Empire Rising: Spain - Chapter 336 - 194: Protecting Workers’ Rights

Since November 1875, Spain has thoroughly entered the era of Carlo.

On November 11th, more than 20 nobles and officials whose crimes were confirmed through trials were publicly executed in the central plaza of Madrid.

These nobles and officials sentenced to death could freely choose the method of execution, such as the guillotine or gallows.

The large-scale execution of officials and nobles also aroused great curiosity among the public, as not even the revolution six or seven years ago led to such a degree of public executions of nobles.

Carlo’s ability to issue execution orders against the nobles was seen by the Spanish populace as a respect for their opinions.

Along with these 20 or so noble officials, the bosses of those factories exposed during the media storm were also executed.

To appease the anger of Spanish workers, they had to be pulled out as scapegoats. However, they were not entirely innocent, after all, a fly does not bite a seamless egg. Their use as a pretext for marches by rebellious nobles at least proved they were not free from exploiting workers in normal times.

In addition to executing these criminals, the government also made public the treatment of other nobles and officials whose crimes did not warrant death.

First, whether noble or official, all their property was confiscated, their noble titles were abolished. Family members were banned from running for parliament for 50 years, and currently elected members were also stripped of their parliamentary qualifications.

The length of imprisonment was determined based on their level of involvement in the rebellion, ranging from a minimum of nearly 20 years to life imprisonment for the most involved.

Carlo will establish a new prison in the Congo Territory to house these traitors. As for whether they were going to serve their sentences in prison or be sent to the Congo as laborers, only the people in the Congo Territory would know.

After all, these people were criminals, and rather than letting them stay in prison wasting food, it would be better to let them contribute their last bit of energy to the development of the Congo Territory.

After executing these criminals, the Spanish Government immediately turned its attention to protecting workers’ rights.

The primary reason for the large-scale worker protests throughout Madrid was the unbridled exploitation by factory owners.

Although the government had also issued a corresponding “Labor Protection Act,” there were always loopholes in the law. These capitalists tried every possible way to exploit legal loopholes, continuing to wantonly exploit workers outside the reach of legal oversight.

To ensure workers’ interests, and to fully quell the public outrage from the worker protests, Spanish Provisional Government Prime Minister Serrano publicly announced that he would push for further reforms of the “Labor Protection Act,” clarifying work hours and minimum income for workers, and implementing it across all regions nationwide.

Serrano acted quickly, promulgating Spain’s new “Labor Protection Act” in just a few days.

The new “Labor Protection Act” stipulates that when Spanish citizens work in domestic enterprises and factories, the normal daily working hours shall not exceed ten hours.

Once daily working hours exceed ten hours, extra work hours will be considered overtime, deserving compensation higher than normal working hours, with at least a 1.5 times increase over the normal working hour salary.

Spanish citizens’ weekly working hours shall not exceed 70 hours, and they should have at least 2 days of holiday per month. Those working during major holidays and important events should be provided with overtime pay exceeding 1.5 times the normal working hour rate by factories and enterprises.

Although the government did not explicitly demand that workers’ working hours must not exceed ten hours, as long as they exceed ten hours, factories must provide the workers with overtime pay at 1.5 times the normal working hours.

This, in a way, met the workers’ demands. Workers were not angry about overtime, but about overtime with no return.

As long as overtime work could earn higher income, most workers were willing to work harder themselves for higher incomes.

The new “Labor Protection Act” regulated the working hours of Spanish citizens, and the latest “Minimum Income Law for Workers” to be promulgated next would amend the minimum income standards for Spanish citizens participating in labor.

For today’s Spain, the minimum income law promulgated a few years ago is obviously no longer applicable.

During Spain’s rapid development over the past six years, the average income has seen a substantial increase. Continuing to protect all Spanish workers under the previous minimum income law would give factory owners ample room to exploit the laborers.

Since a revision was necessary, the minimum income law would definitely need changes as well.

According to the latest “Minimum Income Law for Workers,” the minimum income for participating in labor by Spanish citizens also saw a substantial increase.

The minimum weekly salary for adult male Spanish citizens working shall not be less than 2 Pesseta 15 copper coins, and for adult female Spanish citizens, it shall not be less than 1 Pesseta 75 copper coins.

The minimum weekly salary for male Spanish citizens aged 50 and above shall not be less than 1 Pesseta 60 copper coins, and for female Spanish citizens aged 50 and above, it shall not be less than 1 Pesseta 25 copper coins.

The minimum weekly salary for child labor shall always be no less than 90 copper coins, and child labor shall not work overtime for any reason. Their daily work hours shall not exceed ten hours, and every Sunday is a rest day for child labor.