经济学人:劳工VS资本 艰苦年代的正义(1)

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　　Labor¹ VS Capital: Justice in an age of austerity 劳工对资本：艰苦年代的正义

　　Charging workers from employment tribunals erodes² their rights. 劳资审裁处向雇员收费会损害他们的权利。

　　Eight years after Britain emerged from recession, average real earnings³ are still below their peak. 英国从经济萧条恢复过来8年后，其平均实际收入仍低于他们最高峰时期。

　　But measly pay is not the only thing squeezing workers. 但是微薄的工资并不是压榨工人的唯一手段。

　　Since 2013 employees who think they have been wronged by their employer—underpaid or dismissed unfairly,  自2013年，凡是认为被雇主冤枉的雇员—要么工资太低要么无解雇，

　　for instance—have had to pay up to ￡1,200 ($1,500) to go to an employment tribunal, which was previously⁴ free. 比如—已不得不付总计1200英镑（1500美元）去劳资审裁处，而这以前是免费的。

　　A challenge to the legality of such fees came before the Supreme⁵ Court on March 27th. 3月27日，这种费用合法性的挑战在最高法院之前到来了。

　　A judgment⁶ is expected by the summer. 预计夏季会有一次裁判。

　　Since the decline of trade-union membership in Britain, the employment-tribunal system has been the main mechanism⁷ for enforcing individual employment rights. 自英国工会会员人数下降以来，劳资审裁处体系就一直是实施个人就业权的主要机制。

　　In 2012-13 there were roughly 190,000 tribunal claims, equivalent to one for every 130 or so employees. 2012至2013年约有19万起法庭索赔，相当于约每130个雇员中就有一个。

　　After fees were introduced the number of claims dropped by about 70%. 在介绍完费用后，索赔的数量降了约70%。

　　There were only around 60,000 in 2014-15. 在2014-2015年仅有约6万个。

　　The government has welcomed the decline as evidence that bogus claimants are being deterred⁸. 政府欢迎这种下降现象，并把它作为虚假索赔人被制止了的证据。

　　“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.” 一位政府部长在2014年写到，“像日本虎杖，数量飞涨的法庭案件从英国财富创造者里压榨生命和精力。

　　But a paper in the Modern Law Review by Abi Adams and Jeremias Prassl of Oxford⁹ University suggests a different interpretation¹⁰. 但是由牛津大学的Abi Adams和Jeremias Prassl编写的《现代法律评论》里一篇文章暗示了另一种解说。

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