华盛顿邮报 麦当劳发生工人起义(在线收听

Today, we look at this one McDonald's and the worker rebellion happening at fast-food restaurants and retail stores around the country.

今天,我们来看看麦当劳以及发生在全国各地快餐店和零售店的工人起义。

So, Greg, you found yourself recently in Bradford, Pennsylvania.

格雷格,你最近去了宾夕法尼亚州的布拉德福德。

It's a pretty small town, but they have a very busy McDonald's, where the pay started at just $9.25 an hour.

这是一个非常小的城镇,但他们的麦当劳非常繁忙,在那里一开始的工资只有每小时9.25美元。

What was it like for the people who worked there?

那里工作的人们感觉如何?

It was stressful for them.

这对他们来说压力很大。

I think they felt like they were underpaid and overworked and mistreated, often by their bosses and their customers.

我想他们觉得自己的工资过低,工作过度,而且经常受到老板和客户的虐待。

I think they felt invisible and looked down upon.

我想他们觉得被忽视,被人看不起。

But, in some ways, that sort of feeling of "us against the world" sort of bonds you together, and I think, in this case, it bonded them together as a group.

但是,在某种程度上,那种“我们与世界对抗”的感觉将你们联系在一起,我认为,在这种情况下,这将他们作为一个团体联系在一起。

And I used to cover the military, and I've told people this -- that they struck me almost like a little bit of an infantry platoon.

我曾经报道过军队,我告诉过人们——他们给我的感觉就像一个步兵团。

There was that same sort of bond between them. You know, you're in close quarters.

他们之间也有同样的联系。你知道,你在一个紧密的团体里。

It's a somewhat stressful job, especially when the drive-through line starts to back up, you know?

这是一份有点压力的工作,尤其是当免下车餐厅的队伍开始排起长队的时候 ,你知道吗?

So you're doing something fast. And it's a sort of a common mission. And that's what it reminded me a bit of.

所以你在做一件很快的事。 这是一种常见的任务。这就是它让我想起的一点。

And what did people tell you about what their lives were like?

人们告诉你他们的生活是什么样子的?

Even in a place like Bradford, $9.25 an hour is not enough to survive.

即使在布拉德福德这样的地方,每小时9.25美元也不足以维持生计。

One of the workers, Matthew Arndt -- he was making a little more than $9.25 an hour.

其中一名员工马修·阿恩特的时薪仅略高于9.25美元。

I think he was up to $9.50 an hour, but it wasn't enough for him to survive.

我想他的工资是每小时9.5美元,但这不足以维持他的生计。

Well, that place was just a strain on my mental health, really.

那个地方对我的心理健康造成了压力,真的。

The customers -- they would, like, just scream at us for the wrong orders.

顾客,他们会因为我们点错了菜而对我们大吼大叫。

They were giving us crappy money. And so it was, like, stressful, mentally and physically.

他们给我们的钱很少的可怜。 所以精神上和身体上都很有压力。

He was living in a house with mold on the walls and a furnace that didn't work, which was going to lead to a second really cold winter for him.

他住在一所房子里,房子的墙上长着霉菌,炉子也坏了,这将给他带来第二个真正寒冷的冬天。

There was another guy named David Putnam, who has epilepsy that prevents him from driving.

还有一个叫大卫·帕特南的人,他患有癫痫,不能开车。

He has a 2-1/2-year-old son that he was raising by himself.

他有一个两岁半的儿子,由他自己抚养。

I didn't get much sleep, of course, because of the fact of working so much, but when I got home, I also tried to spend as much time with him as I could.

当然,由于工作太忙,我睡得很少,但当我回到家时,我也尽量多陪陪他。

And so I was very tired. And I have seizures, as well, so when I get lack of sleep, I was having a couple of seizures at work once in a while, too.

所以我很累。 我患有癫痫,当我睡眠不足的时候,在工作时我也会偶尔发作几次。

And, so, for him, even at $9.25 an hour, to pay his rent, to furnish his place, you know, which was furnished with rent-to-own furniture, you know, he still had to rely on these things called Blessing Boxes, which are little boxes that are scattered around Bradford where people leave food.

所以,对于他来说,即使是每小时9.25美元,来支付他的房租,在房子里布置家具,你知道,这些家具是先租后买( rent-to-own)的,你知道,他仍然必须依靠这些被称为善事箱(Blessing Boxes)的东西,这些小盒子分散在布拉德福德周围,人们把食物放在那里。

So if you need something to eat -- milk, eggs, bread -- you can go to the Blessing Box and grab something. And so he was having to rely on that.

所以,如果你需要吃点东西——牛奶、鸡蛋、面包——你可以去福音箱拿点东西。 所以他不得不依靠这个。

  原文地址:http://www.tingroom.com/lesson/hsdyb/550760.html