罢工伤及南非

Strikes Hit South Africa

罢工伤及南非

 

South Africa's gold miners and municipal workers are out on strike following a deadlock¹ with their employers on wage talks. The strike in the gold mining industry is the most serious in nearly two decades.

 

The Chamber² of Mines, an association of employers in the gold mining industry, says between 80- and 100,000 miners have put down their tools in support of pay demands. The unions, which are demanding increases of between seven and eight percent, depending on the job, declared a strike last week after they rejected an offer of 4.5 percent and five percent.

 

The employers then made a last minute revised offer that was around a percentage point higher, 5.25 percent and 6.5 percent. The unions said they would put the new offer to their members, but nevertheless elected to continue as planned with the strike.

 

The minimum wage at gold mines is $354 per month. South African gold mines are among the deepest in the world, and working conditions are hazardous³, with miners facing severe heat and the constant threat of rock bursts.

 

A spokesman for the National Union of Mineworkers, Moferefere Lekorotsoana, says that, in addition, current allowances are insufficient⁴ to allow miners, many of whom come from rural areas, to bring their families to live with them near the mines.

 

Moferefere Lekorotsoana: The Chamber of Mines has not actually made any significant moves with regards to improvement of wages and also with issues related to the living out [living independently from the mine] allowance, which are very important issues to ours workers, precisely⁵ because our members are still forced to live in single sex hostels⁶, and they would like to live with their own families.

 

South Africa remains⁷ the world's major gold producer, but declining production has reduced its share from 80 percent of the world's total output in 1970 to around 15 percent at present. Output last year was 342 tons. And, says the chamber's chief spokesman, Frans Barker, gold mines suffered an overall loss in the past year, something that did not occur even in the industry's worst crises in 1997.

 

Frans Barker: Well, if we look at what has happened for the last four quarters for which results are available, we have suffered for the first time in about 45 years since the rand currency has been introduced, it's the very first time that we have suffered a loss over these last four quarters.

 

The strike by three quarters of the industry's workforce⁸, will cost some $20 million per day, almost all of it in foreign currency earnings⁹.

 

One other union, representing a further 4,000 white miners is expected to join the strike late Monday.

 

Meanwhile, around 40 percent of South Africa's 200,000 municipal workers are also out on strike, demanding an eight percent increase. The municipal employers association has offered six percent. Buses are not operating and trash is not being collected.

 

Several workers were injured when police clashed with strikers in the port city of Durban and in Benoni, a town east of Johannesburg. Officials said protesting workers were damaging property and refusing to follow police orders. Last week, in a three-day warning strike, municipal strikers in Johannesburg overturned trash bins¹⁰, causing litter to spread throughout the downtown area.

 

Delia Robertson, VOA News, Johannesburg.

 

注释：

municipal [mju(:)5nisipEl] adj. 市的，地方性的

the Chamber of Mines 矿业协会

revise [ri5vaiz] vt. 修订

minimum [5minimEm] adj. 最小的，最低的

hazardous [5hAzEdEs] adj. 危险的

National Union of Mineworkers 全国矿工联合会

allowance [E5lauEns] n. 津贴，补助

insufficient [7insE5fiFEnt] adj. 不足的，不够的

precisely [pri5sais] adj. 正是，用于加强语气

output [5autput] n. 产量

workforce [5wE:k5fC:s] n. 劳动力，工人总数

trash [trAF] n. 垃圾

Durban [5dE:bEn] n. 德班，南非东部港市

Benoni 贝诺宁

Johannesburg [dVEu5hAnisbE:^] n. 约翰内斯堡，南非东北部城市

litter [5litE] n. 垃圾

1 deadlock   

n.僵局，僵持

参考例句：

• The negotiations reached a deadlock after two hours.两小时后，谈判陷入了僵局。
• The employers and strikers are at a deadlock over the wage.雇主和罢工者在工资问题上相持不下。

2 chamber   

n.房间，寝室；会议厅；议院；会所

参考例句：

• For many,the dentist's surgery remains a torture chamber.对许多人来说，牙医的治疗室一直是间受刑室。
• The chamber was ablaze with light.会议厅里灯火辉煌。

3 hazardous   

adj.(有)危险的，冒险的；碰运气的

参考例句：

• These conditions are very hazardous for shipping.这些情况对航海非常不利。
• Everybody said that it was a hazardous investment.大家都说那是一次危险的投资。

4 insufficient   

adj.(for，of)不足的，不够的

参考例句：

• There was insufficient evidence to convict him.没有足够证据给他定罪。
• In their day scientific knowledge was insufficient to settle the matter.在他们的时代，科学知识还不能足以解决这些问题。

5 precisely   

adv.恰好，正好，精确地，细致地

参考例句：

• It's precisely that sort of slick sales-talk that I mistrust.我不相信的正是那种油腔滑调的推销宣传。
• The man adjusted very precisely.那个人调得很准。

6 hostels   

n.旅舍，招待所( hostel的名词复数 )；青年宿舍

参考例句：

• The students were protesting at overcrowding in the university hostels. 学生们在抗议大学宿舍过于拥挤。 来自辞典例句
• Are there any cheap hostels in Nanjing for one person? 南京有没有便宜的旅店可以一个人住？ 来自互联网

7 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

8 workforce   

n.劳动大军，劳动力

参考例句：

• A large part of the workforce is employed in agriculture.劳动人口中一大部分受雇于农业。
• A quarter of the local workforce is unemployed.本地劳动力中有四分之一失业。

9 earnings   

n.工资收人；利润，利益，所得

参考例句：

• That old man lives on the earnings of his daughter.那个老人靠他女儿的收入维持生活。
• Last year there was a 20% decrease in his earnings.去年他的收入减少了20%。

10 bins   

n.大储藏箱( bin的名词复数 )；宽口箱（如面包箱，垃圾箱等）v.扔掉，丢弃( bin的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• Garbage from all sources was deposited in bins on trolleys. 来自各方的垃圾是装在手推车上的垃圾箱里的。 来自辞典例句
• Would you be pleased at the prospect of its being on sale in dump bins? 对于它将被陈列在倾销箱中抛售这件事，你能欣然接受吗？ 来自辞典例句