商业周刊:工会组织力量虚弱, 雇员自发组织罢工(3)

The internet allows individual workers to go public with experiences that trigger public outcry.

互联网使员工个人可以将引发公众谴责的经历公之于众。

The results can be swift and, often, far more severe than they might be for complaints made internally.

这样做可能很快产生结果，但后果往往比只在公司内部进行投诉要严重得多。

On Twitter, the #MeToo movement was at its core a mass action by women against workplace harassment¹, intimidation², and bullying³,

在推特上，#MeToo运动的核心是女性对工作场所发生的骚扰、恐吓和欺凌事件进行的大规模反抗活动，

and it brought about the downfall of hundreds of senior executives. Even small incidents can provoke mass outrage⁴.

这场活动导致数百名高管下台。即使是小事也可能引发公众的愤怒。

About a year ago, a Banana Republic clerk wrote on Facebook that her district manager had told her to remove the box braids she wore

大约一年前，一位香蕉共和国（Banana Republic）的职员在脸书上发帖说，她的区域经理让她不要再编那些小长辫儿了，

because they were "too urban" and "unprofessional." Her post was shared more than 16,000 times and,

因为它们太潮，不够职业化。这个帖子被转发了16000多次，

soon after, the company said the manager had been fired.

该公司很快表示已经解雇了这名经理。

Some 230 new worker groups have sprung up in the past decade, forming the backbone⁵ of what's come to be called alt.labor⁶.

在过去的十年间，约有230个新的员工团体涌现出来，形成了后来称之为替代劳工（alt-labor）的骨干力量。

Among them, Organization United for Respect, known as OUR, has become expert at uniting workers through technology.

其中，尊严团结组织（Organization United for Respect），已经成为利用技术手段团结员工的专家。

Spun⁷ out of a movement by Walmart workers to petition the country's biggest employer for change after several traditional union drives failed,

在几次传统工会罢工失败后，尊严团结组织带领沃尔玛员工发起情愿活动，要求美国最大雇主沃尔玛公司进行改革，

the group has broadened its mandate⁸ to include all low-wage workers, particularly in retail⁹.

至此，尊严团结组织已扩大其职权范围，将所有低收入员工，尤其是在零售业工作的员工也纳入其管辖范围。

When Toys "R" Us, preparing for liquidation¹⁰, said it wouldn't pay severance¹¹ to more than 30,000 employees, OUR organizers stepped in.

玩具反斗城公司准备进行破产清算时曾表示，不会向三万多名员工支付遣散费，尊严团结组织随即介入。

They ran online ads to reach workers,connecting them first with a peer-to-peer texting tool, then one-on-one phone calls, then committee calls.

他们通过在线广告找到那些员工，先用点对点短信工具联系他们，再进行一对一通话，然后召开委员会电话会议。

The workers gathered in Facebook groups to commiserate¹², share strategies, and organize demonstrations¹³ online and in real life.

员工们聚集到脸书小组中，同情彼此的遭遇，分享策略，并在线上、线下组织示威活动。

Eventually, KKR and Bain Capital, the company's private equity¹⁴ owners, agreed to put up $20 million for ex-employees

最终，玩具反斗城公司的私人股本所有者科尔伯格公司和贝恩资本公司同意为前雇员提供2000万美元遣散费，

—short of the $75 million workers say they're owed but a concession¹⁵ the firms weren't legally obliged to make.

这与员工表示所欠款项7500万美元相去甚远，但公司表示不会在法律上做出让步。

OUR is now putting Sears Holdings Corp. employees in touch with Toys "R" Us workers who can preach the power of collective action.

目前，尊严团结组织正在让西尔斯控股公司和玩具反斗城公司的员工保持联系，发挥集体行动的力量。

Like roughly 95 percent of all retail workers, Toys "R" Us and Sears employees aren't in a union.

和95%左右的零售业员工一样，玩具反斗城公司和西尔斯公司的员工不在同一个工会组织中。

Historically, retail's been a hard industry to organize. Unions were built when the U.S. economy was powered by factories employing thousands of people.

一直以来，零售业都是一个难以组织的行业。工会是在美国经济由雇佣数千人的工厂影响时建立的。

When it comes to retail, there are just too many stores, with too few employees attached to each, turnover¹⁶ is high, and management is often quite hostile.

而零售业拥有众多商铺，员工之间彼此联系非常少，营业额很高，但管理层却常常充满敌意。

The same is true for restaurants. Even big companies with thousands of workers on one campus-Google or Tesla Inc., for example

餐馆的情况也是如此。即使像谷歌或特斯拉这种在一个园区拥有数千名员工的大公司

—are a mix of vendors¹⁷, contractors¹⁸, employees, supervisors¹⁹, and managers who can't often be represented by a traditional union.

