評論
打印
Italy's parliament
意大利議會
High-class errand boys
高級服務生
Parliamentary workers are facing a cut in their generous pay
議會的工作人員們面臨著豐厚薪水削減的窘境。
Gold braid and a golden job
金色穗帶與金飯碗
TO EARN 136,000 ($181,590), a browse of the internet suggests, you need to be an IT operations director at a British firm, governor of New York state—or an usciere (usher) in the Italian parliament. An usciere's duties include carrying messages, accompanying visitors and looking dignified in uniforms laden with gold braid. The sole occupational hazard is of a punch in the eye while intervening in the occasional brawl between lawmakers.
在網友們的心目中，如果想要賺取136,000，你需要成為英國公司里的TI運營主管，或者紐約州的州長，抑或意大利國會里的招待員。國會招待員的指責包括收發信息，游客陪同以及身著綴著金色穗帶的制服以保持高貴莊嚴的形象。而這個職業唯一的職業病就是在國會議員們偶爾爭吵上去勸架的時候會被誤傷打成烏眼青。
Now, however, the uscieri face a second danger: a cut in their salaries. In May, Matteo Renzi's government put a 240,000 cap on annual public-sector earnings. That will directly affect “only” about 130 of Italy's 2,300 parliamentary employees. But other salaries are to be reduced to keep pay differentials the same. Earnings of an usher nearing retirement are expected to drop over a three-year period from 136,000 to a miserly 100,000-105,000.
現如今，這些國會招待員們面臨著第二個危機,他們工資的削減問題。今年五月，倫齊政府在年度公共部門收入上僅僅投入了240,000。這意味著2300名國會雇傭員工中“只有”130名會受到影響。然而其他人的薪水也會被削減，以保證薪酬差異一致。一名臨近退休的招待員在三年之內很可能從 136,000 降到吝嗇的100,000-105,000。
Last month several hundred parliamentary workers besieged a meeting of deputies who had gathered to agree on a draft plan. As the deputies left, they encountered a barrage of ironic applause and shouts of “Didn't touch your own salaries, did you?” This unprecedented scene was a foretaste of the difficulties Mr Renzi faces as he attempts to take on entrenched interests in Italian society.
上個月，數百名國會工作人員包圍住一群正在開會擬定計劃草案的國會議員。當議員們離開的時候，諷刺的掌聲與噓聲此起彼伏：“沒能波及自己的薪水是不是很開心？”這種前所未有的場面預示著倫齊先生改革意大利社會的既得利益時將壓力山大。
The speaker of the lower house reminded the protesters that beyond Montecitorio, the palace housing the chamber, there was a real country—one where more than a decade of economic stagnation has reduced real GDP per person to the level of 1998. Inside parliament, years of long service have kept salaries rising inexorably. Figures leaked to a television reporter last year showed that most parliamentary workers could expect their salaries to quadruple in real terms over a 40-year career.
下議院發言人提醒抗議者，在蒙地奇拖利歐的宮殿外才是真正的意大利,超過十年經濟停滯，實際人均GDP已經降至1998年的水平。在國會內，常年的服務使得國會內工作人員的薪水瘋狂上漲。一些人告訴電視臺的記者，在去年，多數的國會工作人員有望當工齡超過四十年的時候，自己的薪水可以漲到目前水平的三倍。
“The justification for all this is a word, ‘autodichia', the doctrine that says parliament should have total freedom to manage itself so it does not come under pressure from the government,” says Sergio Rizzo, co-author of “La Casta”, a best-selling book on the privileges of Italy's political class. Talks between the government and the trade unions representing the uscieri will take place in the next few weeks. They'll need a big table: there are 11 unions who have members working in the lower house and 14 in the Senate.
而這一切的理由全都是一個字眼,“autodichia”，即國會應該有完整的自由來自我管理，只有這樣它才不會受到來自政府的壓力。意大利政治階級權貴們的暢銷書La Casta的合編者Sergio Rizzo如是說。政府與代表招待員們的談判聯盟應該在未來幾周進行對話。他們需要一個大的平臺,因為有11個工會聯盟都有來自下議院的工作者并且有14名成員是來自參議院。
