美国国家公共电台 NPR--Strikes hit Britain as nurses, postal workers and others walk out

Strikes hit Britain as nurses, postal¹ workers and others walk out

Transcript²

The United Kingdom is experiencing a winter of discontent - with strike actions by both public and private sector³ workers - from the post service to the national health system.

LEILA FADEL, HOST:

The U.K. continues to face a rolling series of strikes in the run-up to Christmas, with both public and private sector workers walking off the job this month, often for several days. We're joined now by London-based journalist Willem Marx to hear about the impact this is having on public services, health care and transportation across the U.K. Good morning, Willem.

WILLEM MARX: Good morning, Leila.

FADEL: So what kind of workers have been striking this week?

MARX: Well, yesterday, it was nurses in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. And that was not for the first time this month. Today, it's ambulance workers, some 10,000 of them across England and Wales. And that one involved paramedics as well as personnel from call centers and control rooms just walking off the job. They've agreed they will continue to support and answer life-threatening calls, including those for cardiac arrest. But the government has been forced to draft in 750 members of the country's military to help out.

FADEL: Wow.

MARX: Driving tests, they're all cancelled, too, as examiners are striking today. And then later this week, in the days before and during the Christmas holiday, you've got rail engineers, bus drivers, airport baggage handlers, border force agents and mail workers all out, too. And it's worth pointing out that all of these are one-day or targeted-day rolling strikes.

FADEL: Incredibly important sectors⁴, public services. Is there an easy explanation for why there are so many strikes and across such a wide variety of sectors?

MARX: Well, there's no single answer. But there is a relatively⁵ simple answer that you can put forward, and that's just inflation.

FADEL: Yeah.

MARX: You know, wages are not keeping up with the very high rates of inflation in Britain. And given the tight labor⁶ market, employees and the unions that represent them have a significant amount leverage⁷ to demand better pay and often insist on retaining either current working conditions or improving them. On the railways, for instance, unions are saying that it's about safety and schedules.

Nurses and ambulance workers also saying their systems, the national health system, is overstretched. Patients are going to continue to suffer, they say, the consequences if higher pay is not introduced. And that's mostly about encouraging better recruitment and retention⁸. And with many of the pay offers between, let's say, three and 5% coming from either the government or employers, you compare that to inflation running at around 10% and it's relatively easy to see why many workers feel they're being financially squeezed and have decided⁹ to take action.

FADEL: What role does the British government play in these kinds of industrial disputes?

MARX: Well, one reason that many of these public sector workers are striking, because their pay levels have fallen substantially over the past 12 years of conservative government in Britain. That's following the great financial crisis and the then conservative government's push for austerity that led to major public spending cuts. Now, the current prime minister, Rishi Sunak, has said he's going to continue to take quite a hard line against the various unions asking for higher pay. He's concerned about inflation continuing if pay rises.

But given these are the largest series of labor actions in the U.K. for many years, he's under increasing pressure from opinion polls, from political opponents, indeed, some people within his own party, to get involved directly in negotiations¹⁰ to try and resolve some of these disputes to avoid months of protracted¹¹ industrial action in sectors like health care and transport, which are already really, really struggling, Leila, after the COVID-19 pandemic.

FADEL: Yeah. London-based journalist Willem Marx. Thank you so much for your time.

MARX: Thank you.

1 postal   

adj.邮政的，邮局的

参考例句：

• A postal network now covers the whole country.邮路遍及全国。
• Remember to use postal code.勿忘使用邮政编码。

2 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

3 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。

4 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》

5 relatively   

adv.比较...地，相对地

参考例句：

• The rabbit is a relatively recent introduction in Australia.兔子是相对较新引入澳大利亚的物种。
• The operation was relatively painless.手术相对来说不痛。

6 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。

7 leverage   

n.力量，影响；杠杆作用，杠杆的力量

参考例句：

• We'll have to use leverage to move this huge rock.我们不得不借助杠杆之力来移动这块巨石。
• He failed in the project because he could gain no leverage. 因为他没有影响力，他的计划失败了。

8 retention   

n.保留，保持，保持力，记忆力

参考例句：

• They advocate the retention of our nuclear power plants.他们主张保留我们的核电厂。
• His retention of energy at this hour is really surprising.人们惊叹他在这个时候还能保持如此旺盛的精力。

9 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。

10 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。

11 protracted   

adj.拖延的；延长的v.拖延“protract”的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• The war was protracted for four years. 战争拖延了四年。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• We won victory through protracted struggle. 经过长期的斗争，我们取得了胜利。 来自《简明英汉词典》