Chapter 813: Chapter 555: What Do You Have?
Reserve forces and civilian soldiers are indeed not the same, but at the grassroots level, there’s actually no difference.
Nowadays, people face so much pressure in life, everyone has their own matters to attend to, and it’s impossible for them to skip work to participate in your organized training, let alone lose their jobs because of serving in the reserve forces.
Although the country has regulations and even laws that require units to continue paying salaries when militia or reserve personnel participate in training or perform tasks, in reality, it’s very difficult to implement.
This is somewhat like the labor law, which has been implemented for more than three years, yet many companies still don’t provide insurance for their employees, and the eight-hour workday and two-day weekend are equally difficult to fulfill.
Those working in companies face this issue, so what about the civilian soldiers or reserve personnel who run small businesses, perform crafts, work part-time, or farm at home? When their time is occupied, who will pay their wages?
Therefore, every year, the grassroots military departments must first find ways to raise funds to pay subsidies to civilian soldiers who participate in training.
Even with subsidies, it’s still hard to find people, but the higher-ups need to inspect, so the grassroots military departments have to recruit people everywhere. Han Yu and Xiao Yu helped the Four Factory military department gather people and assisted them in training back in the day.
Secretary Ye understands that reserve work is not easy. Last time, after attending the concentrated signing ceremony for military and civilian joint construction, he arranged for his driver, Xiao Chen, to serve in the military, as a sign of emphasizing reserve work.
Han Yu certainly wouldn’t let Secretary Ye’s good intentions go to waste, so he simply let Battalion Secretary Qiu Xueliang draft a notice on strengthening national defense construction and actively supporting and cooperating with Linghai Reserve in reorganizing troops. With Deputy Mayor Shen’s help and Mayor Qian’s agreement, it was issued by the government office in the name of Linghai City Government to various bureaus, committees, and towns and streets.
They targeted units with many retired soldiers.
For instance, the Urban Management Bureau established the year before last, with most urban management team members being retired soldiers.
Similarly, many auxiliary police officers from the Police Bureau and inspection team members from the Tobacco Monopoly Bureau are also retired soldiers.
By using the influence of authority to assign tasks to each town and street, each one was required to contribute a few people.
Anyone meeting the reserve camp enlistment criteria was directly enlisted. Secretary Ye’s driver had already been called up—could you dare not support and cooperate?
As for why the Linghai Road and Bridge Engineering Company was so supportive, there were three main reasons.
Firstly, the General Manager, Hao Qiusheng, was a transferred military officer and had feelings for the military.
Secondly, the Road and Bridge Engineering Company is a state-owned enterprise under the Transportation Bureau. While it’s easier for them to undertake road and bridge projects than private enterprises, they also carry more social responsibilities than private companies.
In case of a flood disaster, even if the Reserve Camp doesn’t call up their personnel and construction equipment, both the Linghai City Flood Control Command and the Binjiang City Flood Control Command would still call them up.
Thirdly, Director Ge had a word with them!
Old leaders’ matters are his matters, and he must fully support it.
If a flood disaster really occurs, rather than helping unfamiliar leaders where reimbursement for fuel might not even happen, it’s better to assist Salted Fish, their own person.
In short, the Linghai Reserve Camp was cobbled together with great difficulty and remains on paper.
The only thing different from other reserve forces is that it has its own camp area. Additionally, by relying on the Linghai Development Zone Management Committee, several maritime law enforcement departments, and more than twenty enterprises along the Yanjiang, and with strong support from the Road and Bridge Engineering Company, it has advantages in construction that others do not.
However, organizing a meeting for officers at the company level and above is still not easy; everyone has their main job, so calls must be made one by one to ask when they are available.
After making a round of calls, they scheduled a meeting for the afternoon of the day after tomorrow in the small meeting room on the sixth floor of the Port Supervision Department.
Han Yu was pondering whether to visit Old Director Zhou Huixin tomorrow since he had nothing to do, when Instructor Yang Jianbo and Investor Zhou from the Binjiang Reserve Group’s logistics department arrived.
The three-row barracks are already built, but they’re too damp inside, and people can’t live there temporarily.
Han Yu, Liu Degui, and Old Ding could only invite Investor Zhou to the reception room.
The dock had been sold to a Zhehai boss, so Old Ding no longer needed to watch by the river. At Han Yu’s suggestion, during his "third employment," he is now not only the head of the flood control and rescue materials warehouse for Linghai City and the Linghai Development Zone but also the director of the Sanhe Heroes’ Cemetery Management Office!
These are two units without formal positions, and his roles as a warehouse manager and tomb guardian are akin to temporary workers.
The Development Zone Management Committee pays him three hundred a month, significantly lower than the re-employment wage of Old Zhang, who is playing his remaining role at "Longgang Rice Industry," but he works vigorously.
Previously, both caretakers of the Heroes’ Cemetery were local villagers. Since there weren’t many valuable items in the cemetery, those villagers often neglected their duties, sometimes not showing up at all.
Having served as a police station chief for over ten years, Old Ding wouldn’t tolerate such disrespect towards revolutionary martyrs. As soon as he assumed the role, he required daily attendance, ensuring the cemetery and exhibition hall were clean.
The wages for cemetery caretaker positions were already low, and people expected to do as much as they were paid for. Occasionally watching over things wasn’t a big deal, but if daily attendance and substantial work were needed, who would be willing?
Gradually, the two villagers quit their jobs.
Old Ding had been waiting for their resignation. With the Management Committee’s approval, the wages of two positions were consolidated and allocated to one person, helping Sanhe Street settle a retired soldier.
The retired soldier’s surname was Wang, named Wang Tiejun, and he was thirty-three years old this year.
Upon arrival, he was "enlisted," receiving dual leadership from Old Ding, the "dual-role director," and Liu Degui, the reserve camp manager.
Notably, the Binjiang Water Resources Bureau also assigned a retired soldier to them.
