to be laid off!" Norwood-Jewell looked a little surprised.

He thought that those workers who were on strike were brave enough for daring to give up their jobs, but he didn't expect to meet the management who were equally stubborn.

Union leader Hanks said from the sidelines: "The 210 workers laid off last week, including all our union cadres, and the others are also union members. I estimate that the 200 workers laid off this time will also be union members. ! I'm worried this will affect our morale."

Not every worker is a member of a trade union. After all, you have to pay membership fees to join a trade union. Wouldn’t it be nice to keep that 5% salary and take your wife and children to a restaurant?

The proportion of workers joining unions also varies across states in the United States. Basically, the more industrially developed a state, the higher the proportion of workers joining unions.

The highest proportion is in New York State, where more than 20% of workers are unionized. In the industrial states around the Great Lakes and in California in the west, the proportion of workers who are unionized exceeds 15%. In some agricultural states in the South, it may be less than 5%. .

Different industries have different rates of union membership. In some emerging industries, the rate of union membership is relatively low, and many technology companies do not even have unions. However, in traditional industries, such as steel, mining, energy, and automobiles, the rate of union membership is relatively high. In other industries, the proportion of labor unions is very high.

Although union members do not actually constitute the majority, these union members, especially union cadres, are the organizers and leaders of the labor movement.

For ordinary workers, why not do it if people with unions come forward to help themselves fight for better benefits!

Therefore, whenever trade unions organize labor movements, ordinary workers often participate. Anyway, it is the union that takes the lead in making trouble. Once it succeeds, it will get a wave of benefits for free. If it fails, the management will only deal with the union members.

Li Weidong's layoffs naturally targeted the union members in the factory first. The so-called capture the king personally and drive away all the union members. The workers lost their leader and their backbone, making it difficult for the strike to continue.

Norwood-Jewell, who has organized labor movements for many years, naturally understands this truth. After pondering for a moment, he gave instructions: "Since the management has no willingness to negotiate, then we will escalate the movement and put pressure on them!

Calling all trade union cadres, starting from tomorrow, our demonstrations and protests will not be limited to the Bemher factory. We will take to the streets, take to the city, march, and create greater momentum! We want more people to know that we are fighting!

In addition, I will attend tomorrow’s parade with members of the United Auto Workers to cheer you on. The UAW's direct involvement in the demonstrations should be able to stabilize the situation. "

Hanks nodded, and then continued: "What I'm worried about is that even if we take to the streets, the employer will still not compromise. The employer we face this time is different from usual. He is Chinese and seems to have no intention of doing so. Follow our American rules!”

"Then let him know what American rules are!" Norwood-Jewell snorted, and then said: "I will go to the media and create pressure on him through public opinion. If that doesn't work, I can also contact him. State legislators, let them put pressure on you at the executive level!

As for layoffs, you don’t have to worry. I don’t believe the Chinese dare to keep laying off workers. If all the workers are laid off, who will help them produce cars and the factory stops production, then they will lose millions every day! This is a competition to see who blinks first, we must hold on! "

…

Striking workers took to the streets holding signs and attracting media attention.

With Norwood-Jewell's encouragement, the local media began to report the incident on a large scale, and even some major media began to pay attention to the strike.

Some reporters interviewed union leaders at the strike site, while others came to the hotel where Li Weidong was staying to interview the employer's attitude.

"Chairman, the hotel manager informed us that there are a lot of reporters at the door. He said that if necessary, he can arrange for you to leave through the VIP channel." The assistant said.

Li Weidong knew that the so-called VIP channel was a hidden backdoor that could avoid these reporters.

However, Li Weidong did not intend to avoid reporters. He said, "Just go through the main entrance! I will meet the reporters."

When Li Weidong walked out of the hotel door, reporters immediately surrounded him. The hotel's service was also very attentive. Security personnel and doormen stepped forward to block Li Weidong.

"These security guards and doormen work really hard, please give me a little extra tip later." Li Weidong casually ordered.

