消防员将于7月10日参与大规模罢工
- 作者： Anna Zych
- 翻译：Tracy Zeng
Firefighters in England and Wales will join hundreds of thousands of other public sector workers taking strike action on Thursday 10 July, the Fire Brigades Union has announced.
英国职业消防联合会（FBU）宣布，英格兰和威尔士的消防员们将同其他公营部门的工人一起参与7月10日星期四的罢工行动。
The long-running dispute over firefighters’ pensions will see a further day of strikes at the same time as a walk out by local government workers, teachers and civil servants over a range of issues, including attacks on pay and pensions and workloads.
当地政府工人、老师和公务员就一系列问题举行了罢工活动，其中包括对薪酬、养老金和工作量的抨击。同时，就消防员养老金的长期争论而言，这将带来多一天的罢工行动。
The strike will last between 10am and 7pm and will be the fifteenth in the FBU’s campaign. The union is also expected to announce further action later this week.
本次罢工将在早上10点到晚上7点进行，这也是职业消防联合会的第15次罢工行动。协会预期将在本周稍后宣布另一次行动。
Matt Wrack, FBU general secretary, said: “The FBU has wanted to settle our dispute for a long time, but the government at Westminster is simply not listening.
职业消防联合会的秘书长马特·列克称：“英国职业消防联合会想解决这一问题很久了，但政府却没有在听我们的请求。”
“We are therefore proud to take strike action alongside our colleagues in other unions on 10 July.
“因此，我们很自豪能与其他协会的同行一起在7月10号举行罢工活动。”
“The fact that this government has united so many workers to take strike action against them is a testament to the failure of their policies.
“政府使得这么多工人一起罢工来对抗他们，这就证明了他们的政策是失败的。”
“They are destroying our public services and wrecking the lives of millions.
“政府在破坏我们的公共服务，并伤害数百万人的生命。”
“If they won’t listen and won’t negotiate then this is the result — and they should face more of the same if necessary.”
“如果他们不听意见不谈判，那么这就是结果——如有必要，他们会面临更多这样的事情。”
It is estimated that as many as two million workers will take strike action.
预计将有两百万的工人加入罢工行动。
The firefighters’ dispute has continued for months as the FBU says firefighters are facing the imposition of a pension that ignores the physical demands of the job they do.
这一关于消防员的争论将持续几个月，职业消防联合会称，养老金的问题给消防员们带来了负担，忽略了消防员们工作时的体能需求。
Wrack said, “Despite endless assurances they have done precisely nothing to address the threat to firefighters as their fitness declines in their 50s.
列克说道：“尽管政府不断做出保证，但他们却是什么也没做，根本没有处理好消防员面临的威胁，而消防员的体能在50岁左右就开始衰退了。”
“Firefighting is a dangerous and physically demanding job which requires specific fitness standards.
“消防工作很危险，也是体力强度大的工作，这要求特殊的体能标准。”
“It is obvious to everyone that it is more and more difficult to meet those standards in your 50s compared to your 20s.
“所有人都清楚，比起20岁时，50岁之后越来越难达到那些标准。”
”Firefighters in that position face a stark choice of being sacked or losing half their pension.
“消防员到了那样的年纪面对的是残酷的选择，要么被解雇，要么就是没了一半养老金。”
“This is outrageous and all the claims that the government values our firefighters have been exposed as an utter lie.
“这很离谱，而政府对消防员所做出的承诺不过都是谎言。”
“They need to wake up to the fact that we are not going away and we will be continuing our fight for pension justice.”
“他们应该意识到，我们是不会走的，我们会为得到养老金的公平处理而继续战斗。”
The government in Northern Ireland recently offered firefighters a retirement age of 55, and the FBU says this demonstrates that the Westminster government’s position is not justified by evidence or lack of affordability.
最近，北爱尔兰政府将消防员的退休年龄设为55岁。职业消防联合会称，这说明了英国政府的作为并不能用证据或是缺少负担能力来开脱。
The FBU recently launched a legal challenge against the government’s proposals, saying they have received legal advice that reducing the pensions available to firefighters by different amounts depending on when they retire after 55 amounts to age discrimination.
职业消防联合会近来对政府的提案提出了法律质疑，称他们得到了法律建议，即依据消防员55岁后的退休年龄，减少不同的养老金金额。这就是赤裸裸的年龄歧视。
A recent academic report on firefighter fitness by the University of Bath undermined the government’s proposals by arguing that higher fitness levels are required for the job than those used by the government to defend the idea of firefighters working until 60.
最近，英国巴斯大学一份关于消防员体能的学术报告就质疑政府的提案。报告指出，消防工作所要求的体能程度更高，而非政府为了拥护消防员应60岁才退休的提案所声称的那样。
Firefighters were last on strike on Saturday 21 June.
消防员最近一次的罢工于6月21日星期六进行。
