Cyniac
Twilight Star Rangers
235
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Posted - 2014.09.10 11:10:00 -
[1] - Quote
You seem to want a story so sit down and listen, you may enjoy it.
For decades, capsuleers had managed to exploit the workers of new eden by paying them in local currency which was only of value in their local station - essentially paying them in fake money with no real value. This suited capsuleers particularly well since they were able to generate a massive industrial output at knockdown prices of which they were the primary beneficiaries.
As time when by capsuleers, greedy as they were, decided to expand their operations to planet surfaces by extracting materials directly from planets, some of which included exceptionally hostile environments - plasma and lava planets in particular posed a challenge due to the geological nature of the planet and the surface conditions under which work crews would need to operate.
So for the first time, capsuleers started to pay isk to workers - to keep costs low contracts were signed before the crews were assigned to a given planet, so regardless of the conditions under which they operated planetary extraction crews were all paid the same amount. This suited the capsuleers just fine, as the minimal costs could easily be absorbed and production could continue apace.
However, over time workers in abandoned planetary operations or simply through rotation ended up working in various interstellar outposts or control towers around the universe. and though the environment there was much more stable than on some of the planetary surfaces, workers still wanted ISK rather than the near valueless local currency they were offered.
Workers being workers they ended up organizing - a series of strikes hit new eden with various responses. Sometimes workers were slaughtered sometimes production runs were sabotaged... ultimately though it was the great empires who sought to bring stability back to their stations and decreed that henceforth all workers in stations they controlled would be paid in ISK.
The effect was radical and immediate as Capsuleers has to now budget for considerable cost outlay to meet the new wages of the workers. An agreement was reached similar to that with planetary crews where regardless of the location crews were paid the same amount - hence costs would be similar regardless of the security space, however rush jobs and overtime pay became a very significant cost driving factor as there were nowhere near enough skilled workers to feed the military-industrial complex built up by the capsuleers.
Rumour has it that workers forced to operate in null-sec and wormhole stations are considering striking again to ask for double pay due to the inherent hazards of the situation - when a control tower gets blown up, there are never enough pods to ensure their survival after all...
And so it came to be that productiokn costs increased very considerably for capsuleers.
The universe has changed and it is not turning back. |