Employed for their Physique?

Building Site workers congregated outside the construction office. Wages were overdue and unpaid.

The corporation was insolvent, unable to pay. Little wonder the workers were angry.

The chairman had used hundreds of thousands of dollars of corporation funds for personal purchases, also given away hundreds of thousands more to any friend, relative or neighbor who came to see him saying they "needed money". Millions more had been spent without being accounted for, believed to be for extensive travel & accommodation.

The corporation had performed constuction work to the value of tens of millions of dollars with no written contracts for the jobs, and without any record being kept of the address at which jobs were done, or who the clients were.
Unsurprising given his actions, the chairman was under investigation by the Federal Police.

Thus with all cash reserves spent, and no way to recover money from the unknown clients, all work had halted, and the workers were unpaid.

A commonwealth government body had offered immediate funds to pay the arrears owed to the workers, and ongoing funds to allow the corporation to continue operations . However there was one condition;

The funds would only be forthcoming if the chairman was removed from the board.

The voting constituents of the goverment funded corporation were the building workers themselves, their families, relatives and neighbors.

An extra-ordinary election was quickly held.

The chairman was resoundingly voted back into office.

Back from Geneva/Paris/New York (presumably due to the corporation having run out of money to pay for his travel) the Chairman came ambling like an elephant out the front door of the contruction office after the vote. His vast bulk was shouldered (not easily) by the crowd of unpaid workers. Cheering loudly they carried him around until their legs threatened to collapse.

The federal government withdrew the offer of funding.

Mine Host witnessed this in his street, it took place only 2 doors away.

Human nature is often difficult to undertand.

They then returned to protesting in an ugly mood outside the construction office. Their chant alternated between:
a) demanding their unpaid wages (even though the corporation had no money),
b) condeming the federal government (for not paying "what they owe us"), and
c) rousing support for the chairman.