Becoming a Russian Oligarch After Rebirth
Chapter 1224 - 1012 Pikalevo

Chapter 1224: Chapter 1012 Pikalevo

At the end of January, just as the interior of China was festooned with lights in anticipation of the Spring Festival, Wang Ye’s private jet landed at Petersburg Airport.

Local officials had already been awaiting his arrival. Wang Ye swiftly descended the gangway, with his entourage following in single file.

After a brief handshake with the Mayor of Petersburg, who had come to meet him, Wang Ye got straight to the point and asked,

"What’s the situation now?"

With a pained expression, the Mayor replied, "We’ve already sent a task force to Pikalevo, and have had several discussions with the workers, but they are very steadfast in their stance. They insist that they must receive their overdue wages before they will resume work. Otherwise, they won’t return to their jobs and they also don’t allow us to send someone into the factory."

Wang Ye furrowed his brow and pressed further, "What about the Russian Aluminium Group Headquarters? What do they say?"

The Mayor’s face looked even grimmer as he spread his hands in helplessness,

"Their attitude is the same, declaring that they won’t pay the wages until a thorough investigation of the local aluminum factory’s accounts has been carried out. They even mentioned filing a lawsuit to resolve the matter through legal means. The problem is, resorting to the law would take a very long time, but we can’t wait that long. We’ve already been without heating and hot water for three or four days, and part of Petersburg City has been affected. The public is full of complaints. If we delay any longer, I fear Petersburg City District might start to descend into chaos."

Wang Ye nodded and didn’t say much else, just quickly headed for the waiting convoy of cars, with the local officials and his entourage closely behind.

Once in the car, Wang Ye leaned back in his seat to rest with his eyes closed, casually instructing, "Go straight to Pikalevo."

The car, provided by the Government of Peterburg City, had the Mayor accompanying Wang Ye in the back row while Nova sat in the driving seat.

The Mayor had originally arranged for a rest at the city government office followed by a welcoming banquet, considering that Chairman Mikhail’s visit was a rare occasion and warranted proper hospitality.

But now, hearing Wang Ye’s plans, he didn’t dare to say anything more. He just nodded at the driver, signaling him to carry out the orders.

The convoy sped out of the airport, not heading towards the city center but circling around half of the city before driving towards Pikalevo.

...

On the journey, Wang Ye remained silent, continuously resting with his eyes closed.

The Mayor of Petersburg beside him took out his cell phone and made calls in a low voice; he needed to make some arrangements in advance, such as security, contacting the worker representatives, representatives from the Russian Aluminium Group Headquarters, and so on.

After all, when Chairman Mikhail arrived, he was there to solve problems. It would be inappropriate if there was nobody available for discussions upon his arrival—that would be unbecoming of the Mayor!

As for the security issue, he was urgently mobilizing Petersburg City’s police personnel to maintain order in Pikalevo. With so many aluminum factory workers protesting, who could guarantee that no one would act impulsively and potentially harm Chairman Mikhail?

That would be a huge problem! Even though he, as the Mayor, came from the Kremlin faction, he could not afford to bear such a responsibility.

To say nothing of the fact that the Kremlin would not let him off lightly if anything went wrong...

Additionally, arrangements had to be made for media reporters to be present to film and record the meeting scenes between Chairman Mikhail, the worker representatives, and the representatives of the Russian Aluminium Group Headquarters. This was also a necessary procedure.

...

At this moment, in the town of Pikalevo, the worker representatives from the aluminum factory had also received notification from the personnel of Petersburg City, saying that a big shot from Moscow was on his way and would soon resolve their issues.

The representatives sent by the Russian Aluminium Group Headquarters had received the same notification.

The meeting location was arranged in the large meeting room of the only up-scale hotel in the area.

The worker representatives and people from the Russian Aluminium Group Headquarters gradually arrived at the meeting room, and the scene was filled with many police officers maintaining order. Otherwise, the two parties might have come to blows...

Even without physical altercations, verbal sparring was inevitable.

Representatives from the headquarters began with a taunting tone, "Don’t think your little schemes are fooling anyone. You’ve accepted your own benefits from certain individuals in the factory, allowed yourselves to be used as pawns, and now you’ve gathered to create a disturbance. Be careful when Chairman Mikhail arrives; he might just have you all arrested and prosecuted! He’s not someone easy to deceive and is very firm-handed, so you’d better watch out."

What he said basically represented the perspective of the Russian Aluminium Group Headquarters.

The worker strike came too unaccountably and suddenly.

Headquarters had promised that, once the aluminum factory’s accounts were audited and clarified, the overdue wages would be paid in full to everyone, with additional compensation to boot.

Initially, the workers had accepted this, which is why the delay had been tolerated for so long.

But lately, it seemed headquarters had indeed identified some issues, touching on sensitive matters, and the response from the factory management was immediate and vehement. Moreover, the workers suddenly became "irritable," organizing a widespread strike within a very short period.

Headquarters analyzed that there must be someone behind these actions stirring up trouble!

Undoubtedly, it’s those aluminum factory managers who have misappropriated company assets for personal gain who are instigating the workers.

At this critical moment, headquarters certainly can’t back down. Otherwise, not only would this aluminum factory be ungovernable in the future, but if other locations were to follow suit, wouldn’t the Group itself be in dire straits!