Labor Service Company 68

  Lin Zhenhua had actually thought about the matter of contracting labor services for a long time. Since talking to He Haifeng, Lin Zhenhua seriously considered it and felt that starting a private enterprise now would be very difficult. At the very least, production materials were allocated by the state, and various industrial raw materials could not be bought even with money. If he wanted to engage in trade, it might be possible, but at most it would be like what Xiong Lijun and Lan Wufeng were doing, smuggling small commodities from the south to sell. Lin Zhenhua thought he was not good at this kind of thing anyway. Moreover, he had already hired Xiong Lijun and others to do it, so there was no need for him to personally take action.

  Since the path of private entrepreneurship was not feasible, the second approach was to contract a state-owned enterprise. At present, the national policy on contracting state-owned enterprises has not been introduced, in fact, this policy will have to wait until 1987 to be widely promoted nationwide, Lin Zhenhua couldn't wait that long. During this period, the enterprises that could be contracted were mainly township enterprises, which belonged to collective ownership and had a much more flexible mechanism than state-owned enterprises. Lin Zhenhua was not a peasant, so he couldn't find a way to contract a township enterprise, but in front of him, there was actually a collectively owned enterprise, which was the labor service company of Hanhua Machinery Factory itself.

  The form of labor service companies was very common at that time, and the reason for their emergence, as Zhu Tiejun said, was to solve the employment problem of urban unemployed youth. These companies have not been expected to make money since the day they were established. The labor service companies set up by the units themselves are basically maintained by blood transfusion from the parent body, and some labor service companies set up by streets and neighborhood committees also rely on various excuses to get money from the finance department for support.

  This type of large collective enterprise can't even be considered a business, it's just symbolic and does some business to deceive people. It is said that a certain street set up a large collective tea stall, and arranged for seven young men to serve as waiters. As a result, the number of people drinking tea was not as many as those selling tea. The seven big and small guys were all staring at each other, those who knew said they were waiters, but those who didn't know thought they were fighting in a group, who dared to go drink tea?

  There is another interesting term for labor service companies, called "San Chan Companies". The origin of this word is probably referring to the tertiary industry, because factories are secondary industries, and labor service companies generally provide some service projects for factories, such as transportation, cleaning and so on, which mostly belong to the tertiary industry. So, people got used to using the term "San Chan" to describe them. Some labor service companies later developed into manufacturing industries, but their names were still called "San Chan".

  At Hanhua Factory, temporary workers like Peng Shaozhe, Chu Hongyang, Zhao Yongqun and Yang Xin were all affiliated with labor service companies. Their wages were nominally paid by the labor service company, but in reality, the money was indirectly transferred from Hanhua Factory's profits. This practice was also a common convention at that time, neither needing to be hidden from superiors nor subordinates.

  Lin Zhenhua had his eyes on the labor service company platform, but he had always been hesitant and unsure if he should take the step. The incident of Peng Gang's retirement gave Lin Zhenhua a great deal of motivation, prompting him to make up his mind. He thought that as an ordinary transmigrator, he couldn't change history, but at least he could change his surroundings a bit. His seemingly bold and reckless move today would be nothing in just a few years, so why should he restrict himself when he knew society was bound to become more open?

  After returning to Hanhua Factory from Nandu, Lin Zhenhua formally submitted a report to the factory department, applying for the contract of Hanhua Mechanical Factory Labor Service Company. He promised that within one year, he would make the labor service company self-sufficient and profitable, no longer needing Hanhua Factory to provide financial support. At the same time, in addition to guaranteeing the payment of wages for the current 100 temporary workers, he also undertook to bear the re-employment wages of a group of old workers such as Peng Gang. The condition he required was full autonomy in operating the company.

  "What is this Xiao Lin thinking?" said Chen Weiguo, the factory director, in a puzzled tone at the factory affairs meeting. "He was just promoted to deputy head of the technical department, but he's not satisfied and wants to be the manager of the Labor Service Company?"

  "Does his request violate policy?" said Party Secretary Zou Shicheng.

  Deputy Director Jiang Manqing said: "I checked the documents, and it seems that there is no regulation saying that contracting out is not allowed. Now many township enterprises are doing contracting out, our labor service company and township enterprises are the same, they are collectively owned enterprises, so we should be able to contract out."

