Chapter 212:
On November 21, negotiations between the mayor of Sabin City and representatives of the striking workers made no valuable progress. The workers' demands exceeded the bottom line of the mayor and the capitalist representatives involved in the talks.
They were asking for higher wages, fewer working hours, and better benefits.
If the negotiations had focused on a single demand or if the demands were more modest, then an agreement might have been possible, as was the case with the water company's workers whose modest demands paved the way for an agreement.
However, the demands of these striking worker representatives were too excessive. The most laughable was one worker representative's demand to reduce the weekly working hours from sixty to fifty, with a five percent wage increase, and a requirement for meat and fresh fruit at lunch every day.
Such demands were utterly unacceptable to the capitalists, no matter what. Consequently, the fifteen worker representatives maintained a unified front, even though some workers were open to negotiations. For the sake of unity, they refused to compromise.
The ongoing disagreements turned the negotiations into a farce, ending in mutual accusations and insults between the worker representatives and the capitalists.
This convinced the workers that the mayor had no genuine intention of negotiating, believing he sided with the capitalists. Coupled with the provocation by a small group and the escalation of the Bupayne shooting incident, the unrest in Sabin City and throughout the state escalated once more.
People began openly engaging in looting, arson, and vandalism, even shouting slogans like "Who dares to shoot me" as they broke the law, expressing their dissatisfaction with the current situation.
Some people understood that this behavior was wrong, but chose not to speak out, as doing so was not wise at the moment.