When the Saint comes, she does not collect food

#467 - "Autumn Isle Guild Act" (Part 2)

Standing on the terrace beside the Holy Grandson, several monks were reciting the articles of the "Guild Act" one by one.

Summaries of the bills were also being passed around among the crowd, and the craftsmen who received them were both happy and worried.

"What is this? Are we supposed to agree?" Asley asked Shalet in a low voice.

Shalet looked at Asley with surprise: "This isn't a question, it's a notification."

"Damn it, our foundation is too shallow, we don't have any elders to speak for us," Asley lamented.

Shalet also began to grumble, knowing that if a job was divided among five people, there were still many craftsmen who had to travel around to find work.

But if the Holy Grandson opened it up like this, one person could do one job, wouldn't that mean more craftsmen would lose their jobs?

That would inevitably lead to price wars to attract customers, leaving only a few with the best skills and lowest prices, earning all the money.

But that would mean the end of their leisurely days, and they would be overtaken by other young craftsmen if they weren't careful.

Even though they would earn more money, this life would be worse than in the guild.

"Don't worry, when a large number of craftsmen are lost, our Crown will be honest," Asley chuckled twice, "Besides, this is good, if we join hands, we will definitely be the ones who stay and make big money."

Ignoring Asley, Shalet was focusing on reading the bill summary that had been passed to him, but he exclaimed as he read, "Apprentice term limits, what does this mean?"

"Good question." Honn had actually walked down from the terrace at some point, and under the protection of several constables, came among the craftsmen and laborers.

He looked around at the craftsmen and laborers who were respectfully bowing, and smiled: "It means the days of masters wantonly exploiting their apprentices are coming to an end."

In Honn's "Guild Act", it was stipulated that masters must have a fixed apprenticeship period when recruiting apprentices.

Within the current imperial guilds, a 12-year-old apprentice who拜了 (bài le, apprenticed to) a master might still be an apprentice at 30, having to work for the master for free, only receiving meager wages.

Shalet still remembered a forty-year-old apprentice who, after his uncle died, asked his aunt to change him from an apprentice to a journeyman.

As a result, his aunt knelt down with a thud.

The final result was that the old apprentice was still an apprentice, and was almost fired by the guild supervisor.

And the Holy Grandson's "Autumn Dusk Island Guild Act" stipulated the length of the apprenticeship period, generally two years, four years for hat makers, and only half a year for sawyers.

After studying with the master for two years, the apprentice had to take a unified craftsman skill examination organized by the guild, and if they passed, they would be promoted to journeyman.

If they didn't pass, they could take the exam again after two years, and after three apprentice exams, if they still didn't pass, the apprentice was allowed to transfer to another craftsman master.

After three years as a journeyman, they would take the second round of craftsman skill exams, and if they passed, they would become a formal craftsman, and if they didn't succeed, they could take the exam again every three years.

After becoming a formal craftsman, they needed to stay in the master's workshop for three years to pay for food and tuition during the apprenticeship.

After three years of graduation, one-tenth of their monthly salary had to be given to the master after finding a job, or both parties could negotiate a buyout.

There was no need to worry about the craftsman going elsewhere, because all guilds within the Savior Papal States would be uniformly managed.

In the future, there might even be a Guild Department under the Holy Vault Court.

No matter where these apprentices worked, the local guild would collect apprentice fees from these craftsmen, then deposit them in the bank, and finally withdraw them from Autumn Dusk Island to give to these craftsman masters.

In this way, the more formal craftsman apprentices a craftsman master had, the more income he would have each month.

At the same time, Honn also set a minimum wage for journeymen, and if someone could never pass, it would be nice to be a journeyman in various workshops.

A journeyman was actually a craftsman who worked with the master, but he didn't have the qualifications to open his own workshop.

Although this method might still lead to an apprentice not being able to graduate, there was a relatively official organization like the guild, and there was also the opportunity to leave the master.

At least they wouldn't be dragged down by a bad master for a lifetime.

Although this law was not perfect, it could solve the problem of craft inheritance and innovation to a certain extent.

Honn hoped to discover reliable craftsman talents through this method as much as possible.

After all, before Honn's "Natural Theology" developed, most inventors and engineers came from craftsmen.

But this involved another question, that is—

Could there be so many jobs waiting for these craftsmen? Could the believers' consumption cover the products of these craftsmen?

But this was a problem for the Savior military government and even the war monks.

After listening to Honn's explanation, the craftsmen present had different expressions, some frowning and thinking, and some indignant.

From a rational point of view, they almost wanted to applaud this decision, how much time they had wasted before they could graduate.

But from an emotional point of view, they felt psychologically unbalanced.

They had suffered a lot to get to the position of a formal craftsman.

Then people in the future would no longer have to suffer these hardships, and the number would increase greatly, so what was the point of their suffering?

But no matter how dissatisfied they were, they could only endure it because of their current situation where they had nowhere to go.

"One last thing." After answering the craftsmen one by one for a week, Honn stood below the terrace and said to them again, "It's about the work you've been waiting for."

The craftsmen present crowded over, shoulder to shoulder, holding their breath, for fear of missing something.

They ran from Rapid Stream City to this remote corner because they couldn't find work, and Honn not only guaranteed the distribution of formal craftsman qualifications, but even guaranteed the distribution of work?

They could endure the previous decrees, mainly because they were waiting for the final highlight.

“You are all artisans, and your skills will determine your superiority, so we will conduct a uniform artisan professional examination.

After the examination, we will assign you to different workshops based on your scores, even if you are the last one, there is a place to go.

But I'll say it in advance, our wages have no upper limit and no lower limit.

If you don't want to be a craftsman but get the minimum wage, please try to score higher.

Also, even laborers can participate in this exam, and if they pass, they can directly be issued a journeyman's certificate.”

“Issue journeyman certificates to laborers?” After a moment of silence, a scream-like voice came from among the craftsmen, “This, this is too outrageous.”

“Yes, Your Crown.”

“We cannot prove that they have sufficient morals to manufacture a qualified product.”

“We don’t even know where they learned their skills from.”

Ignoring the resentful eyes of the laborers around them, the craftsmen jumped up and down to protest to Honn.

To Honn's surprise, the craftsmen present had never dared to object to the previous decrees, but they began to object to this small matter.

“Okay, okay, all the workshops are short of staff at the moment, special affairs will be handled specially.” Honn waved his hand, and several constables stepped forward to push the crowd away, “Aren’t you fellow villagers? What are you objecting to?”

“How can that be the same?”

“Your Crown, would you reconsider?”

“No need to consider, this decree is together with the 《Guild Act》.” Honn ignored them and continued to explain the remaining parts.

“The top twenty in this exam or those with unique skills will receive investment and support from the Papal Palace.

The Papal Palace will provide them with venues, raw materials, and loans to set up their own workshops, but after making a profit, the venue price and loans will be converted into shares.

Of course, you can also choose to buy out the shares from the Papal Palace at once, I will not stop you from doing so.”

“Finally, the exam time is one week later, the registration deadline is three days before the exam, if you want to register, please go quickly.”