2007年VOA标准英语-South African Government Issues Final Strike Of

By Scott Bobb
Johannesburg
20 June 2007

The South African government has made what it says is a final offer to end a 20-day old strike by civil servants. Both sides agreed to disregard a Wednesday deadline, and postponed² until Friday further talks aimed at ending the costly³ three-week strike. Correspondent Scott Bobb reports on the showdown from Johannesburg.

sector4 workers march with a mock coffin5 carrying a portrait of Frazer Moleketi, S. Africa's Minister for Public Service" hspace="2" src="/upimg/allimg/070629/0838120.jpg" width="210" vspace="2" border="0" />

Public sector workers march with a mock coffin carrying a portrait of Frazer Moleketi, S. Africa's Minister for Public Service

Government negotiators made what they said was their final offer to South Africa's public servant unions in the early hours Wednesday.

The offer included a 7.5 percent increase in salaries, a 10 percent increase in the housing allowance and merging⁶ certain low salary grades with higher grades.

The government also offered to withdraw hundreds of letters of dismissal sent to workers in essential services, like hospitals, who went on strike despite a court order forbidding it.

Negotiators said if the unions did not accept the offer, the government would end the negotiations⁷ and revert⁸ to its previous, lower package and would proceed with the dismissals.

The chief negotiator for the unions, Tahir Mohammed, told national radio the offer was unfair to workers.

"Labor⁹ now is definitely negotiating with a barrel of a gun on its head and that is something that we're not taking kindly¹⁰ to," said Mohammed. "But like I said this is going now to be the decision of our members. They will have to take the [next] step forward."

The unions originally demanded a 12 percent salary increase but during the negotiations lowered this to nine percent.

Several hundrerd thousand workers in public schools, hospitals and government offices went on strike three weeks ago closing most schools and disrupting public health care services.

The strike was mostly orderly. But there was sporadic¹¹ violence and many private schools closed saying they could not guarantee the safety of their students.

There was considerable public sympathy for the strikers but public support began to wane¹² as sick people were turned away from public hospitals and some schools had to postpone¹ mid-term exams.

Labor experts said some unions were inclined to accept the offer. But the deputy general-secretary of the Democratic Teachers Union, Don Pasquallie, indicated his group would reject the offer.

"We believe that the 7.25 percent [sic] does not address demands and needs of our members and we are saying that the employer needs to improve the offer," said Pasquallie. "If the employer is unwilling¹³ to improve the offer we will have further disruption of schools."

The strike has affected¹⁴ both sides. Workers have lost three weeks of pay. The cost of the new wage package is also expected to strain the government budget and aggravate¹⁵ inflation, currently at six percent per year. This could oblige the South African government to raise interest rates in subsequent months.

1 postpone   

v.延期，推迟

参考例句：

• I shall postpone making a decision till I learn full particulars.在未获悉详情之前我得从缓作出决定。
• She decided to postpone the converastion for that evening.她决定当天晚上把谈话搁一搁。

2 postponed   

vt.& vi.延期，缓办，（使）延迟vt.把…放在次要地位；[语]把…放在后面（或句尾）vi.（疟疾等）延缓发作（或复发）

参考例句：

• The trial was postponed indefinitely. 审讯无限期延迟。
• The game has already been postponed three times. 这场比赛已经三度延期了。

3 costly   

adj.昂贵的，价值高的，豪华的

参考例句：

• It must be very costly to keep up a house like this.维修这么一幢房子一定很昂贵。
• This dictionary is very useful,only it is a bit costly.这本词典很有用，左不过贵了些。

4 sector   

n.部门，部分；防御地段，防区；扇形

参考例句：

• The export sector will aid the economic recovery. 出口产业将促进经济复苏。
• The enemy have attacked the British sector.敌人已进攻英国防区。

5 coffin   

n.棺材，灵柩

参考例句：

• When one's coffin is covered,all discussion about him can be settled.盖棺论定。
• The coffin was placed in the grave.那口棺材已安放到坟墓里去了。

6 merging   

合并（分类）

参考例句：

• Many companies continued to grow by merging with or buying competing firms. 许多公司通过合并或收买竞争对手的公司而不断扩大。 来自英汉非文学 - 政府文件
• To sequence by repeated splitting and merging. 用反复分开和合并的方法进行的排序。

7 negotiations   

协商( negotiation的名词复数 )； 谈判； 完成（难事）； 通过

参考例句：

• negotiations for a durable peace 为持久和平而进行的谈判
• Negotiations have failed to establish any middle ground. 谈判未能达成任何妥协。

8 revert   

v.恢复，复归，回到

参考例句：

• Let us revert to the earlier part of the chapter.让我们回到本章的前面部分。
• Shall we revert to the matter we talked about yesterday?我们接着昨天谈过的问题谈，好吗？

9 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。

10 kindly   

adj.和蔼的，温和的，爽快的；adv.温和地，亲切地

参考例句：

• Her neighbours spoke of her as kindly and hospitable.她的邻居都说她和蔼可亲、热情好客。
• A shadow passed over the kindly face of the old woman.一道阴影掠过老太太慈祥的面孔。

11 sporadic   

adj.偶尔发生的 [反]regular；分散的

参考例句：

• The sound of sporadic shooting could still be heard.仍能听见零星的枪声。
• You know this better than I.I received only sporadic news about it.你们比我更清楚，而我听到的只是零星消息。

12 wane   

n.衰微，亏缺，变弱；v.变小，亏缺，呈下弦

参考例句：

• The moon is on the wane.月亮渐亏。
• Her enthusiasm for him was beginning to wane.她对他的热情在开始减退。

13 unwilling   

adj.不情愿的

参考例句：

• The natives were unwilling to be bent by colonial power.土著居民不愿受殖民势力的摆布。
• His tightfisted employer was unwilling to give him a raise.他那吝啬的雇主不肯给他加薪。

14 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。

15 aggravate   

vt.加重(剧)，使恶化；激怒，使恼火

参考例句：

• Threats will only aggravate her.恐吓只能激怒她。
• He would only aggravate the injury by rubbing it.他揉擦伤口只会使伤势加重。