楼继伟批劳动合同法：过分保护在职员工

 　　The widely held belief that the Great Hall of the People, iconic edifice¹ of China's political democracy, had little room for spontaneous dissent² crumbled³ today when Finance Minister Lou Jiwei delivered a lengthy⁴ attack on a standing⁵ law, live on national TV.

　　人民大会堂代表了中国民主政治，人们普遍认为政务讨论中很难听到批评的声音，但3月7日十二届全国人大四次会议记者会却让人们听到了不同的声音。财政部部长楼继伟在中央电视台的直播记者会上发表长篇言论，直击现行《劳动合同法》的弊端。

　　Monday was the third day of the national parliamentary session, and the news briefing where Lou made his uNPRecedented⁶ statement was hosted by the National People's Congress (NPC), the body which approved his nomination⁷ as Finance Minister and whose Standing Committee in 2007 passed the Labor⁸ Contract Law which has so irked the minister.

　　3月7日是十二届全国人大四次会议召开的第三天，在由全国人大主持的记者会上，财政部部长楼继伟发表了这篇前所未有的言论。楼继伟正是被全国人大任命为财政部部长的，让他感到困扰的法律就是2007年人大常委会讨论通过的《劳动合同法》。

　　楼继伟批劳动合同法：过分保护在职员工

　　Hundreds of reporters were present to hear the man who holds China's purse strings⁹, when one of them, citing complaints from entrepreneurs, lit Lou's fuse by asking about previous criticism he had made of the law.

　　记者会上有数百名记者出席，有记者援引企业家对《劳动合同法》的意见和抱怨，再次对楼继伟此前对此法的批评言论提出问题，由此触发了这位手握中国经济命脉的财政部部长的长篇言论。

　　Those comments had been to a rather different audience, one composed mainly of academics in Tsinghua University and on another occasion at a scholars' forum¹⁰. Well-known as a no-nonsense straight-talker, Lou held nothing back.

　　楼继伟干脆利落，直言不讳，对问题毫不隐瞒。他曾两次就《劳动合同法》的问题对不同听众提出意见，一次是在清华大学管理学院从学术角度进行批评，另一次是在中国经济五十人论坛上向参会学者提出修改劳动法的建议。

　　The minister's argument is that the law is overprotective of employees, making employers unwilling¹¹ to create jobs and invest in training. This, Lou claims, ultimately hurts workers by denying them jobs openings or the opportunity to improve their skills.

　　楼继伟认为，现行《劳动合同法》对在职职工的保护比较多，未能激励企业对职工进行企业培训、为劳动者提供就业机会，这最终会对劳动者造成伤害，因为企业提供的职位和员工提高自身技能的机会都减少了。

　　"For enterprises and employees, the extent of protection afforded by the Labor Contract Law is unbalanced," Lou said. "For prospective¹² employees, especially the low-skilled, the law discriminates¹³ against them.

　　楼继伟说：“《劳动合同法》在企业方面和雇员方面，保护的程度是不平衡的。对于新入职的人，特别是低技能的体力劳动者的实际就业是带有歧视的。”

　　"As employees are allowed to terminate employment easily with only one month's notice, employers lack the motivation to invest in training. Why would any business spend money on training them? Our acute shortage of medium to highly skilled technicians partly stems from this law."“企业如果加大了企业培训，提高技能，而职工可以提前一个月不说什么原因就可以离开，企业为什么花钱给你提高技能呢？目前中高级技师是最为短缺的，与《劳动合同法》是有关的。”

　　"An employee may not work hard and the law makes it difficult for the employer to deal with by, for example, firing him or her. That prevents another prospective employee from taking the position."“一个职工如果工作不努力，企业很难对他进行处理，比如解雇，那么位置就占着，对新入职的就形成歧视。”

　　Lou is not the first to voice concern over the Labor Contract Law. The draft spent nearly a year in front of the cabinet before being submitted to the Standing Committee of the NPC and took another 19 months to be approved.

　　楼继伟不是第一个针对《劳动合同法》提出意见的人。经过近一年的讨论后，国务院将《劳动合同法》草案提交至全国人大常委会审议，审议过程历时19个月之久。

　　In China drafts are usually read three times, but the labor contract draft was read for a fourth time, after its full text was released for public consultation¹⁴.

　　在中国，法律议案一般要经过三次审议，但《劳动合同法》在经过三次审议后向公众征求意见，后又进行了第四次审议才通过。

 

1 edifice   

n.宏伟的建筑物(如宫殿，教室)

参考例句：

• The American consulate was a magnificent edifice in the centre of Bordeaux.美国领事馆是位于波尔多市中心的一座宏伟的大厦。
• There is a huge Victorian edifice in the area.该地区有一幢维多利亚式的庞大建筑物。

2 dissent   

n./v.不同意，持异议

参考例句：

• It is too late now to make any dissent.现在提出异议太晚了。
• He felt her shoulders gave a wriggle of dissent.他感到她的肩膀因为不同意而动了一下。

3 crumbled   

（把…）弄碎， （使）碎成细屑( crumble的过去式和过去分词 )； 衰落； 坍塌； 损坏

参考例句：

• He crumbled the bread in his fingers. 他用手指把面包捻碎。
• Our hopes crumbled when the business went bankrupt. 商行破产了，我们的希望也破灭了。

4 lengthy   

adj.漫长的，冗长的

参考例句：

• We devoted a lengthy and full discussion to this topic.我们对这个题目进行了长时间的充分讨论。
• The professor wrote a lengthy book on Napoleon.教授写了一部有关拿破仑的巨著。

5 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

6 unprecedented   

adj.无前例的，新奇的

参考例句：

• The air crash caused an unprecedented number of deaths.这次空难的死亡人数是空前的。
• A flood of this sort is really unprecedented.这样大的洪水真是十年九不遇。

7 nomination   

n.提名，任命，提名权

参考例句：

• John is favourite to get the nomination for club president.约翰最有希望被提名为俱乐部主席。
• Few people pronounced for his nomination.很少人表示赞成他的提名。

8 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。

9 strings   

n.弦

参考例句：

• He sat on the bed,idly plucking the strings of his guitar.他坐在床上，随意地拨着吉他的弦。
• She swept her fingers over the strings of the harp.她用手指划过竖琴的琴弦。

10 forum   

n.论坛，讨论会

参考例句：

• They're holding a forum on new ways of teaching history.他们正在举行历史教学讨论会。
• The organisation would provide a forum where problems could be discussed.这个组织将提供一个可以讨论问题的平台。

11 unwilling   

adj.不情愿的

参考例句：

• The natives were unwilling to be bent by colonial power.土著居民不愿受殖民势力的摆布。
• His tightfisted employer was unwilling to give him a raise.他那吝啬的雇主不肯给他加薪。

12 prospective   

adj.预期的，未来的，前瞻性的

参考例句：

• The story should act as a warning to other prospective buyers.这篇报道应该对其他潜在的购买者起到警示作用。
• They have all these great activities for prospective freshmen.这会举办各种各样的活动来招待未来的新人。

13 discriminates   

分别，辨别，区分( discriminate的第三人称单数 )； 歧视，有差别地对待

参考例句：

• The new law discriminates against lower-paid workers. 这条新法律歧视低工资的工人。
• One test governs state legislation that discriminates against interstate commerce. 一个检验约束歧视州际商业的州立法。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法

14 consultation   

n.咨询；商量；商议；会议

参考例句：

• The company has promised wide consultation on its expansion plans.该公司允诺就其扩展计划广泛征求意见。
• The scheme was developed in close consultation with the local community.该计划是在同当地社区密切磋商中逐渐形成的。