VOA慢速英语2019 公司试图阻止加利福尼亚法律覆盖独立工人（在线收听）

Companies Seek to Block California Law Covering Independent Workers

Two companies that employ independent workers are taking legal action to block a California law that offers protections to such workers.

雇用独立工人的公司正在采取法律行动，以阻止加利福尼亚法律为此类工人提供保护。

The ride-sharing company Uber joined delivery service Postmates in the lawsuit. The two companies argue that the new law violates federal and state constitutional guarantees of equal protection and fair justice.

乘车共享公司Uber在诉讼中加入了邮递服务Postmates。两家公司争辩说，新法律违反了联邦和州宪法对平等保护和公平正义的保证。

The law is set to take effect in California on Wednesday.

该法律定于周三在加利福尼亚生效。

Supporters have argued that the new rules protect the rights of workers who are independent contractors.

支持者认为，新规则保护了独立承包商工人的权利。

The law requires companies to provide some independent contractors with the same kinds of work protections and benefits that employees receive. In addition to Uber and Postmates, the lawsuit includes two independent workers fighting the law.

该法律要求公司向一些独立承包商提供与雇员相同的工作保护和福利。除了Uber和Postmates之外，诉讼还包括两名独立的法律工作者。

California Governor Gavin Newsom signed the law in September. It has brought greater attention to the rights of independent workers. The California law is seen as a possible model for future legislation in other states.

加利福尼亚州州长加文·纽瑟姆（Gavin Newsom）于9月签署了该法律。它引起了对独立工人权利的更多关注。加州法律被视为其他州未来立法的可能模式。

Companies like Uber, Lyft, Postmates and others depend on the state's estimated 450,000 contract workers to work as drivers to keep their businesses running. The workers are considered independent contractors; they choose which hours and days they want to work.

优步（Uber），Lyft，Postmates等公司都依靠该州约45万名合同工作为司机来保持业务运转。工人被视为独立承包商；他们选择要工作的时间和日期。

The lawsuit argues that the new law covers some industries – like ride-sharing and delivery – but not others that operate similarly. It also states that the rules violate workers' rights to choose how they earn a living.

诉讼认为，新法律涵盖了某些行业，例如乘车共享和送货业，但不适用于其他类似运营的行业。它还指出，这些规则侵犯了工人选择其谋生方式的权利。

The lawsuit also argues that the new law harms companies providing independent services "by denying their constitutional rights to be treated the same as others to whom they are similarly situated."

该诉讼还辩称，新法律损害了提供独立服务的公司，“剥夺了其宪法权利与他们所处的类似地位的人一样的待遇”。

The lawsuit described a study that suggested the law would increase Lyft's operating costs by 20 percent and cut the number of drivers in California by about 300,000.

该诉讼描述了一项研究，该研究表明该法律将使Lyft的运营成本增加20％，并使加利福尼亚的驾驶员数量减少约30万。

Democratic state lawmaker Lorena Gonzalez of San Diego helped write the bill. She said the law is meant to extend employee rights to more than a million independent workers who lack benefits. Those benefits include a minimum wage, paid time off and medical coverage.

圣地亚哥的民主州议员罗琳娜·冈萨雷斯（Lorena Gonzalez）帮助撰写了该法案。她说，该法律旨在将雇员权利扩大到超过一百万名缺乏福利的独立工人。这些福利包括最低工资，带薪休假和医疗保险。

Gonzalez noted that Uber had sought to receive exemptions to the law when legislators were working on the bill. Uber joined Lyft and DoorDash in promising to spend $30 million each in an effort to have the law overturned by voters during the 2020 election.

冈萨雷斯指出，当立法者正在研究该法案时，Uber试图获得法律的豁免。优步与Lyft和DoorDash一起承诺各自投入3,000万美元，以在2020年大选中使选民推翻法律。

Gonzalez said in a statement: "The one clear thing we know about Uber is they will do anything to try to exempt themselves from state regulations that make us all safer and their driver employees self-sufficient."

冈萨雷斯在一份声明中说：“我们知道的关于Uber的一件事是，他们将尽一切努力使自己免于国家法规的束缚，这些法规使我们所有人都更安全，驾驶员员工也自给自足。”

She added: "In the meantime, Uber chief executives will continue to become billionaires while too many of their drivers are forced to sleep in their cars."

她补充说：“与此同时，优步首席执行官将继续成为亿万富翁，而太多的司机被迫上车睡觉。”

Words in This Story

delivery – n. the taking of goods from one place to another

lawsuit – n. a legal action brought before a court

contractor – n. a person or company that supplies goods or does work for other people

benefit – n. assistance provided by employers to workers

minimum – adj. the least or smallest amount

exemption – n. the process of freeing from a responsibility to do something

regulation – n. an official rule that controls how something is done

self-sufficient – adj. able to do things independently and not needing help from others

executive – n. person with a high position in a company or the government