217 Property Rights Reform. Part Two
The reform plan for the ownership of Zhuoyue Garment Factory has been delayed for a long time, and New Year's Day is just around the corner.
Guan Yuehe put the New Year's Day bonus from her company on the back of her motorcycle, and some in the basket in front of the motorcycle.
Rice, flour, cooking oil, and fruit used to be extremely rare. Now, except for sugar coupons, all other coupons have been abolished and can be purchased with money. So rice, flour, cooking oil are no longer considered rare.
However, prices are high now, and even though coupons are no longer needed, it still costs more money to buy rice, flour, and cooking oil.
To avoid making an extra trip, Guan Yuehe went straight back to Ginkgo Hutong after get off work, took out half of the meat she had brought back, and delivered it to her two mothers' homes. She also planned to pick up Lin Ting and take her home.
"Mom, did your company give out orange juice?" Lin Ting rushed out of the No. 3 compound as soon as she heard the motorcycle and reached out to rummage through everything on the vehicle. "The car factory gave out a big bottle of orange juice, a case of instant noodles, and canned fruit!"
"Nothing." Guan Yuehe saw her disappointed and wrinkled face, and thought to herself that this was no longer the time when there was a shortage of supplies and you had to buy everything with coupons. It was easy to eat if you wanted to.
I handed the things to be sent into Courtyard No. 3 to Lin Ting, saying, "Take these in to Grandma and Grandpa. Mom will take you to buy orange juice and instant noodles."
"Mom, you're the best mom in the whole alley!" Lin Ting's sweet talk came right off the bat.
In courtyard number three, Jiang Guiying had just received the meat when she saw Lin Ting about to run away. She asked her, "Where are you going? Didn't you say you were staying at Grandma's for dinner tonight?"
Lin Ting said without turning her head, "My mom is taking me to buy orange juice and instant noodles. I'm going home to eat! Goodbye, Grandma!"
Jiang Guiying, standing behind her, chuckled and said, "I knew she was after the orange juice and instant noodles at home!"
Normally, she wouldn't even need her parents to pick her up; she would have already been clamoring to go home.
Guan Yuehe and Lin Ting returned home with a full load.
I stocked up on two cases of instant noodles and two bottles of orange juice in the fridge. Not only was the fridge crammed full of all sorts of things, but even the cupboards in my tiny kitchen were overflowing with food.
But Guan Yuehe still took Lin Ting back to Ginkgo Hutong for dinner and picked up a bottle of orange juice that was on the ground.
Lin Sitian and her family of three won't be coming back today. She and Lin Yiku have agreed that she will have dinner with Lin's father and Fang's mother tonight.
Seeing the mother and daughter arrive with orange juice, Aunt Fang, unaware of the situation, asked, "Yuehe, does your workplace also provide orange juice?"
Guan Yuehe laughed and said that she bought it outside.
The snacks in the grocery store are mostly low-priced snacks, such as instant noodles and orange juice, which can still only be bought in state-run stores outside.
One of the benefits of abolishing ration coupons is that you can buy the benefits that your employer doesn't offer with your own money.
However, people no longer compare what their workplaces give out during holidays.
They only compare what their children, who have moved out after getting married, have given back to the family.
Guan Yuehe was just rolling up her sleeves to start kneading the dough when she heard Sister Xu from the front yard suddenly raise her voice.
"Oh my! Our sister-in-law is back, and all she brought for Mom and Dad was a piece of meat? Little sister, I'm not trying to be mean, but Mom and Dad transferred their job to you back then, and they really treated you well. Now that they're getting old, you should at least take care of them..."
Guan Yuehe's rolling pin stopped in mid-air, her ears perked up, and she quickly heard Xu Xiaomei's impatient voice, "So I'm the only one who got a job? My older brother didn't? The house is still yours! When you got the house, why didn't you say you'd share with us other siblings? Now that it's time to pay respects, you only know to come to me? You talk too much! You're not even surnamed Xu, why are you jumping around here like this!"
Xu Xiaomei grew angrier and angrier, and simply said, "If you don't like the meat, then don't take it! Cheng Peng, let's go!"
"Sigh..." Sister-in-law Xu slapped her thigh in anger and cursed, "They're so heartless! They come to visit their parents for the holiday and don't even give them a piece of meat!"
Guan Yuehe laughed. Xu Xiaomei's temper hadn't changed at all over the years.
If things don't go well after returning, they'll leave without hesitation, taking everything they brought with them.
Unlike Sister-in-law Xu's exasperated voice, Sister-in-law Ding stood at her doorway, showing off: "My daughter Dingxiang didn't have time to come back, but she asked a colleague to deliver something to her!"
Aunt Fang pursed her lips and whispered, "It's good that you didn't come back. If you did, they'd be chasing you for your bankbook."
The Ding couple are also a strange pair in Ginkgo Hutong. Their eldest son, Ding Xianguang, is still missing. Their second son, Ding Xianzong, is still not well received. This angered Ding Xianzong and his family of four so much that they moved out to rent a place. They still have a daughter, Dingxiang, who wants to live a good life with Dingxiang but is also causing trouble.
Aunt Fang suspected that Dingxiang was delaying finding a partner and getting married because she wanted to use this as an excuse not to have a separate room, so that Ding Laoda and his wife would not be able to live together.
However, it's also possible that they haven't met the right person yet. These young women in Ginkgo Hutong are all getting married later than the last, and everyone's used to it.
On New Year's Day, the alley was even more lively.
Those who had separated from their families and moved out all returned today with their families, carrying large and small bags.
A wedding banquet was being held in the alley, and red firecrackers decorated the entrance to the alley in a very festive manner.
