美国国家公共电台 NPR--Widespread strike in Britain was coordinated to have the greatest impact

Widespread strike in Britain was coordinated¹ to have the greatest impact

Transcript²

Roughly half a million workers went out on strike in the U.K. Wednesday, the largest single day of industrial action in Britain in more than a decade.

LEILA FADEL, HOST:

Roughly half a million workers went out on strike in the U.K. yesterday, the largest single day of industrial action in Britain for more than a decade. They included teachers, civil servants, border force agents, as well as bus and train drivers. The strike was coordinated by unions to have the biggest impact. We're joined now from London by reporter Willem Marx for an update on this ongoing³ winter of discontent. Good morning.

WILLEM MARX: Good morning, Leila.

FADEL: So Willem, what factors united so many different kinds of workers together for this huge strike?

MARX: Well, ultimately, this was about pay levels. Every single one of these professions and the unions that represent them are demanding higher wages at a time when living costs in Britain are much higher than they were even several months ago. Inflation linked to higher energy prices has created some really big problems for people not only for their heating and their electric bills, but even the cost of food in the grocery stores here. It's up more than 10% year on year.

Without corresponding increases for their pay, of course, many people are struggling to make ends meet. And all of these kinds of jobs in Britain that we've mentioned there, they have their wages in some sense controlled by the government. That might be obvious, say, with civil servants or border force agents. But even the companies that run the trains here in the U.K., they do serve as franchises⁴ controlled by the government. So they're not really able to pay their workers more without the government ultimately approving it. And the government has really dragged its feet over these pay increases.

FADEL: So a really difficult time for people to make ends meet, their wages not keeping up. So what's the government's reason for not boosting salaries?

MARX: One of the big challenges for the government, led by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, is to bring inflation under control. And by increasing pay in the public sector⁵ by even a few percentage points, that will potentially mean pumping billions of dollars of fresh money into the economy each year, which is unlikely to help reduce inflation. And then on top of that, the government's own finances are already pretty tight. The economy's not really growing here. The amount of money available from taxes is therefore not growing either. And because of high interest rates at the moment, it's expensive for the government to borrow money to pay higher wages to these workers.

Now, interestingly, the Labour opposition⁶ party says the Conservative government is actually stoking some of these disputes for political purposes, potentially hoping the broader public will be so frustrated⁷ by all this disruption, the striking workers will start to lose public support. But so far, I've got to say, that's not proven to be the case for quite a few of the professions you just mentioned involved in these strikes, particularly health workers and nurses. They're striking this year for the first time in the history of Britain's National Health Service. And people have, for the most part, been pretty supportive about their higher wage demands.

FADEL: But what's been the impact of all these people striking not working? What are the implications for coming weeks, months, if these disputes are not resolved over pay?

MARX: Well, yesterday, 1 in 10 schools across England and Wales were closed. The vast majority of others were significantly impacted by the loss of teachers. Interestingly, as an aside, polls are showing that parents were broadly supportive of these strikes.

FADEL: Yeah.

MARX: On some strike days, you have Britain's train services essentially⁸ grinding to a halt in some parts of the country. And of course, there are implications for all this. If parents can't go to work, if commuters can't get to their offices, the overall economy suffers. And some experts worry that the cost to the national economy of fighting these wage increases will ultimately end up being higher than it would have been had the government simply implemented⁹ some of these increases earlier. Rishi Sunak's office says the prime minister's now getting more directly involved in talks with the unions. And the government does insist it needs to balance the need to keep public sector workers happy with what they call fairness for Britain's taxpayers¹⁰, Leila.

FADEL: Willem Marx in London. Thank you so much, Willem.

MARX: Thank you.

1 coordinated   

adj.协调的

参考例句：

• The sound has to be coordinated with the picture. 声音必须和画面协调一致。
• The numerous existing statutes are complicated and poorly coordinated. 目前繁多的法令既十分复杂又缺乏快调。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法

2 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

3 ongoing   

adj.进行中的，前进的

参考例句：

• The problem is ongoing.这个问题尚未解决。
• The issues raised in the report relate directly to Age Concern's ongoing work in this area.报告中提出的问题与“关心老人”组织在这方面正在做的工作有直接的关系。

4 franchises   

n.（尤指选举议员的）选举权( franchise的名词复数 )；参政权；获特许权的商业机构（或服务）；（公司授予的）特许经销权v.给…以特许权，出售特许权( franchise的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• TV franchises will be auctioned to the highest bidder. 电视特许经营权将拍卖给出价最高的投标人。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Ford dealerships operated as independent franchises. 福特汽车公司的代销商都是独立的联营商。 来自辞典例句

5 sector   

n.部门，部分；防御地段，防区；扇形

参考例句：

• The export sector will aid the economic recovery. 出口产业将促进经济复苏。
• The enemy have attacked the British sector.敌人已进攻英国防区。

6 opposition   

n.反对，敌对

参考例句：

• The party leader is facing opposition in his own backyard.该党领袖在自己的党內遇到了反对。
• The police tried to break down the prisoner's opposition.警察设法制住了那个囚犯的反抗。

7 frustrated   

adj.挫败的，失意的，泄气的v.使不成功( frustrate的过去式和过去分词 )；挫败；使受挫折；令人沮丧

参考例句：

• It's very easy to get frustrated in this job. 这个工作很容易令人懊恼。
• The bad weather frustrated all our hopes of going out. 恶劣的天气破坏了我们出行的愿望。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 essentially   

adv.本质上，实质上，基本上

参考例句：

• Really great men are essentially modest.真正的伟人大都很谦虚。
• She is an essentially selfish person.她本质上是个自私自利的人。

9 implemented   

v.实现( implement的过去式和过去分词 )；执行；贯彻；使生效

参考例句：

• This agreement, if not implemented, is a mere scrap of paper. 这个协定如不执行只不过是一纸空文。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• The economy is in danger of collapse unless far-reaching reforms are implemented. 如果不实施影响深远的改革，经济就面临崩溃的危险。 来自辞典例句

10 taxpayers   

纳税人，纳税的机构( taxpayer的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Finance for education comes from taxpayers. 教育经费来自纳税人。
• She was declaiming against the waste of the taxpayers' money. 她慷慨陈词猛烈抨击对纳税人金钱的浪费。