【Business notes】
在本章节当中,我们听到了很多关于运输工罢工的事情。
Strike action, often simply called a strike, is a work stoppage caused by the mass refusal of employees to perform work. A strike usually takes place in response to employee grievances.
Strikes became important during the industrial revolution, when mass labour became important in factories and mines. In most countries, they were quickly made illegal, as factory owners had far more political power than workers. Most western countries partially legalized striking in the late 19th or early 20th centuries.
Strikes are sometimes used to put pressure on governments to change policies. Occasionally, strikes destabilise the rule of a particular political party.
The strike tactic has a very long history. Towards the end of the 20th dynasty, under Pharaoh Ramses III in ancient Egypt in the 12th century BC, the workers of the royal necropolis organized the first known strike or workers' uprising in history.
The use of the word "strike" in this sense first appeared in 1768, when sailors, in support of demonstrations in London, "struck" or removed the top sails of merchant ships at port, thus crippling the ships.
A strike may consist of workers refusing to attend work or picketing outside the workplace to prevent or dissuade people from working in their place or conducting business with their employer. Less frequently workers may occupy the workplace, but refuse either to do their jobs or to leave. This is known as a sit-down strike.
罢工行动,或被简称为罢工(Strikes),是工人为了表示抗议,而集体拒绝工作的行为。在以集体劳动为重的工作行业,如工厂、煤矿等,罢工往往能够迅速得到雇主、政府和公众的迅速注意,从而工人所提出的要求就更可能获得保证。在西方国家,罢工在19世纪末期和20世纪初、工业革命发生期间产生了关键的作用,成功迫使了政府修改政策、甚至倒台。 罢工并非现代人所创的概念。埃及法老王拉美西斯三世在公元前十二世纪在位期间,皇家墓园的工人就发起了罢工,这是一般历史学家认为世界上的第一场罢工,显示着工人阶级首次获得重视。本次事件在纸莎草纸上有详细的历史记载,保藏于意大利的都灵市(Turin)。