Monday September 6 is Labor Day in the United States, a day set aside to honor American workers and the dignity of labor. The organized labor movement of the late 19th century that spawned the national holiday has waxed and waned over the years.
9月6号(星期一)是美国劳工节。这是美国劳工们的节日，体现劳动者的尊严。有组织的美国工人运动在19世纪末叶促使劳工节成为美国的法定假日。
Many Americans view Labor Day as a welcome end-of-summer three-day weekend to spend at the beach or the barbecue pit.
劳工节对很多美国人来说都是一个很受欢迎的节日，全家人可以在海滩或者室外烤肉炉旁渡过三天愉快的周末时光，庆祝夏日的结束。
But the first Labor Day observance was in New York City in 1882. It was intended as a celebration of the strength and spirit of labor and trade. U.S. President Grover Cleveland proposed the first Monday in September be a national holiday, rather than May Day, which had more radical associations, and it became law in 1894.
最先庆祝劳工节的地方是纽约，时间是1882年9月5日，当时是为了庆祝各界劳工的力量与精神。1887年，美国总统克里夫兰(Grover Cleveland)提议每年9月的第一个星期一为劳工节，这项建议在1894年获得国会批准而成为法律。
"It is the only national holiday that we have that commemorates the contributions of a particular segment of society - working people," explained Historian Joshua Freeman of the City University of New York.
纽约市立大学历史学家乔舒亚·弗里曼(Joshua Freeman)指出，美国劳工节纪念的是劳动者为国家所做的贡献，而不是社会矛盾和冲突。弗里曼说：“劳工节是美国唯一的一个专门纪念社会某一特定群体所做贡献的国家纪念日，纪念对象是劳动人民。”
Freeman says America's labor force changed dramatically over the years with the rise of steam power and the abolition of slavery.
弗里曼说，蒸汽机的发明和奴隶制的废除，让美国劳动大军发生了重大变化。
"The United States had an industrial economy that grew rapidly in the 19th century, especially after our Civil War in the 1860s - steel mills and iron mills and railroads and huge textile mills - some of them employing thousands of workers in a single facility," said Freeman. "And this growth of manufacturing transformed not only the economy, but [also] the whole nation and the communities and the politics and culture of the country."
“美国19世纪工业发展迅速，特别是1860年代南北战争结束之后，炼铁厂、炼钢厂、铁路和巨型纺织厂如雨后春笋，有些一个厂房就雇用几千工人。制造业如此迅猛发展，不光改变了国家经济，还改变了整个国家、以及国家的社区、政治和文化生活。”
Freeman says labor had a difficult time organizing those industries. Corporations sensed higher wages and shorter working hours would erode company profits and complicate managing production.
弗里曼说，劳工团体当年在这些产业组织工会很不容易。企业感到工薪如果提高、工时如果缩短，会损害企业利润，增加生产管理的难度。
Union labor's golden age begins
Many strikes turned violent as worker frustrations mounted. But historian Joshua Freedman says from the turn of the 20th century through the 1930s, America's organized labor movement grew.
由于工人不满情绪升高，很多罢工都演变成暴力。但是弗里曼指出，在20世纪的头40年，工会运动逐步进入了美国经济和政治活动的核心。
"And, of course, the big breakthroughs came in the 1930s, when the giant companies, the GMs, the Fords, the U.S. Steels were finally unionized after years and years of trying to do so," added Freeman. "And that really made the labor movement central to American society - to its economy, to its politics. And, of course, it tremendously upgraded the standard of living of American workers. They suddenly got weekends off. They started being able to buy homes, to buy cars, [and] to send their kids to college, to take vacations, to retire. These were things that, at the beginning the 20th century, a working person could not do. But by the end of the 20th century, they were almost taken for granted."
弗里曼说：“最大的改变发生在1930年代，经过工人们多年的不断争取，通用汽车、福特汽车和美国钢铁公司最终都成立了工会。劳工运动因此成为美国社会、国家经济与政治的重要组成部分。劳工运动当然也极大提升了美国劳工的生活品质。工人们突然可以周末不用上班了，而且还有钱买房、买车、送子女上大学、还可以度假并享受退休金。这是20世纪初的工人所无法享受的。到了20世纪末，工人们已经把这些看作是理所当然的事情了。”
Many corporations came to realize prosperous workers stimulate economic growth by creating a consumer class that buys houses, cars and other goods.
很多公司意识到，工人富裕起来后，会买房、买车和其它消费品，可以刺激经济增长。
Freeman says the three decades following World War II were a "golden age" for U.S. labor unions. He adds that by the early-1950s, a third of American workers were union members.
