评论
打印
By the following evening, there was much for my wife to report. The bonus program had worked until someone demanded to see the color of cash. Then some activist on the work force claime that the workers had no business settling for $5 and a few competitive bonuses while the bosses collected hundreds of dollars each. The organizer had declared that all the workers were entitled to $5 per hour! They would not work another minute until the bosses agreed.
到第二天傍晚，我妻子就有许多事报告了。奖金计划行之有效，可后来有人对能否兑现表示怀疑，提出把钱拿出来给大家看看。接着工人队伍里的一位活动家声称，老板每人拿几百块钱，工人们决没有理由满足于每人五块外加一点点竞争性的奖金。劳工组织人宣布，所有工人都应该得到每小时五块钱的工资！在老板答应之前，他们不再干活儿，一分钟也不干。
The strike lasted less than two hours. In mediation, the parties agreed on $2 per hour. Gradually, the huge stacks began to shrink.
罢工持续了不到两小时。通过调解，双方达成协议，每小时两块。渐渐地，大堆的广告开始减少。
As it turned out, the job was completed three hours before Sunday's 7 a.m. deadline. By the time I arrived home, the boys had already settled their accounts: $150 in labor costs, $40 for gasoline, and a like amount for gifts-boxes of candy for saintly neighbors who had volunteered station wagons and help in delivery and dozen roses for their mother. This left them with $185 each - about two-thirds the minimum wage for the 91 hours they worked. Still, it was "enough", as one of them put it, to enable them to "avoid indignity" for quite a while.
结果，全部工作比最后限期星期日早晨七点提前三个小时完成。等我回到家里，孩子们已经结了账。劳务支出150元，汽油费40元，还有40元买礼品-几盒糖果，送给乐于助人的邻居，他们主动开出自家的车帮助投递，还有一打玫瑰送给他们的母亲。除去以上开支，他们每人得到185元-大约相当于他们所干的91小时的最低工资的三分之二。虽然如此，可正如一个儿子所说，那还是"足够"他们花一阵子，使他们"避免那种有失尊严的事。"
