Chapter 623: Strike movement

  Chapter 610 The Strike Movement

Immigrating ten million sounds scary, but in essence spread out over five years, it would only be two million immigrants per year.

With Austria’s current population base, calculated at a two percent growth rate, the native population is also more than 1.7 million new people each year, and in fact will be a little more.

In an age without any recreational activities, the populace is still keen on making babies. Together with the birth subsidies provided by the Vienna government, Austria’s population growth rate has always been among the highest in the world.

The total native population has not decreased much, but the impact still will not be small. We are now in the midst of the second industrial revolution, with new industries expanding and the demand for labor increasing.

The demand for labor is increasing, but the number is decreasing, the supply and demand relationship in the labor market is changing, and labor costs are bound to rise.

Compared with traditional industries, the most important feature of emerging industries is their vitality. During the period of rapid development, enterprises have higher profits and can naturally afford to pay higher wages.

In this context, if traditional enterprises do not want to be eliminated by the market, then technological innovation is imperative.

In fact, a lot of new production equipment, has long appeared, however, some capitalists in order to save costs, just do not bother to replace.

This is not Franz’s speculation, but there is evidence. There were also capitalists who complained in the newspaper:

Nowadays, machinery and equipment are replaced so frequently that if they are replaced today, they may be outdated again in a few years. Anyway, the current equipment can still be used, it is better to wait for the emergence of a better, and then a step.

The comfortable business environment for a long time has made capitalists conservative. Many even oppose technological progress because it increases uncertainty.

The most typical was the age of electricity, and there were still many factories that insisted on using gas lamps in order to save costs.

It’s not that the capitalists don’t know the advantages of electric lighting, but they just aren’t willing to put up the money to lay the electrical equipment.

Why ask for trouble when you can just keep using gas lights anyway and continue to make money as usual?

The poor in Austria are not in the countryside at large, but are concentrated in the cities. The main reason for this is that everything is going up but wages.

From 1848 to the present, Austria’s per capita income increased by 2.3 times, but workers’ wages rose by only 56%, and even a considerable part of the wages of factories, actually did not change.

Economic development, income did not follow up, reduced to poverty is not surprising.

Now Franz is actually forced to make the big move of immigration. If the situation does not change, sooner or later something will happen.

……

Milan, as the capital of the Lombardy Kingdom, has always been the most prosperous city in the Italian region. No, now I should say it is the most prosperous area in the German region.

Territory is always artificially divided, and now that Austria is so powerful, Franz has directly assigned the Lombardy region to the German region.

Whether we are used to it or not, all the official documents above, Milan is part of the German region. The rationale was that the Lombards were a part of the German nation.

There are more Italians in the area, but that doesn’t matter. History can be changed, cultural traditions can be changed, and nationalities can be changed.

The international community has recognized it, and the Kingdom of Lombardy is part of the German region. Along with Lombardy there are many others that have been included in the German region, for example: next door Venice, further away Hungary, the Austrian Balkans ……

Even the Kingdom of Jerusalem is soon to become part of the German region, and looking at the current map of the German region, one could just put historians to shame.

What natural conditions, historical factors, all is bullshit, the real basis of the division is very characteristic of the times, Austrian artillery range, are the German region, or the Austrian region.

The name is just, just call what you want and does not affect the interests of everyone, listen to a few more times will also get used to it.

Dacor textile factory is a well-known big enterprise in the Milan area, in the many textile factories in Austria, can also be ranked into the top three.

It includes: reeling mill, woolen mill, cotton mill, printing and dyeing factory, garment factory and so on a dozen factories, with more than 130,000 employees.

In the Milan area has an independent industrial park, in the past at this time, the factory has long been busy, now it is a strange dead silence.

People who know the situation know that there is another strike here.

Compulsory education is universal in Austria, and Lombardy is no exception. Thanks to a sense of discipline from an early age, the strike movement is now much more harmonious.

Everyone has clearly realized that mechanical equipment is a food utensil, and that smashing and looting is smashing one’s own rice bowl.

This does not prevent people from striking legally, which remains a fundamental right for everyone and does not require anyone’s authorization as long as it does not affect public order.

Milan is heavily influenced by Italian maritime culture and is the birthplace of the Renaissance, so compared to the rest of Austria, new ideas are much more active here, and strike movements are much more frequent.

Of course, this was not the main factor in the strike at the Dinkle textile factory. Like most traditional companies, the Dacol textile mills were in decline in their heyday.

After the second industrial revolution, Dacol failed to seize the opportunity, sided with the conservatives, and failed to update its equipment in time to compete in the market.

Affected by the decline in profits, from 1870 to the present, the enterprise has not increased salaries once, but prices did not stop waiting for them, strike movement naturally occurred.

Like most companies, the Dacol textile factory was a family business, and its current head, Dacol Lanno, was already in his seventies.

In his younger days, he was also a man of the world. In the Austro-Saxon war decisively bet on Austria, after the end of the war, the competitors because of the wrong side of the box, Dacor Lanno took the opportunity to merge their factories, and then opened up the lying life.

Utilizing the gap in the market, Dacor textile mills developed rapidly, the peak of the number of workers once more than 180,000, the annual output value of the enterprise into Austria’s top 100.

