PBS高端访谈:老板们是否就加班问题而欺骗了员工?

 　　GWEN IFILL: This month, the administration is expected to revamp workplace rules that would make millions more workers eligible¹ for overtime² pay.

　　Economics correspondent Paul Solman reports. It's part of our weekly segment, Making Sense, which airs every Thursday on the “NewsHour.”

　　ACTOR: Time to make the donuts.

　　PAUL SOLMAN: Fred the Baker…

　　ACTOR: Time to make the donuts.

　　PAUL SOLMAN: … icon³ for the freshness of Dunkin' Donuts more than 30 years ago.

　　ACTOR: We make them at least twice every day.

　　ACTOR: Time to make the donuts.

　　PAUL SOLMAN: Fred was a fiction, but the reality of one Dunkin' Donuts worker looked a lot like the ads.

　　GASSAN MARZUQ, Former Dunkin' Donuts Manager: I'm working 75 hours a week or 80 hours a week.

　　PAUL SOLMAN: For years, Gassan Marzuq worked Fred-like hours as a salaried manager at this outlet⁴ outside Boston. Problem is, he never saw one cent in overtime.

　　GASSAN MARZUQ: If you work 40 hours, or if you work 100 hours, it's the same pay.

　　PAUL SOLMAN: Divide Marzuq's hours by his barely $800-a-week salary, and, on a per-hour basis:

　　GASSAN MARZUQ: I'm making only $9, $10 an hour, which is less — even lower than the regular employees, what they are making.

　　PAUL SOLMAN: Under current law, you get time-and-a-half for every hour you work in a week past 40, unless you make more than $23,600 a year and you're an executive, administrator⁵ or professional with advanced knowledge.

　　Marzuq's employer classified him as an executive, even though he very often did the same work as the hourly employees.

　　GASSAN MARZUQ: You are serving customers. You are pouring coffee. And you are cleaning. You will clean the bathrooms, clean the parking lot. The title doesn't mean anything.

　　PAUL SOLMAN: The salary threshold under which all employees were paid overtime in 1975, if you figure in inflation, would now be $51,000, compared to today's actual $23,600, an amount that's been raised just once in the last 40 years.

　　More than 60 percent of salaried employees were eligible for overtime in 1975. Today, less than 10 percent qualify.

　　So, last year, President Obama signed a memorandum⁶ directing the Department of Labor⁷ to update overtime rules to help workers like Marzuq.

　　BARACK OBAMA, President of the United States: Now, overtime's a pretty simple idea. If you have to work more, you should get paid more.

　　PAUL SOLMAN: Progressive mega-investor Nick Hanauer first made us aware of the overtime issue's contribution to economic inequality in a post on our Making Sense Web site that drew nearly a million readers.

　　NICK HANAUER, Venture Capitalist: The high overtime threshold is indispensable to creating a thriving middle class, because, in the absence if it, an employer like me will pitch a fake title like assistant manager to somebody and work them 60 hours a week, instead of 40, and get 20 hours of work for free.

　　SHANNON LISS-RIORDAN, Attorney for Gassan Marzuq: And if these new regulations come out that we're all hoping will come out, that will help a lot of people going forward.

　　PAUL SOLMAN: Lawyer Shannon Liss-Riordan argues her client, Gassan Marzuq, should have received overtime and has sued his former employer, which runs 50 Dunkin' Donuts outlets⁸ in Massachusetts.

　　SHANNON LISS-RIORDAN: This is common practice in America. Because they put their managers on salary, they can work their managers as many hours as they want.

　　PAUL SOLMAN: Consider former Dollar General store manager Dawn Hughey. She was paid $35,000 a year, but regularly worked 60 to 70 hours a week, no overtime.

　　DAWN HUGHEY, Former Dollar General Manager: I'm the free help. I could never commit to anything as far as plans with friends or family because my store was always my number one responsibility.

