VOA标准英语2012--US Unions See Wages Fall
时间：2019-01-13 作者：英语课 分类：VOA标准英语2012年(八月)
US Unions See Wages Fall
Tom Lee is a former president of the American Federation 1 of Musicians, the largest musicians' union in the world.
He began his career with the U.S. Marine 2 Corps 3 Band and played many performances at the White House.
Although unions have lost stature 4 in the U.S. in recent decades, Lee believes they still have an important role to play.
“I do believe that unions have helped the American people. Even those who have not been in unions make great strides in terms of wages, in terms of benefits,” Lee said.
But union membership has declined by about 50 per cent over the past 40 years.
And last year, the state of Wisconsin stripped most public workers of their collective bargaining rights.
Many economists 5 think the decline in membership is an important factor in the drop in wages, adjusted for inflation.
Lawrence Mishel is president of the liberal Economic Policy Institute.
“And this is because we have had excessive unemployment for many years recently, but over the last 30 years, we have had globalization where American workers have been pitted with workers with much lower wages. We have had erosion of unionization,” Mishel said.
According to Mishel's own report, the productivity of U.S. workers has risen by 80 percent over the past three decades. But hourly wages have only risen 11 percent.
Conservative economists disagree. Andrew Biggs is a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute.
“We have had significant differences in the way employee compensation is paid out. More goes to health care today than in the past. Less goes to wages and benefits. That is not a function of exploitation. That is a function of rising health care costs and those have to be borne out somewhere,” Biggs said.
Biggs argues that bringing down health care costs and increasing productivity will lead to higher wages.
Mishel does not believe that's true.
“... because we see wages have gone down for segments of the population that don’t even get health insurance,” Mishel said.
Meanwhile, union leader Tom Lee says he believes wages will continue to decline unless workers organize and press for policies that focus on economic security for all.
- It is a federation of 10 regional unions.它是由十个地方工会结合成的联合会。
- Mr.Putin was inaugurated as the President of the Russian Federation.普京正式就任俄罗斯联邦总统。
- Marine creatures are those which live in the sea. 海洋生物是生存在海里的生物。
- When the war broke out,he volunteered for the Marine Corps.战争爆发时，他自愿参加了海军陆战队。
- The medical corps were cited for bravery in combat.医疗队由于在战场上的英勇表现而受嘉奖。
- When the war broke out,he volunteered for the Marine Corps.战争爆发时，他自愿参加了海军陆战队。
- He is five feet five inches in stature.他身高5英尺5英寸。
- The dress models are tall of stature.时装模特儿的身材都较高。
- The sudden rise in share prices has confounded economists. 股价的突然上涨使经济学家大惑不解。
- Foreign bankers and economists cautiously welcomed the minister's initiative. 外国银行家和经济学家对部长的倡议反应谨慎。 来自《简明英汉词典》