美国国家公共电台 NPR--Workers across Germany's transportation system are on a 1-day strike

Workers across Germany's transportation system are on a 1-day strike

Transcript¹

Tens of thousands of German rail workers are on strike over wages and investment in the Deutsche Bahn rail company. Significant disruptions are expected for train, bus and air travel.

MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:

Europe's biggest economy is paralyzed. Tens of thousands of workers across Germany's transportation system are on a one-day strike. Nearly all train and plane travel is cancelled while workers demand wage increases to deal with inflation. NPR's Rob Schmitz is at Berlin's Central Station. Good morning, Rob.

ROB SCHMITZ, BYLINE²: Good morning, Michel.

MARTIN: So I take it you are at what normally would be one of Germany's busiest train stations. What does it look like today?

SCHMITZ: Well, this is about as empty as I have ever seen it here. In the background, you can hear this...

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: (Speaking German).

SCHMITZ: ...Which is this kind of looped recording³ saying that there is a strike today. There are no trains running. And there are similar scenes being played out across this country at some of Europe's largest transportation hubs today. Deutsche Bahn, which is Germany's national railway, has essentially⁴ shut down all train travel inside Germany today to deal with the strike.

But this goes beyond trains. Some of Europe's biggest airports - Frankfurt, Munich, the list goes on - have grounded most flights. Nearly 400,000 passengers have had flights cancelled and even local public transportation inside Germany's biggest cities are impacted. Subways, ferries, buses are not running routes today.

MARTIN: So that's a big deal. So what's behind it?

SCHMITZ: Yeah. Well, the unions that represent the workers are asking for wage increases of between 10 and 12%. Deutsche Bahn and other public employers are only offering a 5% wage increase. Workers are asking for more because they're saying their wages have not kept up with high inflation that has plagued Europe since this past year and has been worsened by high energy prices as a result of Russia's war in Ukraine.

MARTIN: So this can be hard to gauge⁵. But do you have a sense of public opinion - whether Germans who are not transportation workers support this?

SCHMITZ: Yeah, we've spoken to several people here this morning and for the most part, there is support for these strikes. Franziska Strobel told me she generally supports these workers. Here's what she said.

FRANZISKA STROBEL: (Speaking German).

SCHMITZ: And Michel, she's saying here that railway workers have the right to strike and that she's heard many of them are stuck with minimum wage jobs where they make around $13 an hour. And that's wrong in this day and age with prices rising as quickly as they are. But she did say that she hopes the workers do not strike during the Easter holiday that's coming up, when millions of Germans take vacations, because that would be extremely disruptive. Unions have not ruled that out.

Her feelings on this seem to echo the rest of the country. According to a survey taken last week, only a small majority of Germans are sympathetic to worker demands. Fifty-five percent of people surveyed consider the strikes justified⁶. Thirty-eight percent said they didn't agree at all with worker demands, saying they were asking for too much.

MARTIN: I understand that this strike is the latest of several in Germany. I think a lot of people may remember that there are also big strikes in France to protest changes in the pension system there. Is this connected somehow?

SCHMITZ: Yeah, the protests in France have to do with raising the official retirement⁷ age, and these strikes in Germany are crippling transportation because workers feel they deserve better wages. But in many ways, high inflation is impacting all of this. Here in Germany, prices are up nearly 10% over last year. The cost of food, gas, heating - you name it - has skyrocketed. And people are spending more for all of this while making roughly the same amount they've made for years. So there's growing frustration⁸ among workers throughout Europe that life is getting more and more expensive and their future may not be as bright as they once thought it would be.

Now, the European Central Bank has tried to address inflation the same way the Fed in the U.S. has, through interest rate hikes. But that's proven to be dangerous too, because that's made life more difficult for banks and the markets in general. And we've seen plenty of problems in the financial sector⁹ here in Europe, including a near bank failure with Credit Suisse. So European leaders are certainly struggling to address these problems.

MARTIN: That was NPR's Rob Schmitz. He was with us at Berlin's Central Station.

1 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。

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 recording   

n.录音，记录

参考例句：

• How long will the recording of the song take?录下这首歌得花多少时间？
• I want to play you a recording of the rehearsal.我想给你放一下彩排的录像。

4 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。

5 gauge   

v.精确计量；估计；n.标准度量；计量器

参考例句：

• Can you gauge what her reaction is likely to be?你能揣测她的反应可能是什么吗？
• It's difficult to gauge one's character.要判断一个人的品格是很困难的。

6 justified   

a.正当的，有理的

参考例句：

• She felt fully justified in asking for her money back. 她认为有充分的理由要求退款。
• The prisoner has certainly justified his claims by his actions. 那个囚犯确实已用自己的行动表明他的要求是正当的。

7 retirement   

n.退休，退职

参考例句：

• She wanted to enjoy her retirement without being beset by financial worries.她想享受退休生活而不必为金钱担忧。
• I have to put everything away for my retirement.我必须把一切都积蓄起来以便退休后用。

8 frustration   

n.挫折，失败，失效，落空

参考例句：

• He had to fight back tears of frustration.他不得不强忍住失意的泪水。
• He beat his hands on the steering wheel in frustration.他沮丧地用手打了几下方向盘。

9 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。