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http://res.iciba.com/voanews/teaching/sy20090202a.mp3

British Leader Condemns Strikes Against Foreign Workers

英国工人罢工抗议雇用他国工人

Prime Minister Gordon Brown has condemned the strikes spreading across Britain protesting the employment of foreign European workers, while unemployment soars in the country.

英国首相布朗谴责正在英国蔓延的罢工。罢工工人抗议在英国失业率飙升的同时，英国公司雇用来自其他欧洲国家的工人。

What began as a protest last week against legal foreign European construction workers at an oil refinery on the east coast of England quickly spread to at least a dozens different locations at energy plants throughout Britain.

上星期举行的一个抗议活动迅速蔓延到英国十几个地区的能源工厂。那次抗议是针对英国东海岸一个石油炼油厂合法雇用来自其他欧洲国家的建筑工人。

The wildcat strikes have come under the backdrop of rapidly rising unemployment.

这次未经批准的罢工是在日益飙升失业率的背景下发生的。

The question is will those strikes be escalating in the coming days.

目前的问题是，这些罢工是否会在未来的几天内升级。

Interviewed on BBC Television Sunday, Prime Minister Gordon Brown urged calm.

英国首相布朗星期天在接受英国广播公司采访时敦促人们要保持镇静。

"That is not the right thing to do and it is not defensible. What we have set up is a process to deal with the questions people have been asking about what has happened in this particular instance," said Mr. Brown.

“罢工的作法是不对的，这是无可辩解的。我们建立了一个程序，解决人民所关注的问题，也就是在这种特殊情况下究竟发生了什么事。”

The independent mediation service has been asked to step in to investigate and help resolve the matter. Prime Minister Brown says while the strikes in his view are wrong, he acknowledges that job security is big concern for many right now.

独立的调解机构已经应约介入，进行调查并帮助解决目前的问题。布朗首相说，虽然他认为罢工是错误的，但是他承认，目前对很多人来说，就业保障是人们最关注的问题。

"The worries that they have about what is happening to the international economy are real. I mean, people are worried about what is happening to jobs in every part of our country. I am determined that we take action early so that jobs that can be saved, can be saved and we have made some arrangements to do so," he said. "Where people lose their jobs, we help them back into jobs as quickly as possible."

“他们对目前的国际经济状况的担忧是真实的。我是说，人们对英国各行各业的就业状况表示担忧。我决心尽早采取行动，保住工作，而且我们已经在采取措施想方设法保住工作。无论人们在哪里失去工作，我们将尽快帮助他们重新找到工作。”

Under E.U. law, European workers are generally free to work in other member states and they can accept lower pay than local employees if they wish.

根据欧盟的法律，欧洲工人通常能自由地在其它欧盟成员国工作，而且如果他们愿意的话可以接受低于当地员工得到的工资。

In this case, British protesters say the Italian and Portuguese construction workers at a refinery in Lincolnshire are taking jobs that Britons should have been offered, but were not.

具体到这次罢工，英国抗议者说，意大利和葡萄牙的建筑工人夺走了在林肯郡一个炼油厂的工作。本来应该先雇用英国人来做这些工作，但是却没有雇用他们。

Tensions have been rising rapidly as Britain's economy shrinks and jobs go away. According to the International Monetary Fund, the British economy will contract by about 2.8 percent this year. That would make it the worst-hit country among the Group of Seven leading industrialized nations.

英国由于经济紧缩，就业流失，紧张局势迅速加剧。根据国际货币基金组织的预测，英国经济今年将下降2.8%。这将是七个工业化集团国家中受到经济危机打击最严重的国家。