At this time, a female reporter asked; "Mr. Li, the strike at the Bemher factory has entered its second week, and now the workers have taken to the streets, what do you think of this? As an employer, what do you think? How do you plan to respond?”

After glancing at the female reporter, she saw that she looked pretty good. Although she was wearing heavy makeup, she was a hot girl. Li Weidong felt much happier.

So Li Weidong stopped and said: "This morning, I also saw relevant reports on TV, so I went to find out the real situation. The so-called workers interviewed in the news were laid off by the factory last week. .

So he is not an employee of the Bemher factory! Therefore, he cannot represent Bemher Factory. All his actions should be personally responsible for him and have nothing to do with me. "

Li Weidong directly used the common practice among domestic leaders to blame "temporary workers". The mistake was made by the temporary workers, and the responsibility belongs to the temporary workers. I have fired the temporary workers, and the matter has nothing to do with me!

Another reporter immediately said: "Mr. Li, according to the introduction of the union leader, as the employer, when faced with the workers' strike, not only do you have no willingness to negotiate, but you hope to force the workers to surrender through layoffs!"

This is a rather unfriendly question, and the implication is that the blame is thrown to Li Weidong.

Li Weidong smiled slightly and said; "Due to the workers' strike, the factory stopped production, and the factory shutdown caused economic losses. We can only reduce costs and losses through layoffs. So the layoffs were entirely caused by the strike. , if there were no strikes, there would be no layoffs!”

Li Weidong turned the blame and blamed the strike on the layoffs.

The reporters obviously sided with the workers and did not agree with Li Weidong's answer.

One of them immediately said: "Mr. Li, Jaguar Land Rover is already facing a loss of more than one billion U.S. dollars. Every day the Bemher factory stops production, it will cause more losses to the company. Aren't you worried about this?" "?"

"Of course I don't feel worried!" Li Weidong continued with a calm expression: "Jaguar Land Rover still has a lot of cars in stock, so we just take this opportunity to stock up!"

…

Li Weidong is not worried at all about the suspension of production at the factory.

From the perspective of industrial production, if a factory stops production for one day, it will not only consume basic operating costs, but also lose one day's output value. Only by producing and creating output value can the factory make money and generate profits.

Therefore, many manufacturing industries not only often work overtime, but also take shifts, and even have production lines that work in several shifts around the clock, in order to ensure the continuity of production.

When workers go on strike, employers often choose to compromise. This is also based on this. For capitalists, if the factory stops production for one day, they will lose one day's output value and make one less day's profit.

Failure to make money means losing money, so in order to quell the strike and resume production as soon as possible, the employer will always compromise with the labor union.

But this theory is based on sufficient demand for the product.

If the products produced cannot be sold, the company will lose money on raw materials. At this time, it is better to stop production directly and lose less.

In the United States, there is never a lack of market demand for cars.

After all, the United States is a kingdom on wheels. This is not a compliment, but it means that the United States lacks adequate public transportation and ordinary people cannot move without a car.

Therefore, it is easy for American auto companies to compromise with labor unions. Whether it is the three major auto companies in the United States or foreign auto companies that set up factories in the United States, they all surrender to the labor unions. There is no one like Li Weidong.

Li Weidong's method of playing is a lose-lose situation. I would rather lose money than give you benefits.

Under normal circumstances, this kind of fierce competition will definitely result in greater losses for the employer. If the factory does not produce, not only will it suffer losses, but it may also lose the existing market. If the money is gone, you can make it again. But if the market is lost, it will not be easy to get it back.

But the United States in 2007 was not a "normal situation" because the subprime mortgage crisis was about to break out.

At this time, American financial institutions had already smelled the subprime mortgage crisis, and major financial institutions were crossing the sea one after another, each showing their magical powers.

The most common operation performed by financial institutions is to frantically promote various financial products related to subprime mortgages to customers. It is clear that they want to find a successor before the collapse of subprime mortgages.

Some financial institutions have also joined the ranks of shorting subprime loans, hoping to make up for their own losses by shorting subprime loans.

