来源：《卫报》
原文刊登日期：2022年6月20日
Britain faces a rolling wave of strikes over pay and conditions in the coming months. The country’s railways will be effectively shut down for a week. Wage disputes have led to rubbish piling up in some parts of the country, while other regions have suffered late postal deliveries. Teachers and doctors are the latest professions threatening to strike if the government doesn’t meet their pay demands. But the country is not heading back to the 1970s. Trade unions in Britain have lost much of their power and influence in the workplace.
在接下来的几个月里，英国将面临一波针对工资和工作条件的罢工浪潮。英国铁路实际上将关闭一周。在一些地区，工资纠纷导致了垃圾堆积，而其他地区则遭遇了邮政延误。教师和医生是威胁罢工的最新职业，如果政府不满足他们的工资要求。但这个国家不会回到上世纪70年代。英国工会已经在工作场所失去了很多影响力。
Despite the headlines, the number of days lost to strikes has collapsed. At their peak, about half of employees were union members. Now the figure is 24% and these are disproportionately found in the public sector – which is why the government is facing off against so many groups. With pay deals yet to be signed, ministers find themselves facing calls for inflation-linked wage increases for 5 million workers, including those in the NHS, the armed forces, the civil service and local government.
尽管有各种头条新闻，但因罢工而损失的天数已大幅减少。在高峰期，大约一半的员工是工会成员。现在这个数字是24%，而且主要集中在公共部门——这就是为什么政府要与这么多团体对抗。由于薪酬协议尚未签署，部长们发现自己面临着为500万人（包括NHS、武装部队、公务员和地方政府的工人）加薪的呼吁。
What makes the crisis seem familiar is the sequence of an energy shock, caused by a geopolitical crisis, followed by stagnating growth and inflation hitting highs not seen for decades. It would be hard to argue that key workers’ pay offers shouldn’t match inflation, which is projected to reach 11% this year. The Institute for Fiscal Studies says in the public sector employees have done even worse than those in the private sector, both over the past decade and during the pandemic.
让这场危机像70年代的原因是一系列事件的顺序：地缘政治危机引发的能源冲击，随之而来的是经济增长停滞，通胀达到数十年未见的高位。很难说关键岗位工人的薪资水平不应该与通货膨胀相匹配，预计今年的通货膨胀率将达到11%。财政研究所表示，在过去十年和疫情期间，公共部门员工的薪资情况甚至比私营部门员工更差。
The average teacher, even before the recent spurt in inflation, is paid 8% less than a decade ago. For nurses and midwives the figure is 7%. Yet rather than offer constructive talks and seek peace, ministers appear to be looking for a fight. Their threat – to change the law to allow firms to hire agency staff to replace striking workers – only works if Britain has the skilled staff to step in.
即使在最近的通货膨胀爆发之前，普通教师的工资也比十年前低8%。对于护士和助产士来说，这个数字是7%。然而，部长们似乎在寻求一场战斗，而不是进行建设性的谈判和寻求和平。他们的威胁——修改法律，允许公司雇佣代理人员来取代罢工工人——只有在英国有这些熟练工人的情况下才有用。
Boris Johnson’s government appears more interested in pushing the interests of business than that of workers. Even with inflation shooting skywards, real wages are falling while company profits are rising.
鲍里斯·约翰逊政府似乎更关心推动企业利益，而不是工人利益。即使通胀飙升，实际工资仍在下降，而公司利润却在上升。
Commodity shocks may have sparked inflation. But to keep it going requires a fight between business, which is trying to maintain its share of national income via corporate margins, and labour, which is trying to do the same thing through higher wages. For all the talk of trade union militancy, there are few mechanisms – bar industrial action – for most workers to bid up their wages.
大宗商品冲击可能引发了通胀。但要让生活继续下去，就需要企业和劳工之间的斗争。企业试图通过企业利润率来维持其在国民收入中的份额，而劳工则试图通过提高工资来达到同样的目的。尽管人们都在谈论工会的强硬态度，但大多数工人几乎没有什么机制(除了罢工)来抬高自己的工资。
Employees are forced to take what the market pays. Such an imbalance won’t benefit the wider economy in the long run. Workers and bosses have a shared interest. Productivity incentives from greater employee power can boost profits as well. Without ministers stepping in on the side of workers to mediate class conflict and ensure the spoils – or the pain – of economic activity is evenly shared, Britain risks remaining trapped in a low-wage, low-growth spiral.
员工被迫接受市场支付的薪酬。从长远来看，这种不平衡不会对更广泛的经济有利。员工和老板有共同的利益。通过增强员工的权利来激励生产力也可以提高利润。如果部长们不站在工人一边调解阶级冲突，确保经济活动的好处(或痛苦)得到平均分担，英国可能会继续陷入低工资、低增长的螺旋。