"Julian!" Mr. Kre called out from the second-floor hallway outside his office. Wh Julian turned to look at him, Kre nodded toward a nearby eting room and said, "Co up here for a momt."
Julian set down his work and glanced at Graf, who had just finished unloading so cargo. Graf patted his shoulder lightly and said, "Don't worry. If nothing unexpected happs, it's probably the union reps."
Ev though Graf saw dealing with the union as a trivial matter, Julian, facing the union for the first ti, couldn't help but let the nervousness show in his stiffed smile. He slapped his cheeks gtly and took a deep breath, "Don't worry, I won't be nervous."
Graf shrugged. This was sothing Julian would have to handle on his own; there wasn't much Graf could do to ease his tsion.
Unions were an esstial support system for workers. Most of the ti, workers didn't need them, but wh they did, unions could make all the differce. Especially wh dealing with capitalists. Without union support, workers were oft at a disadvantage, particularly wh it ca to wages.
Greedy capitalists always sought to exploit workers to save costs, but thanks to the union and the Minimum Wage Protection Act, they couldn't go too far in their exploitation.
Wh workers rights were infringed upon, unions would step in to fight for them.
A rowned sociologist of the Empire, who was also a promint capitalist, once said in a newspaper: "If a single worker is a rabbit, th a group of workers is a pack of hounds. We can shear the rabbit for profit, but we must avoid the hounds to protect ourselves."
This statemt caused a huge uproar in society and led to a large-scale protest, condemning the sociologist's inappropriate remarks. Under immse pressure, the sociologist had to publish an apology in the newspaper. The matter should have ded there, but unfortunately, the man couldn't help himself and later commted, "I've lost to the hounds!"
This raged the workers ev more, and they ded up assaulting the sociologist, stripping him of his clothes, and tying him to the railing outside the third-floor platform of the Imperial Building, causing a national scandal...
Julian straighted his clothes, knocked on the eting room door, and, hearing a "co in," pushed it op.
Three people were seated at the conferce table: two m and one woman. The woman appeared to be in her thirties, dressed in an elegant suit, though her facial features were sowhat sharp, lacking the usual softness of a woman. The two m were also impeccably dressed, with their hair slicked down so smoothly that not ev a fly could land on it.
Julian smiled awkwardly and glanced outside the door, making sure he hadn't tered the wrong room.
But the three in front of him… if they were worker represtatives, Julian found that hard to believe.
If workers dressed like this, th the working class must be wealthy indeed.
The older man smiled and nodded at Julian, th glanced through the documts on the table before asking, "You're Julian, right?" Th, quickly realizing his omission, he added, "Sorry, I forgot to introduce myself. I'm Frank, a represtative of the Workers' Union. This gtleman next to is Abdul, who holds the sa position as I do. As for this lady…"
Wh Frank looked at the woman, she gave Julian a curt nod, her expression unchanged. "I'm Selina, the legal advisor for the Workers' Union."
Frank picked up the conversation again, "We're here today on behalf of the Workers Union to invite you to join. The Workers' Union is a family for the working class. In the face of the capitalist's ruthless exploitation, we can only protect and fight for our rights by standing together."
At that momt, Selina interrupted, "Pardon for cutting in," she said, pointing her p at Julian's right hand. "I noticed your right hand is bandaged, and there's still so blood on it. Is this an injury you sustained while working here?"
Julian was caught off guard and froze for a momt before answering, "Ah? Oh! Yes, I got hurt rectly."
Selina nodded slightly, though it wasn't clear what exactly that gesture ant. "After you were injured, did Mr. Kre, the station manager, take you for treatmt, cover your dical expses, and offer you compsation for the injury?"
Julian scratched his head. "This was my own fault, nothing to do with Mr. Kre."
Selina abruptly stood up and slamd her p down on the table, her expression becoming ev more serious. "No, young man, you're mistak. Whether it was your fault or not, as long as you were injured while working, it's classified as a workplace injury."
Frank, seeing Julian's growing tsion, stood up, walked over, and motioned for him to sit down. "Don't worry. What we're doing is not for personal gain, and this is exactly what shows the power of the union in protecting our rights."
Not long after, Abdul tered the eting room with Mr. Kre. Faced with Selina, who was a well-known lawyer within the union, Kre greeted her first, "Hello, Ms. Selina."
Selina remained stern and unmoved. Only after Kre had tak a seat did she ask, "Mr. Kre, are you aware of Julian's injury that occurred while he was working?"
Kre was tak aback. He truly didn't know. As the station manager, he had many responsibilities to manage daily and didn't have the ti to check on every worker's well being. Since Julian hadn't mtioned it, Kre had no idea. This left him in a difficult position.
He glanced at Julian's bandaged hand, feeling a twinge of discomfort. As a manager and exploiter, he hated dealing with union represtatives because they always managed to co up with so absurd reason to make capitalists like him fork over money for no appart reason.
Kre shook his head and answered truthfully, "I didn't know. Julian never told , and I wasn't aware of it."
"And do you know the consequces you face as an employer wh a worker is injured on the job?" Selina asked, flipping op her notebook and writing sothing down casually before looking back at Kre. "For instance, covering dical expses, providing nutritional supplemts, and offering paid leave?"
Kre fell silt. Not only did he know, but he knew very well. Injuries among the porters at the station were common. So workers, ev wh exhausted, would push themselves to the limit, unwilling to miss out on the commission, only to d up hurting themselves. Whever that happed, Kre would have to step in with money to settle things. Usually, it wasn't a huge amount.
For sothing like Julian's hand injury, dical costs would amount to a three dollars, and the nutrition and compsation wouldn't exceed six dollars in total.
But six dollars was still money, and these union people had shown up at the worst possible ti. If they had co a few days later, of this would have be an issue.
Selina's voice suddly rose. "What's wrong, Mr. Kre? Are you unwilling to pay these costs? If that's the case, we might have to file a lawsuit in Ternell city court."
Kre imdiately raised his hand. "No, no, I'll pay. Six dollars, right? I'll give him ti off tomorrow!"
He backed down imdiately. It wasn't worth going to court over six dollars, especially since hiring a lawyer would cost at least t. It was better to just pay the six dollars and avoid the hassle. He quickly agreed to cover the expses and give Julian three days off, which instantly quieted Selina.
After Abdul escorted Kre out of the room, Frank smiled and said, "See? That's the power of the union! One of our main reasons for coming here today was to invite you to join the Workers' Union. Once you're a mber, you'll joy many befits and protections. Today's situation was just a small example of what we can do.
The best part is, no matter what happs, any legal fees required to defd your rights will be covered by the union. You won't have to pay a ct."
"Of course, to joy these befits, you'll also need to contribute. That includes an annual mbership fee of fifty cts, participating in union activities wh necessary, and following the guidance on work-related matters. If you can agree to these three conditions, I'll officially welco you into the Workers' Union."
Julian found these terms reasonable, especially after hearing the befits from Graf earlier, so he quickly agreed. Later, Mr. Kre brought the six dollars, and Julian took fifty cts out of it to pay Frank as his annual union fee.
Frank told him he should visit the Ternell City Workers' Union headquarters within a week to register and have his information recorded in the national database.
Wh Julian returned to the platform, Graf ca over and asked, "How was it? Not so scary, right?"
Julian nodded. "You were right. They're good people. They ev got six dollars from Mr. Kre."
"Six dollars?" Graf glanced at Julian's bandaged hand and slapped his forehead. "Wait here a minute. Mr. Kre owes six dollars too!"
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