"They’ll offer you two months' salary," he said, tapping the book. "But under the Industrial Disputes Act, Section 25-F, a workman with continuous service for more than a year is entitled to fifteen days' average pay for every completed year. Plus notice pay. Plus retrenchment compensation."

She got fourteen and a half—and a promise that any future automation would follow a fair transition plan. Sadiq tucked his battered paperback back into his pocket and smiled.

He looked at the lawyer. "Automation is not punishment. So pay what the schedule demands."

The lower-wage offer collapsed.

The management lawyer was a young woman in a pressed blazer who called them "unskilled operatives." Sadiq stood up, paperback in hand, and read aloud: "‘Retrenchment’ means termination by the employer for any reason whatsoever, otherwise than as a punishment inflicted by way of disciplinary action."