Chapter 527 Don’t worry about scarcity but inequality
In a joint venture, the biggest internal conflict, apart from conflicts over rights, interests and trust, is probably the conflict among employees caused by unequal pay for equal work.

Why is it that Hong Kong employees and local employees, doing the same work, can get salaries that are 30 to 50 times higher?
This is a very real problem.

After He Yuzhu turned the small brewery into a joint venture, he knew there would be such a contradiction.

Therefore, when the factory was first established, Jinlong Group explained the situation to the winery management through the city leaders.

Zhou Rong also knew this, but some things were really hard to tell the local employees.

"Has Hong Kong heard the news?"

"Sister Rong, we have already notified them, and we have also notified the city leaders. The city leaders have instructed that the Xiangjiang employees be sent back to the dormitory and calmed down first. They have sent the police to maintain order to prevent the incident from escalating. In addition, the city leaders also said that they are going to send a working group to help with mediation and appeasement..."

Wang Quan reported the general situation.

He and his wife Yu Qian graduated in 1975 and were assigned to work in factories.

Over the past few years, the couple's salary level has increased a bit. By the beginning of this year, their combined salary was nearly 200 yuan.

In fact, with this salary level, one can live a very good life in a place like Harbin.

However, at the beginning of this year, Su Mingzhe suddenly found Wang Quan and said that he wanted him to resign and help out in He Yuzhu's wine-making workshop.

Su Mingzhe gave Wang Quan a few days to think about it.

As it turned out, Wang Quan was a really honest guy. He didn't even ask the reason or the treatment. He went directly to the factory to submit his resignation.

What can Su Mingzhe say when he meets such a close confidant?

It is said that "If you treat me like a great man, I will repay you like a great man."

The same is true the other way around.

Wang Quan was so loyal to Su Mingzhe that Su Mingzhe quietly revealed some information, for example, that he was "He Yuzhu", the wine-making workshop was his, and Zhou Bingkun's sister Zhou Rong was also his wife...

When Wang Quan heard Su Mingzhe tell these secrets, he was shocked and stunned, but then he said that he would keep the news to himself and not even tell his wife Yu Qian.

Later, the wine-making workshop was invested in and moved to the Harbin Winery.

Su Mingzhe took the opportunity to make Wang Quan the factory director.

After Wang Quan became the factory director, in addition to a monthly salary of 500 yuan, Su Mingzhe also gave him a 1% stake as a reward for his loyalty to him.

After Wang Quan knew that Su Mingzhe was 'He Yuzhu', he naturally respected Zhou Rong very much.

After listening to his report, Zhou Rong felt unsure and could only continue to ask:
"What's going on inside now? Have the workers damaged the production equipment?"

"No, I was afraid that they would damage the production equipment and raw pulp when they made trouble, so I asked someone to guide them to the large conference room. The police just came and are maintaining order there."

Wang Quan's ability is just so-so, but acceptable, otherwise he would not be valued by Su Mingzhe.

However, this was the first time Wang Quan had encountered something like this, and he really couldn't think of a solution, so he notified Zhou Rong.

Zhou Rong is here now, but she doesn't know what to do.

After all, she only worked in the soy sauce factory for a few years and went to Yan University to study for four years. Apart from that, she had no management experience at all.

At this time, she could only respond as she saw the opponent's moves:
"By the way, it's already noon, have they eaten yet?"

"No, it's the weekend and I was supposed to be resting. Who would have thought something like this would happen? I stopped working the whole morning and the cafeteria didn't prepare any food."

"How about this, lunch is over. Go inform the canteen to prepare some more meat dishes and send them to the conference room. We'll go in later when the city leaders arrive."

Zhou Rong gave some instructions and then sat in the office with Wang Quan waiting for news.

Not long after, a security guard called to report that Zhou Rong's younger brother Zhou Bingkun had brought people over.

Zhou Rong naturally notified the security guard to release the person.

After a while, Zhou Bingkun and Cai Xiaoguang entered the office.

"Why are you here together?"

Zhou Rong was a little surprised to see the two of them appear together.

Cai Xiaoguang quickly explained:

"Bingkun and Lele are at my house with the kids. When we heard something happened at the brewery, we were both worried about you, so we hurried over."

Zhou Bingkun was also a country bumpkin. When Cai Xiaoguang spoke, he started to yell:
"Sister, I heard that the brewery had problems because the wages of Hong Kong employees were dozens of times higher than our local wages. What's going on? Are Hong Kong employees so valuable? Why do our local employees get less in a month than they do in a day?"

Zhou Bingkun really never forgets his origins.

The other three people in the office rolled their eyes when they heard what he said.

Cai Xiaoguang couldn't help but complain:

"Bingkun, whose side are you on? Now it's the local employees who are causing trouble. You're not afraid of getting into trouble, right?"

"Is this a question of which side is causing trouble?"

Zhou Bingkun didn't know the seriousness of the matter yet, and directly responded:
"I think we should make a fuss. Why do employees in Hong Kong get paid more than we do here?"

"Okay, okay, stop yelling."

Zhou Rong didn't expect that her brother came here not to support her, but to support the employees in making trouble. She couldn't help but become even more upset.

"Ahem, Bingkun, let me explain."