　　PAUL SOLMAN: Any day now, the administration is expected to redefine which workers are exempt⁹ and hike the threshold. Labor advocates say, if it's boosted to $51,000 a year, more than six million workers would automatically qualify for overtime pay, but, say employers:

　　DAVID FRENCH, National Retail¹⁰ Federation¹¹: We don't think very many more people are going to get overtime as a result of this rule.

　　PAUL SOLMAN: Fact is, says David French of the National Retail Federation, his industry simply can't afford the estimated $9.5 billion a year it would cost to pay overtime to every worker making up to $51,000 a year.

　　DAVID FRENCH: Instead of providing overtime for millions more workers, employers are going to make rational choices, and they're going to spread the same amount of money across a slightly larger pool of hourly and part-time workers.

　　PAUL SOLMAN: In other words, no more behind-the-counter executives.

　　At White Castle, famous for its square Sliders, Vice¹² President Jamie Richardson thinks the company's almost 400 salaried general managers will be given lower benefits or switched to hourly jobs. That, he says, would stifle¹³ career advancement¹⁴.

　　JAMIE RICHARDSON, Vice President, White Castle System, Inc.: It would take opportunity away from literally¹⁵ hundreds of people who worked so hard to get to that point. Our general managers take tremendous pride in being considered salaried. That's a big accomplishment¹⁶.

　　PAUL SOLMAN: Overtime activist¹⁷ Nick Hanauer's response?

　　NICK HANAUER: A company has a certain amount of responsibility to hand out. And people are not going to have less responsibility because they don't have fake titles anymore. It's just not true.

　　PAUL SOLMAN: But what about the argument that employers are simply not going to have managers anymore like this, because they can't afford to, and so everybody will be an hourly employee?

　　NICK HANAUER: It's certainly likely that most employers won't pay people time-and-a-half. That's very expensive.

　　And what employers are likely to do is simply add workers to their payrolls¹⁸, which lowers the unemployment rate, and drives up wages, which is the source of the problem.

　　PAUL SOLMAN: Whatever the changes, though, they will be too late for Gassan Marzuq.

　　GASSAN MARZUQ: I never had the time to enjoy my kids' childhood, to be with them, because I dedicated¹⁹ my life to work at Dunkin' Donuts.

　　PAUL SOLMAN: Parent-teacher conferences, did you go to them?

　　GASSAN MARZUQ: None.

　　PAUL SOLMAN: Sports activities?

　　GASSAN MARZUQ: None.

　　PAUL SOLMAN: Graduation of your kids?

　　GASSAN MARZUQ: I missed graduations.

　　PAUL SOLMAN: Because you were working?

　　Marzuq emigrated to America from Kuwait, shooting for the American dream. But, given the toll²⁰ the job took, why did he put up with it?

　　Suppose you had said, no, I'm only going to work 40 hours; I'm sorry; I can't work anymore; you're not paying me for that?

　　GASSAN MARZUQ: Be terminated. If you don't like it, you will leave. But what are you going to do? I'm not an educated person. I don't have a degree.

　　PAUL SOLMAN: And so, these days, Gassan Marzuq pumps gas, a part-time job, no overtime here either.

　　This is economics correspondent Paul Solman, reporting for the “PBS NewsHour” from Boston.

1 eligible   

adj.有条件被选中的；(尤指婚姻等)合适(意)的

参考例句：

• He is an eligible young man.他是一个合格的年轻人。
• Helen married an eligible bachelor.海伦嫁给了一个中意的单身汉。

2 overtime   

adj.超时的，加班的；adv.加班地

参考例句：

• They are working overtime to finish the work.为了完成任务他们正在加班加点地工作。
• He was paid for the overtime he worked.他领到了加班费。

3 icon   

n.偶像，崇拜的对象，画像

参考例句：

• They found an icon in the monastery.他们在修道院中发现了一个圣像。
• Click on this icon to align or justify text.点击这个图标使文本排齐。

