VOA标准英语2010年-Zimbabwe's Civil Service Workers Go On

Zimbabwe's civil servants said Friday they are going on strike for better wages. This strike is a serious blow to the year-old unity¹ government which says it has no money to increase their wages.

Peta Thornycroft | Harare 05 February 2010

Zimbabwean civil servants gather to call on the government to review their salaries, in Harare, 05 Feb 2010

Major unions representing teachers, health workers, state college and university lecturers as well as office workers, held a rally of more than 2,000 in central Harare, saying they would not return to work until the government addressed their demands.

Civil servants have been paid between $150-240 a month since the unity government came to power a year ago. The ministers in the unity government are not paid much more.  The government has offered a 10 percent wage hike, but the workers rejected it.

The strike comes amid efforts to revive key sectors³ that nearly collapsed⁴ at the height of Zimbabwe's crisis in 2008 when public schools and hospitals ground to a halt.

Dr. Amos Chizhande, president of the Zimbabwe Hospital Doctors Association, said the government has done nothing to improve working conditions for his sector².

"No matter how hard we try as an association to push for the improvement of the conditions of the health workers we are being ignored," said Chizhande.

Raymond Majongwe, secretary general of the Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe, has been one of the most prominent critics of ZANU-PF rule, having been detained by the party many times in the past decade.

Majongwe believes Zimbabwe does have the resources to boost teachers' pay and references the lucrative⁵ diamonds mines in eastern Zimbabwe
 
"I think the position that has been taken represents the real feeling of the workers. We are going on strike demanding that money that we know is in Zimbabwe," said Majongwe.  "We cannot be told there is no money when we have 300, 000 carats of diamonds sitting in some office. As long as those diamonds be sold and the money paid to civil servants then we will go back to work tomorrow," he said.

Finance Minister Tendai Biti, who was not available for comment, has said civil service pay takes up at least 60 percent of the country's revenues, and limited resources make it difficult for the state to increase wages significantly.

In the first eight months of the unity government, only $2 million was contributed for educating three million students in Zimbabwe.

 

1 unity   

n.团结，联合，统一；和睦，协调

参考例句：

• When we speak of unity,we do not mean unprincipled peace.所谓团结，并非一团和气。
• We must strengthen our unity in the face of powerful enemies.大敌当前，我们必须加强团结。

2 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。

3 sectors   

n.部门( sector的名词复数 )；领域；防御地区；扇形

参考例句：

• Berlin was divided into four sectors after the war. 战后柏林分成了4 个区。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Industry and agriculture are the two important sectors of the national economy. 工业和农业是国民经济的两个重要部门。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

4 collapsed   

adj.倒塌的

参考例句：

• Jack collapsed in agony on the floor. 杰克十分痛苦地瘫倒在地板上。
• The roof collapsed under the weight of snow. 房顶在雪的重压下突然坍塌下来。

5 lucrative   

adj.赚钱的，可获利的

参考例句：

• He decided to turn his hobby into a lucrative sideline.他决定把自己的爱好变成赚钱的副业。
• It was not a lucrative profession.那是一个没有多少油水的职业。