美国国家公共电台 NPR Labor Unions Appear Set For More State-Level Defeats In 2017

 

AUDIE CORNISH, HOST: 

Twenty-seventeen is shaping up to be another tough year for organized labor¹. The year started with Republican lawmakers in Kentucky passing so-called right-to-work laws that affect how labor unions collect dues. That made Kentucky the 27th state with right-to-work laws. Missouri and New Hampshire could be next in line. Todd Bookman of New Hampshire Public Radio reports that if the bill passes in his state, it will be the first in the northeast to rollback union rights.

TODD BOOKMAN, BYLINE²: Union leaders have successfully fended³ off right-to-work bills in New Hampshire for decades, so it wasn't a surprise when hundreds of rank-and-file members, many in red T-shirts, filled the statehouse during a recent public hearing. State Senator Dan Innis held the gavel, but at times struggled to handle the crowd.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

DAN INNIS: Let me first ask those in attendance if we could please refrain from applause and other activities so we can continue to move this forward...

(BOOING)

INNIS: ...Including booing - I would greatly appreciate it, as would your fellow folks who are here today. So please...

BOOKMAN: While opponents were fired up, their preferred candidates didn't fare as well during the November elections. Republicans now control the New Hampshire House, Senate and governor's office, and they've made passage of right-to-work a priority. Broadly speaking, these laws prohibit unions from forcing non-union members to pay fees to cover the cost of collective bargaining. For State Senator Andy Sanborn, that policy is a natural fit for New Hampshire, where about 10 percent of the workforce⁴ is unionized.

ANDY SANBORN: This is the Live Free or Die state, so we're about personal freedom. We're about personal liberty. And what makes a stronger statement than reaffirming the fact that you're not being compelled to have to pay into a union if you don't want to pay into it?

BOOKMAN: But for opponents, the laws create what's called a freeriding problem. Bobby Jones is with AFSCME Local 3657, which represents public safety and corrections workers. He says employees who don't chip into the union still get the advantages of collective bargaining, like higher wages and benefits.

BOBBY JONES: So it's just like you and I want to go out one night for a couple of beers. I choose the bar. We go out. We both have a couple of drinks. We're talking about whatever the topic is - the Patriots⁵ going to the Super Bowl. You know, when the bill comes out, I pull out my wallet, and you don't reach for yours.

BOOKMAN: Both sides of this debate toss around competing statistics. Backers say it will draw jobs and investment to New Hampshire, while opponents call it right-to-work-for-less and say that workers will lose bargaining power and see their wages erode⁶. But in the end, it's become less of an economic argument and more of a purely⁷ partisan⁸ fight - one aimed at weakening unions, which generally back Democratic candidates with campaign cash and volunteers.

DEAN SPILIOTES: Some people do view it as kind of Republican payback against the role of unions in elections.

BOOKMAN: Dean Spiliotes is a political analyst⁹ with Southern New Hampshire University. He says right-to-work laws are a central part of the conservative platform, even if it's not an issue that gets lots of attention from most voters.

SPILIOTES: From time to time, you have these issues that kind of transcend¹⁰ the impact that they may have on an individual state and become kind of a litmus test for where you are ideologically¹¹.

BOOKMAN: After years of trying, New Hampshire Republicans are turning that ideology¹² into action. The bill cleared the state Senate by a single vote and now heads to the House, where the GOP holds a 50-seat majority. For NPR News, I'm Todd Bookman in Concord¹³, N.H.

1 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。

2 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

3 fended   

v.独立生活，照料自己( fend的过去式和过去分词 )；挡开，避开

参考例句：

• He neatly fended off a jab at his chest. 他利落地挡开了当胸的一击。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• I fended off his sword thrust with my spear. 他一刀砍来，我拿枪架住。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

4 workforce   

n.劳动大军，劳动力

参考例句：

• A large part of the workforce is employed in agriculture.劳动人口中一大部分受雇于农业。
• A quarter of the local workforce is unemployed.本地劳动力中有四分之一失业。

5 patriots   

爱国者，爱国主义者( patriot的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Abraham Lincoln was a fine type of the American patriots. 亚伯拉罕·林肯是美国爱国者的优秀典型。
• These patriots would fight to death before they surrendered. 这些爱国者宁愿战斗到死，也不愿投降。

6 erode   

v.侵蚀，腐蚀，使...减少、减弱或消失

参考例句：

• Once exposed,soil is quickly eroded by wind and rain.一旦暴露在外，土壤很快就会被风雨侵蚀。
• Competition in the financial marketplace has eroded profits.金融市场的竞争降低了利润。

7 purely   

adv.纯粹地，完全地

参考例句：

• I helped him purely and simply out of friendship.我帮他纯粹是出于友情。
• This disproves the theory that children are purely imitative.这证明认为儿童只会单纯地模仿的理论是站不住脚的。

8 partisan   

adj.党派性的；游击队的；n.游击队员；党徒

参考例句：

• In their anger they forget all the partisan quarrels.愤怒之中，他们忘掉一切党派之争。
• The numerous newly created partisan detachments began working slowly towards that region.许多新建的游击队都开始慢慢地向那里移动。

9 analyst   

n.分析家，化验员；心理分析学家

参考例句：

• What can you contribute to the position of a market analyst?你有什么技能可有助于市场分析员的职务？
• The analyst is required to interpolate values between standards.分析人员需要在这些标准中插入一些值。

10 transcend   

vt.超出，超越(理性等)的范围

参考例句：

• We can't transcend the limitations of the ego.我们无法超越自我的局限性。
• Everyone knows that the speed of airplanes transcend that of ships.人人都知道飞机的速度快于轮船的速度。

11 ideologically   

adv. 意识形态上地，思想上地

参考例句：

• Ideologically, they have many differences. 在思想意识上，他们之间有许多不同之处。
• He has slipped back ideologically. 他思想退步了。

12 ideology   

n.意识形态，(政治或社会的)思想意识

参考例句：

• The ideology has great influence in the world.这种思想体系在世界上有很大的影响。
• The ideal is to strike a medium between ideology and inspiration.我的理想是在意识思想和灵感鼓动之间找到一个折衷。

13 concord   

n.和谐；协调

参考例句：

• These states had lived in concord for centuries.这些国家几个世纪以来一直和睦相处。
• His speech did nothing for racial concord.他的讲话对种族和谐没有作用。