Chapter 572 "French Labor Security and Safety Ordinance"
The gray-black "Jewel Type 3" carriage drifted around the corner and flew past pedestrians. Then, amid the coachman's shouts of "ooo", it suddenly stopped outside the Lyon City Hall.
Flimland, the general manager of the Grande Manufacturing Company, jumped out of the car and ran towards the financial office with athletic skills that would never be possible at the age of 50.
After entering the city hall gate, he finally breathed a sigh of relief.
There were only five or six people queuing in front of him, so he arrived very early.
It's no wonder that he is anxious. After all, no one can be sure how much the compensation will be. If it is late and all the money has been collected, or if he has to wait for a long time, he will regret it.
The team moved forward very slowly, which made him keep looking forward. He saw government officials talking non-stop to the factory owners who were applying for compensation.
After a full three hours, Flimland finally reached the front of the team. At this time, there was already a long queue behind him. These big bosses with tens of millions of francs have not lined up like this for a long time.
"Next one."
The financial official's voice sounded like music from heaven. Flimland hurriedly took the leather bag from the entourage, then stepped forward and placed the company's various documents and the most important order agreement on the desk.
"The weather is really cold. I salute your hard work." He said to the official with a smile on his face. "Look, I have signed a total order of 570,000 francs. No, it's this 'Vienna Looker Caravan' .
"According to the government's announcement, it seems that I can receive a compensation of 68,000 francs, right?"
The official put away the information and nodded: "We need to verify the information first, including checking whether your factory has produced the goods on the order.
"If everything is confirmed, you can receive the compensation later."
"Ah, that's great!" Flimlan said excitedly, "Long live His Majesty the King! Long live His Royal Highness the Crown Prince!"
The official handed over a pamphlet unhurriedly and said: "Oh, I must explain it to you.
“First, all compensation must be used to pay your workers, excluding company directors and senior management.
“And all workers’ wages must not be lower than last month’s level.
"You can send someone to take the workers' wages receipts and come here every month to settle the accounts. Until all the compensation due to you is paid out."
Joseph knew very well that after these capitalists lost money in the company, they would immediately pass the losses on to the workers.
France's industrial construction has just started. In order to reduce costs, various companies have already reduced workers' wages to the minimum level that can survive.
If it drops further, it is likely to make workers' lives unsustainable, eventually triggering large-scale strikes or even riots.
So he finally decided to use the 4.5 million francs for "special assistance." Anyway, the money is considered free, and the amount is not too much. If the industrial environment in France can be stabilized, there will definitely be profit without loss.
At the same time, he is also planning to use the money to promote the "French Labor Security and Safety Decree" that was drafted not long ago.
The financial officer gestured to the pamphlet in Frimland's hand: "In addition, you must be careful not to violate this decree. Otherwise, the payment of compensation will be terminated."
Flimland flipped through the Labor Security and Safety Act and wondered, "When was this promulgated?"
"It has been on trial for a month and a half." The official did not appear 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 terms of the decree: Workers employed in factories 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 limit is exceeded...
Factories must ensure a safe working environment for workers, specifically referring to the latest safety standards in various industries...
Factories must ensure that workers who have not completed basic education have more than 2 hours of class time every day...
Factories are not allowed to fire workers without reason. For those who must be fired, they must pay 1 to 3 months’ wages based on the seriousness of their fault...
There was a lot more behind it. Flimland flipped through it roughly and nodded quickly: "Yes, I will abide by it seriously."
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 compensation of nearly 70,000 francs, this cost is completely worthless.
Not long after, Frimland completed a series of procedures, signed the compensation agreement, and happily prepared to return to the company.
With this money, the wages he pays workers in the second half of the year will basically not come out of the company's accounts.
"It's Monsieur Edgar d'Estaing."
The financial officer's voice came from behind Flimland, which made him startled. The Larsko Textile Company in Destin implemented production reductions in accordance with the requirements of the Industrial Development Fund in the first month, and it should not have suffered any losses.
He turned around in surprise and heard Destin say: "Well, my company only lost 17,000 francs, but based on the order amount, the compensation was 90,000 francs. Look at this..."
The financial official said without hesitation: “The compensation will still be paid according to the prescribed amount, no matter how much you lose.
"But I must explain it to you first. First of all, compensation must be used to pay wages to workers..."
Flimlan's eyes widened when he heard this. How could he still make money after encountering order fraud? !
Even if he received compensation, he still lost nearly 20,000 francs!
He regretted it in his heart. If he had followed the Development Fund Committee's request to reduce production from the beginning, he would have earned tens of thousands of francs, and then he would be able to buy the villa that he had been eyeing for a long time...
The factory owners who came to receive compensation also had the same idea as him, muttering to themselves that they should still believe in the advice of the development fund in the future.
And half a month later, news spread that made them even more envious - the Industrial Development Fund believed that in this incident, the factories that implemented production reductions had "valuable foresight" and "a keen sense of the market", so Decide to invest more in them and apply for some tax relief.
The factory owners were absolutely pissed off.
Investments from development funds can easily exceed hundreds of thousands, and coupled with tax cuts, the scale and competitiveness of these companies will immediately increase to a higher level.
It’s just one step to reach heaven! If it were them, even if they worked hard for several years or even more than ten years, they might not be able to achieve such development.
…
Paris.
On the second floor of the Tuileries Palace, Joseph smiled and looked at Carlona sitting in front of him, and praised without hesitation: "You have achieved extremely outstanding results in Vienna this time, which is enough to prove that you are France's top financial and trade expert. "
(End of chapter)