This worker uprising made Perfikot realize, amidst her fury, that some things she can ignore, but cannot pretend not to see.

The workers' problem, to put it bluntly, is still an issue of oppression and exploitation; although Perfikot offered them better treatment, it was still based on the societal average wages.

No matter how kind Perfikot is to the workers, she cannot possibly offer them a salary multiple times the social average for ordinary workers.

That wouldn't be improving the workers' treatment, but purely foolish.

Even if workers receive better treatment, they are still subject to oppression and exploitation, though it's not as severe.

Just like the so-called kind-hearted landlord who collects one-tenth less rent being called a great benefactor, he is still essentially part of the landlord class without any fundamental change.

Perfikot is well aware of this, even more than those supposed leaders of the workers' movement.

But she doesn't care about it; what matters most to her is completing her plan, and she's prepared to use lives to achieve it if necessary, let alone being wicked to exploit others.

There's no conflict between being unwilling and knowing it's necessary.

However, even so, Perfikot understands that the problems arising from this oppressive and exploitative social relationship cannot be ignored.

After all, even if she pretends not to see it, the impact on the engineering progress is real.

Although time is tight now, it's not so tight that there's no room for delays, but Perfikot simply dislikes unexpected occurrences outside her plan.

So, after careful consideration, she decided to properly address this issue.

To deal with such issues, she first had to clarify her stance.

Other managers could choose to side with the engineers or with the workers, or even consider a third-party stance.

But for Perfikot, she doesn't need to choose a stance because, with her power and status, everyone else seeks her favor, and she doesn't need to cater to anyone.

In such matters, all she needs is for workers and engineers to be able to speak in her presence, to convey their opinions and ideas to her.

As for what decisions she'll make or what measures she'll take to address issues, that's her own business.

Of course, this requires fostering a few opinion leaders among the workers and engineers, at least people who can command authority, so that her will and ideas can be effectively implemented.

This can also effectively improve communication efficiency, prevent incidents like the current one from happening again, and better convey Perfikot's ideas to the workers and engineers.

She doesn't mind people causing trouble; she can accept reasonable demands and rights pursuits.

Even if demonstrations or protests occur, as long as they don't affect the engineering progress, she can tolerate them.

But for Perfikot, anything that affects her plan's progress is dancing on her bottom line and danger zone, like playing death rock and roll.

This can really lead to death.

Thinking about this, Perfikot seriously considered it and decided to send for Balas and the engineer representative she met before to ask for their thoughts and opinions.

She has some ideas on how to manage these workers and engineers, but she needs to consult these potential opinion representatives.

Although she holds tremendous military power and could use forceful repression, considering the need for stability now, if these people truly cause trouble, she'd have to resort to mass suppression, and the consequences of that would be troublesome, so it's not her first choice.

With the apocalypse approaching, people's minds will become increasingly unstable, especially with the Empire planning to announce the apocalypse news this winter; using bloody repression at that time could have counterproductive effects.

People's hearts are like springs; sometimes, pressing firmly causes no issues, but sometimes, a light push can release all the energy stored in the spring, breaking everything.

Perfikot doesn't understand people's hearts, but she at least knows what is needed when faced with the unknown and fear.

An iron hand of authority is an important cornerstone for maintaining order, but one can't solely rely on iron hands and oppression; offering hope, even false hope, makes it easier to drive people.

So when Balas and yesterday's leading engineer representative came to Perfikot's office, what laid before them was a draft Perfikot hastily prepared.

"Take a look. If you have any opinions, feel free to voice them now." Perfikot glanced at them and pushed the draft forward, then looked at Balas and asked, "You can read, right?"

Perfikot's question wasn't discriminatory; it's just that workers' literacy rates in this era were notably low.

Fortunately, Balas, being involved in worker movements, even if he was illiterate before, has self-taught quite a bit now, so he just nodded, wiped his hands on his clothes, and took the draft to read with the engineer beside him.

The engineer no longer maintained the clean image Perfikot saw yesterday; though he still appeared presentable and tidy, there was visible dust and oil stains on his cuffs and pant legs, proving his words yesterday weren't lies.

This slightly changed Perfikot's view of the engineer; she despises being lied to the most.

"You're planning to establish a Workers and Engineers Association?" After reading the draft, Balas and the engineer representative looked somewhat stunned.

They expected Perfikot to address the worker unrest but didn't anticipate her proposing something like this.

Between workers and engineers, it's not entirely antagonistic; after all, they see each other daily and work together, so a stiff relationship wouldn't facilitate work.

Especially since the number of engineers is often few, while workers are the majority.

So, typically, although engineers might not hold workers in high regard, they don't usually make relations very tense.

What happened yesterday with Colin was already quite a foolish act.

Nevertheless, the idea of having workers and engineers sit together to discuss matters might still seem a bit far-fetched.

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