Just like the famous ****, they have a large number of financial products related to subprime loans in their hands, and they also short these financial products themselves.

This is like knowing that the stock in my hand is going to fall, so I take out another sum of money to short the stock. When the stock really falls, I use the money earned from short selling to make up for the loss of the stock.

Financial institutions with deep pockets such as **** have strong ability to resist risks, so they can do this kind of saucy operation. Many financial institutions that do not have sufficient funds have to find other ways.

Take Bearstone, the fifth largest investment bank in the United States, for example. They have too many subprime loan products in their hands that they can't sell even if they want to. Once the subprime loan market collapses, Bearstone will definitely die.

So Bearstone decided to be cruel to himself and tried his best to short himself in the market.

If you short-sell yourself, no one will believe it!

It's like a boxing match where one of the contestants bets all his money on being beaten to death!

There are also other outrageous operations, such as Morgan Stanley saying that their server crashed; Bank of America saying that it had a power outage; Goldman Sachs losing its database.

It can be said that this subprime mortgage crisis has completely exposed the inferiority of capital. At this time, investors discovered that the American elites on Wall Street could be so shameless, with no lower limit! I really can’t believe a word these so-called American elites say.

The storm of the subprime mortgage crisis soon spread to the entire financial industry. The stock market crashed and metal and crude oil futures plunged sharply. This also means that the market is not optimistic about the prospects of the industry.

Sure enough, this wave of financial crisis quickly spread to the real economy, and the first one to bear the brunt was the traditional manufacturing industry in the United States.

During the subprime mortgage crisis, the entire automobile industry was seriously injured. The sales of all automobile brands, without exception, experienced varying degrees of decline. The three major American automobile companies, Ford, sold off their assets to survive, General Motors and Chrysler filed for bankruptcy.

At that time, sales of Camry and Accord had dropped significantly, and luxury brands like Jaguar Land Rover were having an even harder time.

People in the United States cannot live without cars, but the economy is not good and everyone has no money. To buy a car at this time, they either buy a second-hand car or a cheap first-hand car. How many people can afford luxury brands!

Therefore, when the Bemher factory stopped production due to a strike, Li Weidong was not anxious at all. Even if the car was produced, it could not be sold, so it was better to stop the production line and save less money.

As for the workers who were laid off, Li Weidong felt even less distressed.

During the subprime mortgage crisis, too many companies across the United States laid off employees.

The first to bear the brunt is the real estate and financial industries. There are a large number of bankrupt companies. Those that can survive will inevitably undergo large-scale layoffs. 20% of employees are relatively small. Normally, the starting point is 30% and 50% are laid off. There are many.

Then there is the traditional manufacturing industry, where layoffs are more than 10%, and in severe cases can reach 30%.

It is worth mentioning that there were no large-scale layoffs in the oil industry. First, oil prices rose at that time. Second, because of the American shale oil revolution, many new shale oil fields were added, which created many jobs.

The American automobile industry also wanted to reduce costs through layoffs, but unfortunately it encountered resistance from labor unions. Even at this time, labor unions were clamoring for increased benefits.

This is how General Motors went bankrupt. The economic crisis caused General Motors to face huge losses, and the company wanted to lay off employees. As a result, the union started a riot again, demanding an increase in benefits. Eventually, General Motors was forced to file for bankruptcy protection.

When General Motors filed for bankruptcy protection, the labor unions were completely dumbfounded. They did not expect that GM would actually go bankrupt after a century!

So when the U.S. government rescued GM, the labor unions were very timid, and their demands changed from increasing benefits to not laying off employees.

Now facing the coming economic crisis, Jaguar Land Rover will lay off employees sooner or later. If there are normal layoffs, there will definitely be labor unions coming out to cause trouble, so Li Weidong simply took advantage of the workers' strike to lay off employees first.

…

In the past five days, forty workers were laid off every day, and exactly 200 workers were laid off in five days.

On the sixth day, a new announcement was posted stating that another 200 people would be laid off in the next four days.

Four days later, a new announcement appeared, 200 people were laid off in three days!

