Working on the "dock" is not an easy job. A large number of goods need to be unloaded or loaded every day, and the work starts almost from dawn until late at night.
The salary of this job is very low and the intensity is very high, so it is difficult to recruit enough people. This is why there is a breach of contract clause in the agreement that requires a compensation of 50 yuan for less than half a year. As for why it is half a year instead of a year, two years or even longer, there is a reason. This kind of high-intensity work may only bring people a feeling of fatigue in the early stage, but as the working hours continue to increase, the physical aspect is no longer as simple as fatigue.
Lack of nutritional supplements, no comfortable resting environment, and steam locomotives passing by at night. Over time, these porters will suffer from some physical problems, such as "occupational diseases" such as bone deformities. . According to the capitalists' thinking, these sick workers can no longer take on the heavy work of porters. Spending money to support them and provide them with food, drink and housing is already a loss-making behavior. The only way out for them is to be kicked. go out.
But things couldn't go so smoothly because of the existence of labor unions. Unions are something that makes all capitalists feel nauseous and want to vomit. They hate unions and cannot live without unions. They can only pinch their noses to make themselves feel better as much as possible. Under the dual circumstances of imperial law and theocratic law, Under care, circumventing certain rules.
For example, if an occupational disease is considered a work-related injury, the station will either pay a large sum of money to send the workers away, or it will support them until they are forty-five years old.
For God's sake, let alone feeding them, even paying an extra five cents is a painful act of flesh-cutting for the capitalists, so the station's agreements are signed every six months. After the agreement expires, the station will write a note to those workers who request to renew the contract. They can only continue to sign the agreement after a physical examination confirms that they are not sick or have skeletal deformities. As for those workers with physical problems, they are simply kicked out. After the contract is fulfilled, whether these workers become ill due to overwork or whether they get sick due to heavy physical work at the station has nothing to do with the station.
At that time, the union will have no power or excuse to attack each other with the station.
Of course, Dulin will not know this. In the eyes of Mr. Crean, this is a fool from the countryside who will be thrown out after six months and left to his own destruction! What? study? It was a school run by his daughter. Why not introduce the workers to learn a little knowledge and increase their knowledge and education
Du Lin arrived at the station early the next morning. There was already a hint of autumn coolness in the early morning of late summer and early autumn. He rubbed his hands on his arms, bringing some warmth to his body. When I stood next to the platform with the oil lamp, there were already many workers around, preparing to welcome the first steam locomotive.
"New here?" A guy in his thirties who looked like a bear was wearing only a vest. He had a cigarette in his mouth, took another one, and handed it to Du. Forest.
When they were in the country, the brothers would sometimes steal Mr. Kesma's cigarettes, and each of them would take a puff. The puffing was not necessarily for pleasure, but was purely a joyful pastime. Faced with the cigarette offered by a stranger, he hesitated for a moment, then took it and thanked him, "Thank you for the cigarette, I'm Du Lin."
The man Xiong took out a match and rubbed it on Du Lin's collar. A thick white smoke suddenly rose up. Both of them tilted their heads to avoid the white smoke that was said to be poisonous, and then they went to the burning match and lit the cigarette.
The guy flicked the match and threw it on the ground. He stepped on it a few more times and crushed it. After taking a deep breath, he blew out the smoke and said, "Smoking is prohibited in the station. It is said that it has happened in other places at the station." Smoking inside caused the disaster of burning the goods." He stretched out his hand and grinned, "My name is Graf, and I am very happy to be your coworker."
Dulin reached out and shook Graf's hand, and suddenly felt much closer. This is the charm of social interaction. Simple conversations and sharing that may not be considered gifts can quickly bring the relationship between two strangers closer.
"It's an honor for me, sir." Dulin was very polite. He nodded and took a puff of cigarette, then coughed.
Graf laughed loudly. He patted Dulin on the back and said with a smile: "Don't use the word sir, it is only used by the big shots in the upper class. Just call me by my name. Also, is it good enough?" He took off the cigarette hanging from the corner of his mouth, held it with two fingers and waved it in front of Du Lin.
Du Lin coughed for a while before he could get through it. He didn't dare to smoke this cigarette anymore. His face turned pale due to the cough, "What are the things in here?"