4 outlet   

n.出口/路；销路；批发商店；通风口；发泄

参考例句：

• The outlet of a water pipe was blocked.水管的出水口堵住了。
• Running is a good outlet for his energy.跑步是他发泄过剩精力的好方法。

5 administrator   

n.经营管理者，行政官员

参考例句：

• The role of administrator absorbed much of Ben's energy.行政职务耗掉本很多精力。
• He has proved himself capable as administrator.他表现出管理才能。

6 memorandum   

n.备忘录，便笺

参考例句：

• The memorandum was dated 23 August,2008.备忘录上注明的日期是2008年8月23日。
• The Secretary notes down the date of the meeting in her memorandum book.秘书把会议日期都写在记事本上。

7 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。

8 outlets   

n.出口( outlet的名词复数 )；经销店；插座；廉价经销店

参考例句：

• The dumping of foreign cotton blocked outlets for locally grown cotton. 外国棉花的倾销阻滞了当地生产的棉花的销路。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• They must find outlets for their products. 他们必须为自己的产品寻找出路。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

9 exempt   

adj.免除的；v.使免除；n.免税者，被免除义务者

参考例句：

• These goods are exempt from customs duties.这些货物免征关税。
• He is exempt from punishment about this thing.关于此事对他已免于处分。

10 retail   

v./n.零售；adv.以零售价格

参考例句：

• In this shop they retail tobacco and sweets.这家铺子零售香烟和糖果。
• These shoes retail at 10 yuan a pair.这些鞋子零卖10元一双。

11 federation   

n.同盟，联邦，联合，联盟，联合会

参考例句：

• It is a federation of 10 regional unions.它是由十个地方工会结合成的联合会。
• Mr.Putin was inaugurated as the President of the Russian Federation.普京正式就任俄罗斯联邦总统。

12 vice   

n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的

参考例句：

• He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
• They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。

13 stifle   

vt.使窒息；闷死；扼杀；抑止，阻止

参考例句：

• She tried hard to stifle her laughter.她强忍住笑。
• It was an uninteresting conversation and I had to stifle a yawn.那是一次枯燥无味的交谈，我不得不强忍住自己的呵欠。

14 advancement   

n.前进，促进，提升

参考例句：

• His new contribution to the advancement of physiology was well appreciated.他对生理学发展的新贡献获得高度赞赏。
• The aim of a university should be the advancement of learning.大学的目标应是促进学术。

15 literally   

adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实

参考例句：

• He translated the passage literally.他逐字逐句地翻译这段文字。
• Sometimes she would not sit down till she was literally faint.有时候，她不走到真正要昏厥了，决不肯坐下来。

16 accomplishment   

n.完成，成就，（pl.）造诣，技能

参考例句：

• The series of paintings is quite an accomplishment.这一系列的绘画真是了不起的成就。
• Money will be crucial to the accomplishment of our objectives.要实现我们的目标，钱是至关重要的。

17 activist   

n.活动分子，积极分子

参考例句：

• He's been a trade union activist for many years.多年来他一直是工会的积极分子。
• He is a social activist in our factory.他是我厂的社会活动积极分子。

18 payrolls   

n.（公司员工的）工资名单( payroll的名词复数 )；（公司的）工资总支出，工薪总额

参考例句：

• Indices of employment, payrolls, and production steadied in February 1931931年2月，就业、工资额和生产指数稳定。 来自辞典例句
• Wall Street responded to the payrolls figures with gusto. 华尔街对就业数据作出了积极的反应。 来自互联网

19 dedicated   

adj.一心一意的；献身的；热诚的

参考例句：

• He dedicated his life to the cause of education.他献身于教育事业。
• His whole energies are dedicated to improve the design.他的全部精力都放在改进这项设计上了。

20 toll   

n.过路(桥)费；损失，伤亡人数；v.敲(钟)

参考例句：

• The hailstone took a heavy toll of the crops in our village last night.昨晚那场冰雹损坏了我们村的庄稼。
• The war took a heavy toll of human life.这次战争夺去了许多人的生命。