"Dulin!" Mr. Krien leaned out of the second-floor office corridor and shouted. When Dulin turned to look at him, he tilted his head and pointed to another conference room used for meetings, saying, "Come up here."

Dulin put down his work and glanced at Grav. After just unloading goods, Grav patted his shoulder and said, "Don't be nervous. If nothing unexpected happens, it should be the union people who have come."

Although dealing with union members was a trivial matter in Grav's eyes, Dulin faced such a large organization for the first time and his smile became stiff due to nervousness. He slapped himself on both cheeks and took several deep breaths. "Don't worry; I won't get nervous."

Grav shrugged because he couldn't help relieve Dulin's inexplicable tension.

In fact, unions are still very important support groups for workers. Most of the time workers don’t need them but when they do need them they can play a crucial role—for example in dealing with capitalists—without union assistance workers may suffer especially regarding wages as greedy capitalists always hope to save more money by exploiting their employees too much.

When worker rights are violated by capitalists, unions will also stand up for them.

A famous sociologist from Yaoxing Empire who is also a big capitalist once said in newspapers: if one worker is like a rabbit then many workers together are like vicious dogs—we can shave rabbits' fur off in exchange for money but we must avoid vicious dogs protecting ourselves.

This statement immediately caused great social uproar after its publication which led to massive protests against this sociologist’s inappropriate remarks. Under pressure from all sides this sociologist had no choice but to publish an apology statement in newspapers afterwards which should have ended things there—but unfortunately this guy later made new comments consisting only of few words: “I lost to vicious dogs!”

Angry workers became even more irritable this time. They beat up the sociologist and stripped off his clothes, tying him to the railing outside the third-floor platform of the Imperial Building, causing a sensation throughout the country...

Dulin straightened his dress and knocked on the conference room door. After hearing a "come in," he pushed open the door.

Three people were sitting at the conference table—two men and one woman. The woman looked to be in her thirties, wearing an exquisite suit but with somewhat rigid facial lines lacking some feminine tenderness. The other two men were also dressed in neat suits with shiny hair that even flies couldn't stand on. Dulin smiled awkwardly; he looked outside again and realized he hadn't entered the wrong room.

But these three people...if they were representatives of workers, Dulin was skeptical about it.

If all workers had such attire, how rich would their class be?

An older man smiled and nodded at Du Lin, then looked through the materials on the table in front of him and asked, "Are you Du Lin?" He blinked his eyes and quickly introduced himself, "Sorry for not introducing myself earlier. My name is Frank, a representative of the Workers' Union. The gentleman next to me is Apdudui, who has the same identity as mine. As for this lady..."

When he looked at the woman, she nodded expressionlessly at Du Lin and said, "My name is Serina. I am the legal advisor of the Workers' Union."

At this point, Frank took over and continued speaking: "We are here today to invite you to join us on behalf of the Workers' Union. The Workers' Union is a big family belonging to workers. In face of cruel exploitation by capitalists, we can only fight for and protect our rights by closely uniting together. From its establishment until now - 22 years later - we have resolved more than 17 thousand disputes for our worker brothers and protected their rights."

At this moment, Serina suddenly interrupted: "Excuse me," she pointed with her pen at Du Lin's right hand,"I noticed that your right hand has bandages with some bloodstains on them; did you get injured while working here?"

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

Du Lin hadn't reacted yet; he was stunned for a moment before replying: "Ah? Yes! It happened Duling work recently."

Serina nodded without saying anything specific about what her nod meant: "Did Mr.Krien take you to receive treatment or pay medical expenses after your injury? Did he also give you certain compensation for work-related injuries?"

Du Lin scratched his head: "This was my own fault; it had nothing to do with Mr.Krien."

Serina stood up abruptly and slammed her pen onto the table forcefully becoming even more serious:"No young man! You got it wrong. Regardless of whether you injured yourself or not, as long as it happened Duling your work period, it is considered a work-related injury. Therefore, Mr.Krien should be responsible for this!" She looked at Apdudui and said: "Go get Mr.Krien!"