  Chen Weiguo looked at Liang Guangping and said, "Old Liang, you also say something about your opinion. Labor and capital are all under your management, do you think Xiao Lin's request is feasible or not?"

  Liang Guangping was fiddling with a Zippo lighter in his hand, which Lin Zhenhua had given him the other day. After going through some things, Lin Zhenhua finally learned to lower his head to his superiors and would occasionally give them small gifts to build relationships. Liang Guangping had secretly asked around and knew that this lighter was an American product, with a pure silver coating, which was absolutely unavailable in the domestic market, and its price abroad was also over a hundred dollars. Since getting this lighter, Lin Zhenhua had become one of his own people in Liang Guangping's heart, and he naturally unconditionally supported whatever requirements he put forward.

  "I think..." Liang Guangping put down the lighter, looked at everyone, and said seriously: "I think Comrade Lin Zhenhua's proposal to contract labor service companies is a proactive effort to share the factory's worries. This spirit is worthy of praise. Everyone knows that our labor service company needs to be subsidized by the factory with more than 300,000 yuan every year, which has always been a big burden for our factory. Now Little Lin proposes that within a year, it can achieve self-sufficiency and profitability, which is an extraordinary thing."

  "We'll have to bear the losses ourselves," said Chen Weiguo. "This Xiao Lin has some clever ideas, and he might be able to make some money. But I don't think it's possible for him to make a profit of over 300,000 yuan and achieve self-sufficiency."

  "My view is the same as Old Chen's, I also think it's unlikely." Liang Guangping hastily echoed, "However, even if we can earn one or two hundred thousand, it can alleviate a lot of burden for the factory. If the labor service company can make money, the factory can reduce some subsidies, then our year-end bonus will be secured."

  "Lao Liang is right," said Jiang Manqing. "The labor service company has been subsidized too much. This year, during the Double Fifth Festival, each worker in the factory was supposed to receive over ten yuan, but after the finance department calculated the accounts, all the profits were taken away by the labor service company. In the end, each person only received a small tea container. Alas, I've been scolded to death by the workers."

  This "double past half" is also a very interesting title, the full name is "time past half, task past half", abbreviated as double past half. In many factories, double past half are awarded with some bonuses or prizes, which actually means "mid-year award". Everyone has worked hard for half a year, and it's time to reward them with some money or goods. In the past, Hanhua Factory used to give out money every year on Double Past Half, but in recent years, due to the rapid increase in the number of labor service companies, the factory's subsidies have increased, and these bonuses have also been squeezed away.

  Zhu Tiejun was the last to speak, and in fact, he had already exchanged opinions with Chen Weiguo and Zou Shicheng on this issue when he returned from Nandu. Now that everyone has expressed their views, he also spoke up: "Let me say a few words. I'm in charge of production, so I have more contact with Xiao Lin because of this reason. My feeling is that Comrade Xiao Lin's moral character is trustworthy, and the fact that he was able to bring a CNC machine tool to the factory is enough to show that he is a good comrade who takes the factory as his home. Moreover, Xiao Lin's thinking is very active, and I think that his contracting labor service company may bring us some surprises."

  "Alright, let's put it to a vote," said Zou Shicheng.

  Everyone raised their hands, and the factory affairs meeting unanimously passed a resolution agreeing to let Lin Zhenhua take over the labor services company of Hanhua Machinery Factory. The contract stipulated that if Lin Zhenhua failed to break even, all his annual bonuses would be deducted. If the labor services company could still make a profit after paying the wages of all temporary workers, Lin Zhenhua could extract a contracting fee from the profits at a specified ratio.

  Originally, Lin Zhenhua had proposed to mortgage his entire salary for the contract, but the factory affairs council directly vetoed this clause. The factory leaders thought that Lin Zhenhua was already very good at taking on heavy responsibilities, and it would be too unfair to him if he were to mortgage his salary as well.

  The resolution of the factory meeting had not yet been sent to the typing room for printing into a formal document, but it had already spread throughout the factory. Men and women, old and young, ran to tell each other: Lin Zhenhua, the young worker who created countless miracles, would become Manager Lin of the Labor Service Company from now on.