新西兰英语 118 Nine-day fortnight for workers starts soo

　　After the Job Conference in Auckland two weeks ago, (see February 27th 2009)the government has moved quickly to bring in a nine-day fortnight. The idea is for workers to take one day off every two weeks for training. This will help employers² who do not have enough work for all their workers. Perhaps they will not have to lay off their workers. It will also help to give workers more job skills.
This scheme will start at the end of the month and will last for six months. Workers will get $62.50 for that day which is equal to the minimum³ wage for five hours work. It will mean a small cut in wages for these workers. They will lose three hours pay and if they earn more than the minimum wage at the moment, they will lose even more. There is a cost to the employer¹ also. He or she has to pay for the training. Only companies that employ 100 or more workers can use this scheme. Most businesses in New Zealand employ fewer than 20 workers so this scheme will not help these small businesses.
We need to wait to see how many companies will use this scheme and whether it saves jobs.

1 employer   

n.雇用方，雇主

参考例句：

• My employer deducted ten pounds from my wages this week.我的雇主从我本周的工钱中扣除了十英镑。
• His monthly salary is paid into the bank by his employer.他的月薪由雇主替他存入银行。

2 employers   

雇主( employer的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Employers must consider all candidates impartially and without bias. 雇主必须公平而毫无成见地考虑所有求职者。
• The onus is on employers to follow health and safety laws. 雇主有义务遵行健康安全法。

3 minimum   

adj.最低的，最小的；n.最小量，最低限度

参考例句：

• What is the minimum price?最低价是多少？
• Today's minimum temperature is 10℃.今天的最低气温是10℃。