評論
打印
Britain
英國
Labor VS Capital: Justice in an age of austerity
勞工對資本：艱苦年代的正義
Charging workers from employment tribunals erodes their rights.
勞資審裁處向雇員收費會損害他們的權利。
Eight years after Britain emerged from recession, average real earnings are still below their peak.
英國從經濟蕭條恢復過來8年后，其平均實際收入仍低于他們最高峰時期。
But measly pay is not the only thing squeezing workers.
但是微薄的工資并不是壓榨工人的唯一手段。
Since 2013 employees who think they have been wronged by their employer—underpaid or dismissed unfairly, for instance—have had to pay up to ￡1,200 ($1,500) to go to an employment tribunal, which was previously free.
自2013年，凡是認為被雇主冤枉的雇員—要么工資太低要么無解雇，比如—已不得不付總計1200英鎊（1500美元）去勞資審裁處，而這以前是免費的。
A challenge to the legality of such fees came before the Supreme Court on March 27th.
3月27日，這種費用合法性的挑戰在最高法院之前到來了。
A judgment is expected by the summer.
預計夏季會有一次裁判。
Since the decline of trade-union membership in Britain, the employment-tribunal system has been the main mechanism for enforcing individual employment rights.
自英國工會會員人數下降以來，勞資審裁處體系就一直是實施個人就業權的主要機制。
In 2012-13 there were roughly 190,000 tribunal claims, equivalent to one for every 130 or so employees.
2012至2013年約有19萬起法庭索賠，相當于約每130個雇員中就有一個。
After fees were introduced the number of claims dropped by about 70%.
在介紹完費用后，索賠的數量降了約70%。
There were only around 60,000 in 2014-15.
在2014-2015年僅有約6萬個。
The government has welcomed the decline as evidence that bogus claimants are being deterred.
政府歡迎這種下降現象，并把它作為虛假索賠人被制止了的證據。
“Like Japanese knotweed,” one government minister wrote in 2014, “the soaring number of tribunal cases was squeezing the life and energy from Britain's wealth creators.”
一位政府部長在2014年寫到，“像日本虎杖，數量飛漲的法庭案件從英國財富創造者里壓榨生命和精力。
But a paper in the Modern Law Review by Abi Adams and Jeremias Prassl of Oxford University suggests a different interpretation.
但是由牛津大學的Abi Adams和Jeremias Prassl編寫的《現代法律評論》里一篇文章暗示了另一種解說。
譯文來源考研英語時事閱讀