弗里曼说，二战结束后的三十年中，是美国工会组织的“黄金岁月”。到了1950年代初，美国工人三分之一都是工会成员了。
"[Union members were] still a minority, but they were in key locations of the economy, the templates and power centers - the steel industry, the auto industry, the coal industry, transportation [and] construction," explained Freeman. "So their social weight transcended even their large numbers. That is no longer true today. We are a very different economy and a much weaker labor movement. Today the template for American capitalism is more Wal-Mart than GM or Ford and that is a low wage, non-union approach to running a business."
他说：“虽然还是少数，但工会成员却遍布美国经济举足轻重的关键部门 - 钢铁、汽车、煤炭、运输和建筑等各个领域。他们不但人数众多，影响力更大。然而事到如今这种盛况却已是时过境迁了，我们今天的经济完全不同，劳工运动的势力也大不如前了。美国资本主义今天更多是靠沃尔玛(Wal-Mart)这样的低薪、没有工会的企业来驱动，而不是靠通用汽车或福特汽车等工会组织完善的大企业了。”
Unions begin decline
Union membership has declined dramatically since the 1970s. The recession of that decade meant jobs were harder to find, so people were more willing to take lower-wage, non-union jobs. Meanwhile, the growth of international competition forced American companies to cut costs to maintain profits, and they have hired workers abroad at non-union wages and closed U.S. factories. Many firms have merged into international corporations with production facilities in parts of the world where costs are lower.
工会人数1970年代开始显著下降。当时的经济衰退导致就业减少，工人们为了生存而不得不接受低薪、非工会的工作。国际竞争的提高还迫使美国公司降低成本，维持利润，并且雇用海外员工，关闭美国的工厂。很多公司与国际企业合并，在劳工成本低廉的国家开设工厂。
Changing demographics also played a role. U.S. population growth shifted to the South and Southwest, where union membership has been lower than elsewhere in the country.
这个趋势同人口分部也有关连。美国人口增长重心渐渐移向南部和西南部，那里工会人数比其他地区要少。
Today, labor organizers are recruiting immigrants, much as they did a century ago.
今天，美国工会又恢复了一百年前的做法，开始在移民中招收成员。
Rutgers University School of Management and Labor Relations political scientist Janice Fine says organized labor has historically vacillated between solidarity and fear that immigrants will work for lower wages and bring down living standards for all Americans. At other times, Fine says organized labor has fostered solidarity among all workers.
罗格斯大学(Rutgers University)管理与劳工关系学院政治学家贾尼斯·法恩(Janice Fine)说，从历史上看，工会组织有时号召团结，有时又担心移民会接受低薪工作，影响美国人的生活水准。但总体而言，美国工会增加了工友们的团结。
"What labor movements have concluded is that low wage immigrant workers have become a real source of vitality in the labor movement throughout the world because they have been keen to organize. Very often, they are in relationship with each other; they have very often migrated with their home communities, and there is a willingness on the part of these workers to take risks to better their situation," noted Fine.
她说：“工人运动的结论，是低薪移民工人为世界各地工人运动真正增添了活力，因为移民工人乐于加入工会。他们时常随家人邻里共同移民，关系亲切，又愿意为工作冒险，以改善自己的经济状况。”
The future of American unions remains unclear. In 2010, the number of public sector union members far surpassed their counterparts in the private sector.
美国工会的未来依然不明了。2010年，政府机构的工会人数大大超过了私营企业的工会人数。
Government unions have come under increasingly sharp criticism by some conservatives who say that big government is largely to blame for the current recession. They say government workers enjoy expensive salaries and benefits that outstrip those enjoyed by the corporate labor force. Janice Fine disagrees.
政府机构的工会近来越来越受到部分保守派人士的强烈抨击。这些人说，政府规模庞大，造成了当前的经济衰退，政府雇员工资高，福利好，远远超过私人企业劳工。贾尼斯·法恩不同意这种说法。
"It is confusing to me because studies show that public sector wages are not out of whack with public sector wages," added Fine. "And, in fact, white collar public sector workers are paid much less than their private sector counterparts. The idea that somehow we are going to hold teachers and cops and firefighters and blue collar sanitation workers responsible for this much larger problem in the economy just seems really sad."
她说：“我对此疑惑不解。调查表明，政府机构的工资并不比私人企业高。事实上，政府白领的工资比私人企业白领低很多。有人以为，教师、警察、消防员和蓝领清洁工们要为眼下的国家经济问题负责，这种想法的确可悲。” |