Frank watched Du Lin become nervous and stood up to walk over to him. He patted Du Lin's shoulder and let him sit next to him: "It's okay; we should make you understand that everything we do is not for the benefit of any individual person but rather to show how the Workers' Union can protect our rights." He patted Du Lin's shoulder again: "Just sit here quietly and don't say anything."

Not long after, Apuduoyi walked into the conference room with Mr. Krien. When facing Selena, a well-known female lawyer within the union, Mr. Krien took the initiative to nod and greet her first: "Hello, Ms. Selena."

Selena still had a stern face without any expression on it. After Krien sat down beside her, she asked him: "Mr. Krien, do you know about Dulin's injury Duling work?"

Krien was stunned for a moment because he really didn't know about it. As the stationmaster and manager of the station, he had plenty of things to deal with every day; who would have time to learn about workers' personal lives? If Dulin didn't tell him anything about his injury then he wouldn't have known either. It was precisely because of this that he found himself in a passive position at this moment.

His solemn expression seemed intimidating as he glanced at Dulin and the bandage on his hand which made his teeth ache slightly uncomfortable feeling inside him as an exploiter and manager dealing with union people since one never knew what ridiculous reasons these disgusting guys might come up with next to make him pay some inexplicable amount of money.

Krien shook his head truthfully and said: "I don't know anything about it; Dulin hasn't told me anything nor am I aware of it."

"Then do you know what consequences employers like you should bear when workers are injured Duling work?" Selena opened her notebook casually wrote something down before looking up at Krien again saying," For example medical expenses related to work injuries or paid leave?"

Krien fell silent; not only did he know but also very clearly so too! In fact, accidents involving manual laborers were quite common in stations where some workers were already exhausted but reluctant to take breaks just yet due to their desire for higher wages resulting in them forcing themselves beyond their limits and eventually injuring themselves. Every time this happened, he had to come out and pay for the damages. It wasn't a lot of money either; like Dulin's hand injury which would cost at most three yuan in medical expenses plus some nutrition fees that wouldn't exceed six yuan.

But the problem was that even six yuan was still money! These union people came at such an inconvenient time; if they had come a few days later, there wouldn't have been so much trouble!

Selena's tone suddenly rose: "What? Mr. Krien, are you unwilling to pay these costs? If so, we may sue you in the Teneil court."

Krien immediately raised his hand saying," No no no I'll give it! Six yuan right? I'll let him take three days off starting tomorrow!"

He directly admitted defeat because it really wasn't worth fighting over just six yuan. Just hiring a lawyer alone would cost more than ten yuan; it was better to just pay up now and save some money instead. He immediately expressed his willingness to pay these fees and gave Dulin three days off which made Selena quiet down.

After Apuduoyi asked Mr.Krien to leave, Frank smiled and said: "See? This is the power of unions! One of our main goals today is for you to join the workers' union. Once you become a member of the workers' union, you can enjoy many benefits and privileges. Incidents like today are trivial matters compared with what we're capable of doing for you - most importantly if anything happens to you then we will fight for your fair treatment on behalf of the union without requiring any payment from yourself."

"Of course, to enjoy such benefits and treatment, you also need to perform and contribute. For example, paying a membership fee of fifty cents per year, participating in union activities when necessary, as well as following work arrangements and guidance. If you can accept these three requirements, then on behalf of the Workers' Union, I welcome your joining."

Du Lin thought these people were pretty good. Coupled with Grav's explanation about the benefits of joining the union, he immediately agreed. Later Mr. Krien sent six dollars over and Du Lin took out fifty cents to give to Frank as this year's membership fee.

Frank told him that he hoped Du Lin could go to the Teneil City Workers' Union headquarters once a week within one week to register personal information for filing storage and national notification.

When Du Lin returned to the platform, Grav came over and asked: "How was it? Were they scary?"

Du Lin nodded his head: "You're right. They are all good people who even helped me get six dollars from Mr.Krien."

"Six dollars?" Grav looked at the bandage on Du Lin's hand and slapped his forehead: "Wait for me! Mr.Krien owes me six bucks too!"