美国国家公共电台 NPR--Union-organized event pressures Congress to make good on a $4 billion promise

Union-organized event pressures Congress to make good on a $4 billion promise

Transcript¹

Wildland firefighters are calling on Congress and the Biden administration to make good on a promise made last year to permanently² boost their pay and benefits.

MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:

Wildland firefighters are pressuring Congress and the White House to make good on last year's promise to permanently boost their pay and benefits. The infrastructure³ law gave federal wildland firefighters a temporary $20,000 pay bump. That bump is set to run out in a few months. NPR's Kirk Siegler has this report.

KIRK SIEGLER, BYLINE⁴: Last year's bonus was a lifeline for wildland firefighters like Justin Brown. He's heading into his 14th year fighting fire on the Lassen National Forest in Northern California.

JUSTIN BROWN: It was just enough to where, you know, folks that were living in their cars could afford to get into an apartment with a couple of buddies⁵ and actually live like a human being.

SIEGLER: The bump in pay runs out by October, which typically is the peak of California's fire season. But climate change and suppression of natural fires has made it more year-round, and Brown says this is causing even more strain on an already stressed and overworked federal firefighting force.

BROWN: We've been running off of promises for years - what we consider, you know, dangling⁶ the carrot in front of us. And we've been kind of pushing along out of pride for the job.

SIEGLER: Brown spoke⁷ at a news conference in front of the U.S. Capitol on a windy morning yesterday, as lawmakers began debating President Biden's federal lands budget. It includes hundreds of millions of dollars for pay bumps and housing and mental health services. Some firefighters start out making about 15 bucks⁸ an hour, and most rely on overtime⁹ and hazard pay to get by. Here's California Congresswoman Katie Porter.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

KATIE PORTER: It should not be a huge surprise that this labor¹⁰ force is understaffed when workers could make more as new employees at Costco than they can parachuting into forest fires.

SIEGLER: The boost in wildland firefighter pay has had some bipartisan support, though there were no Republicans at yesterday's union-organized press event. Firefighters like Justin Brown feel caught in the middle of a political budget battle over the debt ceiling. Far-right Republicans are pushing for deep spending cuts. But Brown warns of a mass exodus¹¹ of the workforce¹² as early as this summer.

BROWN: I mean, it's going to be a natural disaster. You're going to have huge fires going on everywhere and nobody that has the experience to try and put them out quickly.

SIEGLER: Towns will burn, Brown says, and more people may lose their lives.

Kirk Siegler, NPR News.

(SOUNDBITE OF RACHEL GRIMES' "THE AIR IN TIME")

1 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

2 permanently   

adv.永恒地，永久地，固定不变地

参考例句：

• The accident left him permanently scarred.那次事故给他留下了永久的伤疤。
• The ship is now permanently moored on the Thames in London.该船现在永久地停泊在伦敦泰晤士河边。

3 infrastructure   

n.下部构造，下部组织，基础结构，基础设施

参考例句：

• We should step up the development of infrastructure for research.加强科学基础设施建设。
• We should strengthen cultural infrastructure and boost various types of popular culture.加强文化基础设施建设，发展各类群众文化。

4 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

5 buddies   

n.密友( buddy的名词复数 )；同伴；弟兄；（用于称呼男子，常带怒气）家伙v.（如密友、战友、伙伴、弟兄般）交往( buddy的第三人称单数 )；做朋友；亲近（…）；伴护艾滋病人

参考例句：

• We became great buddies. 我们成了非常好的朋友。 来自辞典例句
• The two of them have become great buddies. 他们俩成了要好的朋友。 来自辞典例句

6 dangling   

悬吊着( dangle的现在分词 )； 摆动不定； 用某事物诱惑…； 吊胃口

参考例句：

• The tooth hung dangling by the bedpost, now. 结果，那颗牙就晃来晃去吊在床柱上了。
• The children sat on the high wall,their legs dangling. 孩子们坐在一堵高墙上，摇晃着他们的双腿。

7 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

8 bucks   

n.雄鹿( buck的名词复数 )；钱；（英国十九世纪初的）花花公子；（用于某些表达方式）责任v.（马等）猛然弓背跃起( buck的第三人称单数 )；抵制；猛然震荡；马等尥起后蹄跳跃

参考例句：

• They cost ten bucks. 这些值十元钱。
• They are hunting for bucks. 他们正在猎雄兔。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 overtime   

adj.超时的，加班的；adv.加班地

参考例句：

• They are working overtime to finish the work.为了完成任务他们正在加班加点地工作。
• He was paid for the overtime he worked.他领到了加班费。

10 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。

11 exodus   

v.大批离去，成群外出

参考例句：

• The medical system is facing collapse because of an exodus of doctors.由于医生大批离去，医疗系统面临崩溃。
• Man's great challenge at this moment is to prevent his exodus from this planet.人在当前所遇到的最大挑战，就是要防止人从这个星球上消失。

12 workforce   

n.劳动大军，劳动力

参考例句：

• A large part of the workforce is employed in agriculture.劳动人口中一大部分受雇于农业。
• A quarter of the local workforce is unemployed.本地劳动力中有四分之一失业。