VOA慢速英语--美国教师罢工要求增加工资

Thousands of US Teachers Strike to Demand Higher Pay

Thousands of teachers in two U.S. states are striking to demand higher pay and increased education funding.

More than 30,000 educators in Oklahoma began a walkout Monday and have promised to stay on strike until their demands are met.

Oklahoma’s largest teachers union has called for a $10,000 pay raise for educators over the next three years. It is also seeking an increase of $75 million in state education funding.

Union officials said the strike led to classes being cancelled for about 500,000 of Oklahoma’s 700,000 public school students.

Thousands of striking teachers traveled to the state capital, Oklahoma City, to join a mass demonstration¹. The president of the Oklahoma Education Association, Alicia Priest, called on all teachers to join the protest to pressure lawmakers to act.

Priest says teachers and students have dealt with 11 years of funding cuts that have prevented upgrades of school equipment. Class sizes have also been growing.

“We will not continue to be ignored,” Priest said in a message posted on Facebook. “Educators will continue to walk until we get a deal that our students deserve,” she said.

Oklahoma came in at 47th place among U.S. states in money spent per student in 2016, the National Education Association estimated. The association also reported the state came in near the bottom in pay, with the average teacher in Oklahoma earning about $45,000 a year.

Oklahoma’s legislature is controlled by Republicans and lawmakers had sought to avoid tax increases in recent years. The state’s governor, Mary Fallin, is also a Republican.

Fallin signed legislation last week to give teachers a raise of 15-18 percent. But many educators said the amount was not good enough and decided² to walk out.

Rae Lovelace is a single mother and third-grade teacher in northwest Oklahoma. “If I didn’t have a second job, I’d be on food stamps,” she told the Associated Press. Lovelace is among many teachers who have taken a second job to earn extra money. She says she works an extra 30 to 40 hours a week teaching internet courses for another school.

Protests in Kentucky

Schools across Kentucky were also empty. Some were closed for spring break vacation, while other schools cancelled classes to allow teachers to join protests in the state capital, Frankfort. Thousands of teachers showed up to demonstrate.

Last Friday, hundreds of teachers in Kentucky called in sick to protest last-minute changes to their retirement³ system.

Republican lawmakers in Kentucky passed the pension bill Thursday. The measure continued pension benefits for most state workers, but reduced them for new teachers. Lawmakers said the move was necessary to make up for underfunding of the state’s teacher retirement system. Teacher unions condemned⁴ passage of the bill and promised large protests to oppose it.

Language arts teacher Lesley Buckner said the goal of the protests was to send a clear message to Kentucky lawmakers. “If we continue to stay united, they cannot turn away from us, they cannot turn their backs on us.”

More to come?

The latest demonstrations⁵ followed protests and strikes in West Virginia in February. Teachers statewide walked off their jobs for more than a week. The educators eventually won their demand for a 5 percent increase in pay.

In Arizona, teachers held protests last week demanding more education funding. Teachers there are also demanding a 20 percent pay increase and are considering a strike to press their demands. Many Arizona teachers wore red clothes to school on Monday to express support for teachers in Oklahoma and Kentucky.

I’m Bryan Lynn.

Words in This Story

upgrade – n. a situation in which one thing is replaced by something better, newer, more valuable, etc.

deserve – v. be worthy⁶ of something

food stamps – n. small document given by the government to poor people so they can buy food

benefit – n. money paid by a company or government when someone dies, becomes sick, stops working, etc.

1 demonstration   

n.表明，示范，论证，示威

参考例句：

• His new book is a demonstration of his patriotism.他写的新书是他的爱国精神的证明。
• He gave a demonstration of the new technique then and there.他当场表演了这种新的操作方法。

2 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

3 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。

4 condemned   

adj. 被责难的, 被宣告有罪的 动词condemn的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• He condemned the hypocrisy of those politicians who do one thing and say another. 他谴责了那些说一套做一套的政客的虚伪。
• The policy has been condemned as a regressive step. 这项政策被认为是一种倒退而受到谴责。

5 demonstrations   

证明( demonstration的名词复数 )； 表明； 表达； 游行示威

参考例句：

• Lectures will be interspersed with practical demonstrations. 讲课中将不时插入实际示范。
• The new military government has banned strikes and demonstrations. 新的军人政府禁止罢工和示威活动。

6 worthy   

adj.(of)值得的，配得上的；有价值的

参考例句：

• I did not esteem him to be worthy of trust.我认为他不值得信赖。
• There occurred nothing that was worthy to be mentioned.没有值得一提的事发生。