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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，我妻子就有許多事報告了。獎金計劃行之有效，可后來有人對能否兌現(xiàn)表示懷疑，提出把錢拿出來給大家看看。接著工人隊伍里的一位活動家聲稱，老板每人拿幾百塊錢，工人們決沒有理由滿足于每人五塊外加一點點競爭性的獎金。勞工組織人宣布，所有工人都應該得到每小時五塊錢的工資！在老板答應之前，他們不再干活兒，一分鐘也不干。
The strike lasted less than two hours. In mediation, the parties agreed on $2 per hour. Gradually, the huge stacks began to shrink.
罷工持續(xù)了不到兩小時。通過調(diào)解，雙方達成協(xié)議，每小時兩塊。漸漸地，大堆的廣告開始減少。
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.
結果，全部工作比最后限期星期日早晨七點提前三個小時完成。等我回到家里，孩子們已經(jīng)結了賬。勞務支出150元，汽油費40元，還有40元買禮品-幾盒糖果，送給樂于助人的鄰居，他們主動開出自家的車幫助投遞，還有一打玫瑰送給他們的母親。除去以上開支，他們每人得到185元-大約相當于他們所干的91小時的最低工資的三分之二。雖然如此，可正如一個兒子所說，那還是"足夠"他們花一陣子，使他們"避免那種有失尊嚴的事。"