Graf seemed very happy and proud, "In addition to a small part of tobacco leaves, there are also straw, dried vine melons cut into shreds, and, by the way, some blood orange peels and a little ground into flour. Chili peel.”
"Let that kid go, Graf, who can stand that thing of yours?" Someone had noticed the situation here, and immediately some workers started shouting with a smile.
Graf didn't care at all. He put the cigarette in his mouth again and glanced at them sideways. "This guy can handle it!" He pushed Du Lin with his arm, almost causing Du Lin to lose his balance and fall. On the ground, "Do you think it's easy to smoke?"
In fact, most of the cigarettes that workers smoke are cigarettes with some added ingredients, because the money they earn is not enough to qualify them to consume expensive things like cigarettes. They usually pick up some cigarette butts with about one centimeter left from the station, pour out the tobacco leaves, and collect them. If these tobacco leaves are simply rolled into cigarettes, you may only be able to roll two or three cigarette butts after picking them up in a day. But if you add a little more material, you can roll it out into a packet.
The upper class has the luxury and excess of the upper class, while the lower class also has the survival wisdom of the lower class. After trying many things, most people agree on the sun-dried vine gourd shreds and sun-dried blood orange peels. As for Graff's addition of straw and paprika... that's his personal preference.
Dulin looked at Graf's sincere eyes and the expectation in his eyes. The kind and simple country boy could only bite the bullet and take another sip. His face almost turned pale, "Not bad, okay!", and coughed again after speaking. A few times, making Graf laugh.
Dulin could see that Graf was not playing tricks on him, but was really laughing happily.
At this time, the steam locomotive in the distance began to whistle, and the workers also began to pack up their tools and stood on the edge of the platform waiting to unload.
When the steam locomotive arrived at the station, Dulin discovered that the so-called "standard cargo" did not mean a package, a sack or a box, but many, many. According to some knowledge he learned in his dream, there are almost four cubes. In fact, it’s right to think about it. If you could give two cents just for a trip back and forth, I’m afraid the station wouldn’t need to recruit workers at all. It would have been overcrowded by workers long ago.
Graf handed two ropes tied together at both ends to Dulin, and then helped him pass his arms and put them on his shoulders, forming an Now, use this rope to stretch the two corners of the box. You can use your whole body's strength, which is relatively easy and does not hurt your body." As he said, he punched Du Lin on the shoulder, "What you need to learn. There’s more, brother!”
The work in the morning was relatively easy, and there were not many steam locomotives traveling at night. It was only in the afternoon that Dulin felt really tired. Steam locomotives kept coming into the station, and Mr. Crean also walked out of the office, scolding the workers and arranging dispatches. He was busy from almost one o'clock to seven o'clock in the evening before he had time to breathe.
Du Lin, whose arms had already begun to tremble and couldn't even clench his fists, sat at the edge of the dining table, holding a piece of bread with trembling hands, and drank the broth placed on the table with his head lowered.
Today, according to the workers, he earned twelve points. If he continues at this pace, he can earn 5.1 yuan this month, which is considered a good result for a novice.
At this time, Graf also came over with a bowl filled with broth and several pieces of bread. He sat next to Dulin, biting into pieces of bread, so stuffed that he couldn't even speak clearly. , "Don't take a shower at night, take off your clothes before going to bed, and don't do anything else, otherwise you won't be able to do anything tomorrow."
Dulin always believed what experienced people said, and Graf did not say anything that made him feel ridiculous, he just told him not to take a shower. It didn't take long for Dulin to decide to trust Graf's advice, and he also raised a question.
"Mr. Crean told me that people from the union will come to me in a few days and ask me not to join the union. Should I join?"
A look of contempt immediately appeared on Graf's face. He looked back at the lighted window on the second floor and sneered, "Don't listen to that liar. If we don't join the union, who can guarantee that we, the bottom workers, will Rights? He just wants to take advantage of you. Besides, isn’t the fifty-cent membership fee expensive?”
Du Lin nodded, drank the broth in the bowl in one gulp, and actually ate a piece of meat as big as a fingernail.
"I see!"
(End of chapter)