However, this kind of industry without core technology, all have a common problem, that is, more competitors.

After the Vienna government’s “wheat to mulberry” strategy to promote, the Kingdom of Lombardy soon became Austria’s most important source of raw silk.

Close to the water, Dacor textile mills enjoy the first wave of dividends, local production is undoubtedly a significant reduction in costs.

Even now, Dacor textile mills also occupy most of the raw silk processing in the Kingdom of Lombardy. With a complete industrial chain, Dacol Textile Factory should be living a very prosperous life.

However, with the advent of the second industrial revolution, the situation began to change. All kinds of machinery and equipment are constantly updated, the old and conservative D’Arc Lanno in order to pursue greater profits, did not first keep pace with the times.

One slow step at a time, and the competition for capital was all over the place, competitors would not leave them a chance.

New technology brings not only increased productivity, but also improved product quality. In the case of price difference, good quality goods are definitely more popular.

In just a few years, the market share of Dacor textile fabrics was eaten up by one-third of the competitors, and the profits of the enterprise plummeted.

After receiving the news of the strike, Dacor Lenoir slammed the table: “Strike again, this bunch of heartless things, do not think about who is supporting them!

If we go down, they won’t even have jobs. If you don’t want to do it, don’t do it, there are plenty of people who want to get into Dacor to work.

Tell them to follow the old rules and fire ten percent of the strikers, order them to return to work immediately, and the ones who are slowest to return to work, get the hell out of here!”

This was the experience that Dakor Lanno had summarized in dealing with strikes. Among the workers, he had also bought spies, and whenever this time came, as long as someone took the lead in resuming work, the strike could not go on.

Usually those who stayed at the end were recalcitrant, so naturally they had to be fired. As to whether or not it was really necessary to lay off ten percent of the workers, it didn’t really matter, as long as the recalcitrant elements, or those who led the way, were fired, and an example was made of them.

In this more-than-rotten era, Dakor Lanno thought he had done a pretty good job, at least he had obeyed the law, much better than the underground black factories.

Of course, that was limited to him personally, he was a vampire in the eyes of the workers. Complying with the Labor Protection Act, sorry, no big business in Austria would dare to break the law, it was the small businesses that took the risk.

There is no way around it, the government in Vienna is very strict and the enforcement is very strong, plus the Labor Protection Act is not excessive and essentially protects the interests of both sides.

It’s not that no one has threatened the Vienna government with the closure of the factory, it’s just that there’s no use for it, and Franz has done a very thorough job of upholding the dignity of the law.

No matter what the consequences, it’s time to go to jail. Before threatening the government, it is better to expect that there is no black history, or else you will not even be qualified to close the plant, and your assets will all be confiscated by the government.

A large portion of Austria’s state-owned enterprises are confiscated, and almost every three to five years the Vienna government auctions off a number of state-owned enterprises, most of which are small factories.

After the previous lesson, the people behind are much lower profile. Drilling the legal loopholes is just that, directly against the government, or forget it!

It looks like the bourgeoisie is powerful, but in reality their strength is very limited, and they rely on money to blow up their reputation.

Whoever is able to integrate the bourgeoisie with serious conflicts of interest, will someone become a traitor in a minute?

This is most obvious in Austria, where the capitalists have become much less powerful since the law stipulates that the news must be truthful.

If you make empty promises, you will be held accountable by the law. If you dare to brag about it, other newspapers won’t dare to publish it.

Little Llano objected, “Father, this is not good! In the last year, we have fired 20,000 old workers, and now many of the new recruits’ skills are not up to par, and the rate of product defects is two percentage points higher.

The increase in the defective rate will affect the reputation of our products, and now the competition is so fierce, if we can’t guarantee the quality of our products, our market will be snatched by our competitors.

This is equivalent to a vicious cycle, why don’t we send someone to talk to the workers’ representatives first, and just fire these pricks afterward.”

As a qualified capitalist, one always puts interests first.

After weighing the pros and cons, Dakoel Lanno shook her head, “There can be no compromise, human desire is endless. Once this precedent is set, we will never have peace.

Remember that cannery next door? McDowell was so smart, but in order to rush a batch of orders, he compromised with the workers, and then was directly dragged down by the high labor costs.

Remember, even if we have to raise salaries, it has to be on our own initiative. Giving in under their duress is not going to reap any gratitude.”

This was a case that Leno Jr. had heard many times before. Except that he had the opposite view; the cannery closed down and McDowell was still having a good time, apparently not closing down because he couldn’t afford the labor costs.

Lombardy Kingdom does not have a large-scale cannery, has been able to explain a lot of problems. The vast majority of Austrian food factories are concentrated in Hungary and the Balkans, for no other reason than the proximity of raw materials.

Canned goods are produced in Milan from mulberry fruit? Don’t be ridiculous, who is this stuff sold to.

Nowadays, the best canned goods on the market are meat, and canned fruits and vegetables are only purchased by the crews. Unfortunately, Milan really has no advantage in this area.

Still, the last sentence was something that little Lanno recognized. Making concessions at this time really couldn’t buy people’s hearts.

As for the aftermath, why increase labor costs when work has already resumed?

(End of chapter)