2007年VOA标准英语-Chad Government Employees Strike Runs Nearly 1

By Phuong Tran
N'Djamena, Chad
31 May 2007

In the Central African country of Chad, government-paid employees have been on strike for almost one month because of salary disputes.  Government ministers say they are already doing as much as they can, and are threatening to enforce a new law requiring certain government employees return to work.  Phuong Tran traveled throughout Chad, and has this report for VOA.

At this regional hospital in the eastern town of Abeche, most of the beds are empty.  Patients wait behind a locked gate to get into the maternity¹ ward², but no one is letting them in yet.

Hospital director Ali Abderman says the hospital is emptier than usual, because of the strike.  He says patients wait longer, or simply, do not come.  He says many employees are striking because they want higher salaries.

But Chad's Minister of Public Works and Employment, Fatime Tchombi, has said the government will apply a new law that prevents government employees who provide critical services - like health care - from striking.

She says the government has offered a 12 percent salary increase, as well as restoration of a $4 monthly allowance for families.

But union leader and university professor in N'Djamena, Antoinette Moalbaye, says this is not enough compared to the union's original demand of a 300 percent increase when it started the strike on May 2.

"We want people to have enough money to live on instead of living like beggars on the street even though they are working every day," she said.

She says Chad's 1994 currency devaluation cut the value of salaries in half.  The union leader says without a significant raise in three decades, people are not earning enough to survive.  Chad's minimum salary is $56 a month.

Moalbaye says government employees deserve some of the wealth that is coming into the country.

"They say it is unrealistic, that the country is poor," she added.  "But have you come to N'Djamena recently?  We see how the money is being spent in a way that is absolutely unbelievable."

The professor says Chad's newfound oil revenue is responsible for the fancy new cars driven down Chad's poor dirt roads.

Oil production began three years ago.  Union leaders say residents suffer while the government uses most of the oil revenue to fund its war against rebels.

For years, rebels in neighboring Chad and Sudan have been fighting to gain more power in their governments.  Cross-border violence has displaced tens of thousands of Chadians and torched entire villages.

Michel Barka is president of the Association of Chad's Unions.  He is also a member of an oil revenue watchdog group that includes Chad government, labor³, civil society and religious leaders.

Barka says government officials have publicly justified⁴ spending more on weapons, because the country is at war.  He says the watchdog group has access to only a small percentage of the country's total oil revenues.

In 2006, Barka says the group reviewed and made spending recommendations for some $400,000 in revenue, while he estimates there was $2 million total revenue.

But Minister Tchombi says people exaggerate the country's oil wealth.

"Oil wealth is still a dream," he explained.  "It is a natural resource we are trying to exploit.  People are impatient and believe what they want to in order to take care of their basic needs."

The country ranks almost at the bottom of the United Nations list of living conditions around the world.

Many residents do not have running water or electricity. Uncollected trash blows freely in the desert wind, and hang like plastic trash ornaments⁵ on brittle⁶ tree branches.

Classrooms intended for 20 students bulge⁷ with hundreds.

But for now, this school 80 kilometers from the capital in the mostly nomadic⁸ community of Mani Kossam, sits empty.

Yaya Daoud, 14, is one of the school's more than 200 students who have been out of class this past month.

He says he is impatient to go to school again. Instructors⁹ say classes were supposed to continue until June 30.  Now, they do not know when the school year will officially end because of the strike.

1 maternity   

n.母性，母道，妇产科病房；adj.孕妇的，母性的

参考例句：

• Women workers are entitled to maternity leave with full pay.女工产假期间工资照发。
• Trainee nurses have to work for some weeks in maternity.受训的护士必须在产科病房工作数周。

2 ward   

n.守卫，监护，病房，行政区，由监护人或法院保护的人（尤指儿童）；vt.守护，躲开

参考例句：

• The hospital has a medical ward and a surgical ward.这家医院有内科病房和外科病房。
• During the evening picnic,I'll carry a torch to ward off the bugs.傍晚野餐时，我要点根火把，抵挡蚊虫。

3 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。

4 justified   

a.正当的，有理的

参考例句：

• She felt fully justified in asking for her money back. 她认为有充分的理由要求退款。
• The prisoner has certainly justified his claims by his actions. 那个囚犯确实已用自己的行动表明他的要求是正当的。

5 ornaments   

n.装饰( ornament的名词复数 )；点缀；装饰品；首饰v.装饰，点缀，美化( ornament的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• The shelves were chock-a-block with ornaments. 架子上堆满了装饰品。
• Playing the piano sets up resonance in those glass ornaments. 一弹钢琴那些玻璃饰物就会产生共振。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 brittle   

adj.易碎的；脆弱的；冷淡的；(声音)尖利的

参考例句：

• The pond was covered in a brittle layer of ice.池塘覆盖了一层易碎的冰。
• She gave a brittle laugh.她冷淡地笑了笑。

7 bulge   

n.突出，膨胀，激增；vt.突出，膨胀

参考例句：

• The apple made a bulge in his pocket.苹果把他口袋塞得鼓了起来。
• What's that awkward bulge in your pocket?你口袋里那块鼓鼓囊囊的东西是什么？

8 nomadic   

adj.流浪的；游牧的

参考例句：

• This tribe still live a nomadic life.这个民族仍然过着游牧生活。
• The plowing culture and the nomadic culture are two traditional principal cultures in China.农耕文化与游牧文化是我国传统的两大主体文化。

9 instructors   

指导者，教师( instructor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The instructors were slacking on the job. 教员们对工作松松垮垮。
• He was invited to sit on the rostrum as a representative of extramural instructors. 他以校外辅导员身份，被邀请到主席台上。