The layoff cycle has changed from one week to five days, then to four days, and now to three days, which has made many workers feel panicked.

Among the 3,875 workers at the Bemher factory, more than 900 are union members, and 810 people have been laid off. If 200 more workers are laid off next time, it means that all union members will be laid off. There are also a few unlucky non-union workers who will also be laid off.

By this time, some workers finally started to panic!

…

At the strike site, several workers drank mineral water and chatted.

"Have you seen today's layoff list? There are 65 people on it! Last week, there were only 50 people." Worker A said.

"Last week, we laid off 200 people in four days, which was exactly 50 in one day. Now we have laid off 200 people in three days. Naturally, there are more people on the list." Worker B replied.

"It's been so many days, and we're still laying off employees. I think the management is serious this time, and they don't intend to compromise with us." Worker C said.

"Didn't the people from the union say, let us stick to it? Maybe tomorrow, the management will compromise!"

"If the management was willing to compromise, they would have sent people to negotiate long ago. I heard that the management doesn't even have the slightest intention to negotiate."

"The management is probably waiting for the union to take the initiative to come to them, so that they can gain the initiative in negotiations."

"Isn't the union thinking the same way? They want management to come to them on their own initiative! I've finally seen it clearly. Now both sides are just wasting their time. Whoever blinks first will lose."

Worker A sighed: "They are spending time here, and I can't hold it any longer! If another 200 people are laid off in the next round, it will be the turn of ordinary workers like us, and we may be laid off by then." ”

"Didn't the people from the union say, don't be afraid even if you are laid off? The management cannot lay off everyone. They will compromise sooner or later, and those who have been laid off will be able to come back to work." Worker B said.

But worker A smiled coldly: "Don't forget, the union has to negotiate with the employer in the end. Those who join the union are certainly not afraid of being laid off. When it comes to negotiations, they have the union to protect them, but what about us? You can guarantee that the union people will speak for us!”

"Then what are you going to do?" Worker B asked.

"I don't want to go on strike anymore." Worker A continued: "Starting tomorrow, I will return to the workshop. Since I did not participate in the strike, the next wave of layoffs should not be my turn!"

"Then you have offended the union!" Worker C said.

"Almost all people in the union have been laid off. Maybe these people will never come back, and you are still afraid of offending them!" Worker A continued: "I am quite satisfied with my current salary. I am here to participate in the strike. , I just hope to have better benefits, but I don’t want to lose my job.”

Worker B said, "You haven't even gone back. Everyone is on strike. Can you operate the entire production line by yourself?" Worker B said.

"But at least I'm not on strike, right? Even if I'm the only one in the workshop, if I punch in on time, I go to work normally, and the factory has to pay me wages. It doesn't matter if the production line can't be opened. The worst I can do is bring a few magazines to kill time. Time." Worker A said.

…

Worker A is not an idiot. There are 3,875 auto workers in the Bemher factory, so there are no guarantees that there will not be a few 25-year-olds.

One after another, workers left the strike site and returned to the workshop. They clocked in according to their commuting and get off work hours, and then read magazines, chatted, played poker, and played game consoles in the workshop.

Anyway, there are not enough manpower, the production line cannot be opened, and no one is responsible for fishing during working hours. However, the punch record proves that they all came to work, and their wages must be paid as usual.

Three days passed in the blink of an eye, and the new announcement this time was that 200 people would be laid off in two days.

In this wave of layoffs, not one of the more than 900 people in the union was left, and all were laid off. There were also dozens of non-union members among them.

As a result, the remaining employees were really panicked!

Although those trade union cadres have been laid off, they are still active on the front line of the strike, continuing to organize workers' strikes, brainwashing the workers in various ways, telling them to persist and victory is at hand.

Norwood-Jewell also personally came to the scene to boost morale. At the same time, he also applied for a fund from the Auto Workers Union, purchased various foods, distributed them to the striking workers, and sometimes even held a party on site. Maintain the volume of the strike.

It was at this time that the financial crisis caused by the subprime mortgage crisis finally began to spread to the manufacturing industry...