Wang Quan and Zhou Bingkun had both been in Baiyashan for a few years and were friends. At this time, they stood up and explained: "Let me explain the issue of unequal pay for equal work. First of all, although Xiangjiang employees also work in Harbin, they are dispatched by Xiangjiang. In theory, their wages are paid by Xiangjiang Jinlong Group, and the payment standards must also be based on the wage standards in Xiangjiang, not the wage standards in Harbin. It's like you, Zhou Bingkun, went on a business trip to the countryside, but the wage standard you received was still the wage standard in Harbin, not the wage standard in the countryside. When the farmers in the countryside saw that your salary was higher than theirs, they made trouble and insisted on getting the same salary as you did in Harbin. Do you think this is reasonable?"

"Is that right?"

Zhou Bingkun also went to college and worked at Golden Land magazine for many years. After hearing Wang Quan's explanation, he seemed to understand the reason for "equal work but unequal pay".

However, Zhou Bingkun has been writing too many articles now, and there is a sour and pedantic air about him:
"But it can't be that different, right?"

"This gap is not what we want. It's the gap between Hong Kong and Harbin!"

Wang Quan explained a few more words, and Cai Xiaoguang next to him listened and asked curiously:

"Since the truth is so easy to understand, you just need to explain it to the workers. Then why are the workers making such a fuss?"

"It's because the income statement was leaked."

Wang Quan sighed and told the story again.

It turned out that last month, the first batch of 50,000 bottles of medicinal liquor were sent to Hong Kong for sale, and they were sold out in just a few days.

The sales amount reached more than 400 million Hong Kong dollars.

The company in Hong Kong settled the sales channel fees and taxes a few days ago, and transferred the remaining profits to us, a total of more than 6 million US dollars.

According to the agreement between the three parties, in addition to leaving more than one million US dollars in operating funds, the remaining five million US dollars was distributed that month.

He Yuzhu and Wang Quan together held 40% of the shares and received US$2 million.

The Harbin government held 11 percent of the shares and received $550,000.

After the news got out, it caused dissatisfaction among the winery employees, who felt they were being exploited. Coupled with the issue of "equal work but unequal pay", they eventually went on strike.

Zhou Bingkun and Cai Xiaoguang couldn't help but gasp when they heard that He Yuzhu received a dividend of two million US dollars in one month.

Cai Xiaoguang was too embarrassed to say anything. Zhou Bingkun was Zhou Rong's younger brother, so he couldn't help but speak again:

"Sister, this winery makes millions of dollars a month. It's okay to give the employees a raise, right?"

"Bingkun, this is not how things work."

Wang Quan saw that Zhou Bingkun was always thinking about the workers, and Zhou Rong lowered her head, looking uncertain, so she had to stand up and continue to explain:
"It wouldn't be a big deal for us to pay tens or hundreds of thousands more to pay salaries. After all, it's just a small amount of money for us. But the leaders above don't allow us to do this."

"Why?"

Zhou Bingkun was a little confused. How could the superiors not agree if the factory paid more money to the workers?

Wang Quan did not answer, but asked:

"Think about it, is there any difference between the work done by the workers at the Jinlong Distillery and the workers at other distilleries in Harbin?"

Zhou Bingkun thought for a moment before answering in a low voice:
"No difference, right?"

Wang Quan immediately spread his hands and said:
"Yes, you also said that their work is exactly the same as that of other winery workers. And the salary we pay here is already much higher than that of other wineries. If we continue to increase their salary, or even let them get the same treatment as the workers in Hong Kong, do you think the other winery workers will cause trouble?"

"Forehead……"

After Zhou Bingkun understood the meaning of Wang Quan's words, he was suddenly speechless and fell silent.

Yes, the workers at the Jinlong Distillery do the same work as those in other factories, but they only get paid a few thousand yuan.

Would workers in other factories be willing?
This is a very simple and easy to understand truth.

If we analyze the matter more deeply, the adverse effects are far more than this.

After understanding these principles, Zhou Bingkun had to remain silent.

Just when the office was falling into silence, the leaders finally sent a working group to start calming the workers in the factory.

Zhou Rong and Wang Quan don’t have to worry about the rest of the work.

After all, the main issue at work this time is "equal work but unequal pay".

It took a lot of effort to coordinate the workers' emotions.

Zhou Rong returned to her love nest exhausted and saw her man sitting on the sofa in the living room. She was so scared that she quickly closed the curtains and then turned around and asked:
"Why are you here?"

According to external statements, 'Ho Yuk-chu' should be in Hong Kong at this moment.

Su Mingzhe, however, sat at home in a swaggering manner. It would be troublesome if someone saw him.

"I heard something happened and I was afraid you couldn't hold on, so I came to accompany you."

Su Mingzhe was already a master of time management. He waved to Zhou Rong to sit in his arms, touched her little face, and said with a smile:
"I heard that Bingkun and Xiaoguang also went there. Are you not scared?"

"How could I not be scared? I was so scared that my heart almost jumped out of my chest."

Zhou Rong remembered that she had pretended to be calm when she was at the winery. Now that she was hugged by the man, she finally realized what was happening and began to tremble:

"Hubby, how about we sell the winery shares? We've made too much money. It feels hot and unsafe to hold it in our hands..."

"Don't worry about this, I'll arrange it."

Su Mingzhe had been making preparations for a long time, and naturally would not let anything really dangerous happen to his woman.

(End of this chapter)