也都是由供应商、承包商、员工、主管和经理组成的混合群体，这些人往往不能由传统的工会来代表。

1 harassment   

n.骚扰，扰乱，烦恼，烦乱

参考例句：

• She often got telephone harassment at night these days.这些天她经常在夜晚受到电话骚扰。
• The company prohibits any form of harassment.公司禁止任何形式的骚扰行为。

2 intimidation   

n.恐吓，威胁

参考例句：

• The Opposition alleged voter intimidation by the army.反对党声称投票者受到军方的恐吓。
• The gang silenced witnesses by intimidation.恶帮用恐吓的手段使得证人不敢说话。

3 bullying   

v.恐吓，威逼( bully的现在分词 )；豪；跋扈

参考例句：

• Many cases of bullying go unreported . 很多恐吓案件都没有人告发。
• All cases of bullying will be severely dealt with. 所有以大欺小的情况都将受到严肃处理。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 outrage   

n.暴行，侮辱，愤怒；vt.凌辱，激怒

参考例句：

• When he heard the news he reacted with a sense of outrage.他得悉此事时义愤填膺。
• We should never forget the outrage committed by the Japanese invaders.我们永远都不应该忘记日本侵略者犯下的暴行。

5 backbone   

n.脊骨，脊柱，骨干；刚毅，骨气

参考例句：

• The Chinese people have backbone.中国人民有骨气。
• The backbone is an articulate structure.脊椎骨是一种关节相连的结构。

6 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。

7 spun   

v.纺，杜撰，急转身

参考例句：

• His grandmother spun him a yarn at the fire.他奶奶在火炉边给他讲故事。
• Her skilful fingers spun the wool out to a fine thread.她那灵巧的手指把羊毛纺成了细毛线。

8 mandate   

n.托管地；命令，指示

参考例句：

• The President had a clear mandate to end the war.总统得到明确的授权结束那场战争。
• The General Election gave him no such mandate.大选并未授予他这种权力。

9 retail   

v./n.零售；adv.以零售价格

参考例句：

• In this shop they retail tobacco and sweets.这家铺子零售香烟和糖果。
• These shoes retail at 10 yuan a pair.这些鞋子零卖10元一双。

10 liquidation   

n.清算，停止营业

参考例句：

• The bankrupt company went into liquidation.这家破产公司停业清盘。
• He lost all he possessed when his company was put into liquidation.当公司被清算结业时他失去了拥有的一切。

11 severance   

n.离职金；切断

参考例句：

• Those laid off received their regular checks,plus vacation and severance pay.那些被裁的人都收到他们应得的薪金，再加上假期和解职的酬金。Kirchofer was terminated,effective immediately--without severance or warning.科奇弗被解雇了，立刻生效--而且没有辞退费或者警告。

12 commiserate   

v.怜悯，同情

参考例句：

• When I lost,he commiserated with me.我落败的时候，他向我表示同情。
• I commiserated with her on the loss of her job.她失去了工作，我很同情她。

13 demonstrations   

证明( demonstration的名词复数 )； 表明； 表达； 游行示威

参考例句：

• Lectures will be interspersed with practical demonstrations. 讲课中将不时插入实际示范。
• The new military government has banned strikes and demonstrations. 新的军人政府禁止罢工和示威活动。

14 equity   

n.公正，公平，（无固定利息的）股票

参考例句：

• They shared the work of the house with equity.他们公平地分担家务。
• To capture his equity,Murphy must either sell or refinance.要获得资产净值，墨菲必须出售或者重新融资。

15 concession   

n.让步，妥协；特许(权)

参考例句：

• We can not make heavy concession to the matter.我们在这个问题上不能过于让步。
• That is a great concession.这是很大的让步。

16 turnover   

n.人员流动率，人事变动率；营业额，成交量

参考例句：

• The store greatly reduced the prices to make a quick turnover.这家商店实行大减价以迅速周转资金。
• Our turnover actually increased last year.去年我们的营业额竟然增加了。

17 vendors   

n.摊贩( vendor的名词复数 )；小贩；（房屋等的）卖主；卖方

参考例句：

• The vendors were gazundered at the last minute. 卖主在最后一刻被要求降低房价。
• At the same time, interface standards also benefIt'software vendors. 同时，界面标准也有利于软件开发商。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓

18 contractors   

n.（建筑、监造中的）承包人( contractor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• We got estimates from three different contractors before accepting the lowest. 我们得到3个承包商的报价后，接受了最低的报价。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Contractors winning construction jobs had to kick back 2 per cent of the contract price to the mafia. 赢得建筑工作的承包商得抽出合同价格的百分之二的回扣给黑手党。 来自《简明英汉词典》

19 supervisors   

n.监督者，管理者( supervisor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• I think the best technical people make the best supervisors. 我认为最好的技术人员可以成为最好的管理人员。 来自辞典例句
• Even the foremen or first-level supervisors have a staffing responsibility. 甚至领班或第一线的监督人员也有任用的责任。 来自辞典例句