Previously, the publicity department of the car factory would arrange for someone to put up a red banner at the entrance of the alley.
There wasn't one this year.
Guan Yuehe looked up and thought to herself that perhaps in the future there would never again be a red banner with all the employees of the Five Star Automobile Factory celebrating the New Year hanging at the entrance of the alley.
However, whether or not the red banner is there, it doesn't really affect people's lives.
The two things that everyone is most concerned about right now are still the factory's ownership reform and how to deal with the closed branch factories.
After New Year's Day, both of these matters came to a conclusion.
Five Star Automobile Factory will implement a contract system and sell some of the equipment from the closed branch factories.
For laid-off and unemployed workers, Wuxing Automobile Factory decided to buy out their years of service. Additionally, laid-off and unemployed workers who did not purchase their public housing can choose to exchange their compensation for the purchased years of service for their current public housing.
Whether they were employed workers or laid-off workers, everyone was dissatisfied, and the unrest lasted for nearly half a year. Even this year's Spring Festival and Labor Day were spent in a noisy atmosphere. It wasn't until July of 1993 that the two major initiatives of the Five Star Automobile Factory were finally fully implemented and completed.
At this point, except for a small number of houses in Ginkgo Hutong that were still owned by the Five Star Automobile Factory, the ownership of the other houses was transferred to private ownership.
This is completely the opposite of what happened more than a decade ago.
The final plan for the ownership reform of Zhuoyue Garment Factory has also been developed.
Gu Mannian let out a long sigh of relief. "At the factory's workers' meeting, all the workers unanimously agreed to buy out all the state-owned assets and lease the land for a fee. This means that the government will no longer hold shares."
Everyone in the room was shocked.
"If the government no longer holds shares, can the garment factory still be considered a state-owned factory? Will the government agree to this reform plan?" Guan Canghai asked a series of questions.
Guan Yuehe then asked, "After the factory was bought by the workers, how was the factory leadership team determined? Were they all elected by the workers?"
Currently, the leaders of state-owned enterprises, especially the factory director and party secretary, are appointed by the relevant higher authorities. Furthermore, if the government no longer holds shares, wouldn't these state-owned factories essentially become private enterprises?
Gu Mannian explained one by one: "This is called a shareholding system. All the employees bought out the factory, so they become shareholders. We didn't create this unique solution. A motor factory in Zhucheng reformed in this way. Their 270 employees jointly bought the factory. They only reformed for four months, and their efficiency improved significantly. Now, various state-owned enterprises in Zhucheng are implementing shareholding system pilot programs. Last month, our factory specially selected representatives from various departments and workshops to form an inspection team. We went to the Zhucheng motor factory to conduct an on-site inspection, understand the changes before and after their reform, and held a meeting afterward. Only then did the workers decide to learn from Zhucheng and implement a shareholding system."
Grandpa Lin opened his mouth, but in the end he didn't say anything.
Guan Canghai, however, couldn't keep his mouth shut and asked anxiously, "Then isn't this the privatization of state-owned enterprises?"
What he didn't say was, isn't this tantamount to the subversion of capitalism?
Gu Mannian was quite easygoing. He didn't care what form it took, as long as it improved the factory and increased the workers' income. What's that saying again? It doesn't matter if a cat is black or white, as long as it catches mice, it's a good cat.
With the increasing number of private factories, state-owned factories are still operating under the old model of egalitarianism and the "iron rice bowl" system. Sooner or later, Zhuoyue Garment Factory will also be abandoned by the times and go bankrupt.
In other words, the current factory leaders are intelligent and have ideas, but they don't reform. In a few years, when Director Zheng retires, the higher-ups will send in another unambitious director, and then the factory will be doomed.
It was only because they realized this that the factory workers unanimously agreed to let the workers buy the factory.
Moreover, with employees in charge, each one is a master of the factory, and their interests are closely intertwined with those of the factory, workers will only be more motivated.
After hearing Gu Mannian's words, Guan Canghai was completely speechless.
He sighed and remarked, "That makes sense. No wonder Zhuoyue Garment Factory hasn't declined in recent years and is still hiring workers every year."
Other factories are lucky if they don't lay off large numbers of people, let alone hire. Factories like Zhuoyue Garment Factory, which don't turn back workers, are rare these days.
Look at them, every reform they implement prioritizes the interests of workers, they are bold and decisive, and when they say they will reform, they will carry it out completely.
But this is too thorough.
After the reform plan of Zhuoyue Garment Factory was submitted at the beginning of the month, it was like a stone thrown into the ocean, without making any waves and without any follow-up.
"Then let's just wait and see." Gu Mannian wasn't in a hurry. "Our factory director still has several years before he retires. If it can't be changed this year, then let's wait until next year."
It's estimated that the higher-ups are also waiting to see the results of the reforms in Zhucheng. He believes that if the reforms in Zhucheng are effective, the nationwide implementation of the shareholding system is only a matter of time.
He was the only worker in the family at the Zhuoyue Garment Factory, and he wasn't worried at all, but everyone else in the family was frowning.
Gu Mannian felt a little embarrassed. They came today because they heard that Juanjuan's college entrance examination results were out and she had been admitted to a university of science and technology, which was the same school as Chen Lizhong.
Before Juanjuan could even mention getting into university, a group of people started discussing the property rights reform of their Zhuoyue Garment Factory.
"Oh right, your second brother and sister-in-law said they'll have a feast back in their hometown once the admission notices arrive. You should all make sure you're free on Sundays and go back to celebrate."
The serious atmosphere vanished instantly. Everyone was happy about the joyous occasion at home and chimed in, "Of course we have to go back. I'll take leave to go back too."
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