新西兰英语 581 Strikes

 　　The workers at the Ports of Auckland are still on strike and the workers at Affco meat works are also on strike.

　　The workers at the Ports of Auckland are called watersiders, stevedores², dock workers or wharfies. Their union has been negotiating with the Ports of Auckland company for many months over changes to the hours of work but they could not agree. Today, the union and the CEO of the company had a three-hour meeting with the mayor of Auckland, Len Brown. Len Brown hoped he could mediate⁴. He tried to get both sides to agree but he was not successful. The company said it is too late. A contracting company is already hiring new workers and the old workers will be redundant⁵; they will lose their jobs. These new workers will be contractors⁷ who work when ships are in port and will not be paid when there are no ships.

　　Listen to February 24th 2012 to hear more about this.

　　Meanwhile, Affco meat workers from six freezing works are holding a two-day strike. The union could not reach an agreement with the company about pay and hours of work so 1000 workers were locked out. When they are locked out of their work place, there is no pay. Other workers have gone on strike to support them.

　　It is hard for workers to go on strike because they do not get paid. However, they feel this is the only way the company will agree to what they want.

　　Vocabulary

　　on strike – will not work; they stand outside the work place and protest

　　stevedore¹ – loads and unloads ships

　　dock – another word for wharf³, a place where ships tie up

　　negotiate – to talk until they reach an agreement

　　mediate – to act in a middle position and help each side to reach an agreement

　　hire – employ

　　contractor⁶ – gets paid for the job, not paid by the hour

　　redundant – not needed

　　meat works, freezing works – factory where animals are killed for meat and the meat is frozen for export

　　Grammar

　　Note: a meeting lasts three hours or a strike is for two days (plural ‘s’) but when these words are used as an adjective before the noun, drop the ‘s’ e.g. a three-hour meeting or a two-day strike. (A hyphen is usual.) This rule is the same for ages e.g. a child is ten years old but a ten-year old child (no ‘s’). Sometimes with ages, you can drop the noun e.g. he is a 40-year old.

1 stevedore   

n.码头工人；v.装载货物

参考例句：

• The stevedores'work is to load and unload ships.装卸工人的工作是装卸船只。
• The stevedores are reluctant to be ordered around by the employers.装卸工人们不愿被雇主们差来遣去地随便使唤。

2 stevedores   

n.码头装卸工人，搬运工( stevedore的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The stevedores' work is to load and unload ships. 装卸工人的工作是装卸船只。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The stevedores will see to that. 搬运工会格外注意。 来自商贸英语会话

3 wharf   

n.码头，停泊处

参考例句：

• We fetch up at the wharf exactly on time.我们准时到达码头。
• We reached the wharf gasping for breath.我们气喘吁吁地抵达了码头。

4 mediate   

vi.调解，斡旋；vt.经调解解决；经斡旋促成

参考例句：

• The state must mediate the struggle for water resources.政府必须通过调解来解决对水资源的争夺。
• They may be able to mediate between parties with different interests.他们也许能在不同利益政党之间进行斡旋。

5 redundant   

adj.多余的，过剩的；(食物)丰富的；被解雇的

参考例句：

• There are too many redundant words in this book.这本书里多余的词太多。
• Nearly all the redundant worker have been absorbed into other departments.几乎所有冗员，都已调往其他部门任职。

6 contractor   

n.订约人，承包人，收缩肌

参考例句：

• The Tokyo contractor was asked to kick $ 6000 back as commission.那个东京的承包商被要求退还6000美元作为佣金。
• The style of house the contractor builds depends partly on the lay of the land.承包商所建房屋的式样，有几分要看地势而定。

7 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》