The success of Project Bessemer and the Clipper Steamships had secured the Arren Industrial Syndicate's global technological and logistical dominance, generating vast, unprecedented profits.
However, the workers—the thousands of hands operating the standardized machinery and hauling the coke—were acutely aware of this colossal wealth, particularly with the new telegraph network allowing rapid communication between factory towns.
The logical disparity between the exponential increase in Syndicate Gross Profit (SGP) and the fixed, incremental increases in worker wages created a massive pressure differential.
Reports filtered into Hemlock's office detailing coordinated, unauthorized gatherings near the rail stations—meetings of "Certified Steelworkers" and "Coal Foremen" using the Arren Codebook not for production, but for organizing. The era of the grateful, compliant feudal worker was over.
"My Lord, the data indicates a systemic failure in labor satisfaction," Hemlock reported, his composure finally breaking as he pointed to an alarming metric: Efficiency per Worker Hour (EWH) was dropping, despite the improved technology. "They are demanding a 'Fairer Share,' citing the public records detailing the profits from the Free Trade Protocol."
Alex, viewing this not as insolence but as a predictable system response to economic inequality, immediately initiated Labor Protocol Analysis. "A labor strike is the most expensive variable we can face. It stops the entire Critical Path: no coke, no steel, no rail. We must quantify the cost of their demands versus the cost of a full production shutdown."
Alex refused to use the AGC (Arren Guard Corps) to suppress the workers. Violence was a high-risk, high-cost solution that would permanently damage the public image and, more importantly, labor retention rates.
Instead, he chose to neutralize the threat by formalizing it—inventing collective bargaining.
He sent a message via the telegraph to the nascent leaders in the three largest worker communities, inviting them to the manor for a meeting. He formally recognized them as the representatives of the newly formed Arren Industrial Workers Union (AIWU)—granting them the legitimacy they sought.
The workers' representatives, initially expecting a lecture or arrest, found themselves across a mahogany table from the most powerful man in the world, who presented them with a spreadsheet.
"Gentlemen," Alex began, "I have quantified your demands: a 25% wage increase, a reduction in the standard workday, and better insurance coverage. We will not discuss abstract concepts like 'fairness.' We will discuss quantifiable economic viability."
Alex demonstrated that a 25% wage increase would necessarily lead to a 12% increase in the cost of steel, which would violate the Syndicate's contracts and reduce global demand, ultimately leading to layoffs. He used logic, not threat.
He then presented a counter-offer based on optimizing worker productivity as a shared asset:
* Guaranteed 15% Wage Increase: Immediate increase, based on the profits generated solely by the Bessemer Process (a direct share of the technological leap).
* Productivity Bonus: A profit-sharing pool tied directly to the EWH metric. If production efficiency rose above a certain baseline, all workers received a quarterly bonus. This aligned the workers' financial interest with the Syndicate's core mission.
**
The most radical demand was the reduction of the workday from fourteen hours (the feudal norm) to a "reasonable" ten. Alex, however, saw an efficiency opportunity:
"The optimal state for the human machine is not fourteen hours of fatigue, but a period of intense, focused output, followed by adequate recovery," Alex explained, citing data on mid-day accidents. "I propose an Eight-Hour Standard Shift."
He quantified the benefit: while the workday was shorter, the elimination of fatigue-related errors, the reduction of workplace accidents (which cost the Syndicate in insurance payouts), and the increase in worker attention during the shortened window of time would result in 10% greater total daily output than the current fourteen-hour schedule.
The shorter shift reduced labor costs and improved efficiency simultaneously.
The Eight-Hour Standard Shift was immediately implemented, not as a social victory, but as a system optimization. The workers received a massive quality-of-life improvement, and the Syndicate secured a guaranteed increase in productivity and a reduction in liability.
***
The workers' representatives, though satisfied with the financial outcome, raised one final, unanticipated concern: their children. With the new, complex technology of the Bessemer process and the electric grid, their children could not rise in the ranks without proper education.
Alex realized the Syndicate's future growth was capped by the kingdom's illiterate population. His complex systems required literate, numerate, and disciplined human capital.
"We cannot expand the Second Technological Tier without a source of trained human assets," Alex concluded.
He used the newly secured public works funds to immediately launch the Public Education Protocol. These were not high-brow schools for nobility, but Technical Academies built near the factories. They taught reading, arithmetic, basic mechanical drawing, and the principles of the Arren Codebook.
Hemlock calculated the cost of these free schools. "My Lord, we are educating the populace at great expense! They owe us nothing for this service!"
"Incorrect, Hemlock," Alex said, tapping the financial ledger. "We are investing in future human capital. Every child who graduates is a potential Foreman, a technician, or a Certified Steelworker—an asset whose future efficiency return far outweighs the initial cost of their education. This is a strategic personnel investment."
The successful negotiation with the AIWU and the launch of the public education system secured the Syndicate's internal stability. Alex had absorbed the social threat into his economic system, stabilizing his greatest asset: labor.
Next priority: The massive consumption of coke and copper, driven by the new global demand, is rapidly depleting the kingdom's limited geological reserves. The Syndicate must find a cheaper, cleaner, and more abundant energy source to fuel the Third Technological Tier and ensure the perpetuity of the system.