新奇事件簿 英国新法—餐厅不得扣押员工小费

Restaurants in the UK will soon have to give all tips to their staff. The UK Prime¹ Minister Theresa May announced new plans that will make it illegal for restaurants to keep the tips given by customers. For decades, many restaurants have kept most of the tips customers add to their credit² card payments³ or the money customers put in tip jars. Some restaurants use the tips as part of a worker's pay. Many people in England are angry about this. Restaurant workers are among the lowest paid staff in Britain and many of them rely on tips to survive. The food and drink industry in the UK is huge. There are over 150,000 hotels, bars and restaurants in the UK. These employ about two million people.

英国餐厅很快将规定餐厅员工能获得自己的所有小费。英国首相特雷莎·梅宣布新计划—餐厅扣押顾客小费属非法行为。几十年来，很多餐厅都将顾客给的大部分小费或是顾客放进小费罐中小费扣押下来。一些餐厅将这些小费当做员工薪水的一部分。英国很多人对此感到愤怒。餐厅工作者是英国最低收入人群，其中很多人依靠小费为生。英国餐饮业巨大，有超过15万所酒店、酒吧和餐厅，员工约为2百万人。

Many waiting staff in the UK are happy that the new law is coming in. They said they were fed up with international chain restaurants keeping the money that was meant for waiters. The staff also said restaurant managers often used the tips to help pay for the chefs and kitchen staff. Workers at the TGI Fridays restaurant chain went on strike earlier this year because of low pay. Prime Minister May said the new law would make sure restaurant workers are treated fairly. She said: "That's why we will introduce tough new legislation⁴ to ensure that workers get to keep all of their tips." A spokeswoman for the restaurant industry said a new law was unnecessary because the industry makes sure working conditions are fair.

英国很多服务业员工对即将实施的新法律表示开心。他们说国际连锁餐厅将本应该给服务生的小费扣押下来，他们对这种行为感到厌烦。员工还说餐厅经理经常将小费用于支付厨师和厨房员工的薪水。因为低薪水，星期五美式连锁餐厅的员工在今年年初举行了罢工。首相特雷莎·梅表示新法律将确保餐厅员工得到公平对待。她说：“因此我们将引入严格的新法律确保员工能获得他们所有的小费。餐饮行业发言人称没必要引入新法律，因为餐饮行业确保工作环境的公平性。

1 prime   

adj.首要的，主要的；最好的，第一流的

参考例句：

• The prime minister spoke of the general insecurity in the country.总理谈到了全国普遍存在的不安全。
• He met with the Prime Minister of Japan for an hour.他和日本首相会见了一个小时。

2 credit   

n.信用，荣誉，贷款，学分；v.归功于，赞颂，信任

参考例句：

• I credit him with a certain amount of sense.我认为他有一定的见识。
• He got the credit,and we did the dirty work.他得荣誉，我们做不讨好的工作。

3 payments   

n.支付，付款，缴纳，报酬( payment的名词复数 )；付出的[要付出的]款项；报答，报偿

参考例句：

• Welfare payments cease as soon as an individual starts a job. 一旦就业，即停发福利救济。
• The law can compel fathers to make regular payments for their children. 这项法律可强制父亲定期支付子女的费用。

4 legislation   

n.立法，法律的制定；法规，法律

参考例句：

• They began to draft legislation.他们开始起草法规。
• The liberals band together against the new legislation.自由党员联合一致反对新的立法。