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发表于 2009-6-16 23:10:06
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6.16
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/8102862.stm
BA asks staff to work for nothing
British Airways is asking thousands of staff to work for nothing, for up to one month, to help the airline survive.
The appeal, sent by e-mail to more than 30,000 workers in the UK, asks them to volunteer for between one week and one month's unpaid leave, or unpaid work.
BA's chief executive Willie Walsh has already agreed to work unpaid in July, forgoing his month's salary of £61,000.
Last month, BA posted a record annual loss of £401m, partly due to higher fuel bills and other costs.
Mr Walsh said BA's drive to save cash was part of a "fight for survival".
"I am looking for every single part of the company to take part in some way in this cash-effective way of helping the company's survival plan," he said.
"It really counts," he added.
BA has been in urgent talks during the past few weeks with trade unions at the company over other ways to save money.
Details of a large pay and productivity deal are expected to be announced on Wednesday.
Flexible scheme
BA won't say how much it hopes to save by its latest initiative.
A company spokesman said it did not have an exact target for the expected savings from its appeal.
"As much as possible, but we don't have a figure," he said.
The idea was first launched last month when the airline asked staff to volunteer for a month's unpaid leave, or to work for free for that time.
That attracted more than 1,000 applicants.
But the company's more recent version of its scheme, launched last week by e-mail and in an article in the internal staff newspaper BA News, is more flexible.
It asks staff to volunteer by the end of this month for between one week and one month of unpaid leave or unpaid work.
The lost salary will be spread over between three and six months.
Unusual
BA said other airlines, such as Cathay Pacific, had launched similar schemes and a majority of their workforces had signed up for them.
Many employers have imposed pay cuts or short-time working since the recession struck the UK last year.
"In certain cases such as Honda, they shut down for several weeks," said Alistair Hatchett of the research organisation Incomes Data Services.
"Where it is obvious the economic circumstances are tough, people are willing to talk.
"Where employers try it on opportunistically, then there is a challenge," he added.
opportunistically- 机会主义地
这篇很简单 基本没有生词 就再来一篇短点的吧
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8103006.stm
Reporters 'admit' N Korea entry
Two US journalists who were jailed last week in North Korea have admitted entering the country illegally, according to state news agency KCNA.
Laura Ling and Euna Lee "admitted and accepted" their sentences, KCNA said.
The two women were given jail terms of 12 years' hard labour, after being found guilty of crossing into North Korea from the Chinese border in March.
KCNA also said they had admitted getting footage for a "smear campaign" about North Korea's human rights.
The women's families have always claimed that Lee, 36, and Ling, 32, had no intention of crossing into North Korea.
They fear the two reporters may become political pawns in negotiations between Washington and Pyongyang, amid growing tensions over North Korea's nuclear programme and recent missile tests.
'Criminal acts'
Euna Lee, a Korean-American, and Laura Ling, a Chinese-American, were arrested by North Korean guards on 17 March while filming a video about refugees for California-based internet broadcaster Current TV.
They were detained in Pyongyang, and on 8 June they were found guilty of "hostile acts" and illegal entry into North Korea.
"The accused admitted that what they did were criminal acts... prompted by the political motive to isolate and stifle the socialist system of the DPRK [North Korea]," KCNA said on Tuesday, giving its first details about the women's alleged crimes.
The news agency added that the pair had crossed the border "for the purpose of making animation files to be used for an anti-DPRK smear campaign over its human rights issue".
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has described the charges against the two women as "baseless". She is thought to be considering sending an envoy to try to negotiate their release.
But supporters of Ling and Lee are concerned that their plight will be exacerbated by worsening relations between North Korea and the US.
Bargaining chips?
Tensions have increased in the region since North Korea conducted a nuclear test in May and then test-fired several missiles. Another long-range missile test is believed to be planned for later this month.
Pyongyang announced on Saturday that it would start enriching uranium and use all its plutonium to make nuclear weapons in response to tighter UN sanctions passed on Friday.
The new UN sanctions include the inspection of ships suspected of taking banned cargo to and from North Korea, a wider ban on arms sales and further measures to cut Pyongyang's access to international financial services.
There are fears Lee and Ling will be used by North Korea as bargaining chips to try to win concessions from Washington, such as humanitarian aid or direct talks.
The US has so far said negotiations can only be held under the currently-stalled six-party talks on nuclear disarmament, which also include South Korea, China, Japan and Russia.
The KCNA report on the two journalists was released just hours before South Korean President Lee Myung-bak was due to hold talks with US President Barack Obama in Washington.
footage- 电影或者电视片段
smear- 弄脏 诋毁 玷污
smear campaign - (尤其针对政敌)有计划地诋毁中伤
missile- 导弹 投射物
detain- 扣留 拘留
hostile -怀有敌意的 不友善的
stifle- 使窒息/镇压 遏制
alleged - 声称的 所谓的
envoy- 使节 公使
plight - 境况 困境
exacerbate - 使恶化 使加重
uranium - 铀
plutonium -钚
sanction- 批准 认可 约束
bargaining chips- 谈判的工具 讨价还价的筹码
concession- 妥协让步 许可承认
humanitarian aid- 人道主义援助
stall- 停止 拖延
disarmament- 裁军 |
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