《中英對照讀新聞》Angry UK police to seek right to strike 憤怒的英國警察爭取罷工權
◎陳成良
http://iservice.libertytimes.com.tw/Service/english/english.php?engno=579510&day=2012-04-28
British police officers angry with the coalition government’s plans to cut jobs and freeze pay will vote on whether they want the right to strike, the body representing them said on Thursday.
英國警察不滿聯合政府計畫裁員和凍結薪資，將就是否想要罷工權舉行投票，代表他們的組織週四表示。
The Police Federation, which represents 135,000 ordinary "bobbies" and low ranking officers in England and Wales, said the move to seek full industrial rights showed its members were infuriated by the government’s austerity drive.
代表英格蘭及威爾斯13萬5000名普通員警和基層警官的「警察聯盟」表示，此一爭取完整行業權利的行動，顯示出聯盟成員被政府撙節措施所激怒。
"Officers genuinely feel what the government is doing is decimating the best of British policing," a Federation spokesman said. "The victim of that decimation will be the British public."
「警官們真心感到，政府現在做的是淘汰英國警力中的菁英」，一名聯盟發言人說。「英國民眾將是這毀滅舉動的受害者」。
Britain’s Conservative-led coalition is seeking to make cuts of some 20 percent to police budgets as part of wider austerity measures designed to reduce a huge budget deficit.
英國保守黨主導的執政聯盟正尋求將警方預算縮減大約20％，這是削減龐大預算赤字的廣泛撙節措施之一環。
British police officers last went on strike in 1919 in a dispute over pay and have been barred from taking any industrial action since the 1990s.
英國警察上次罷工是在1919年的薪資爭議中，從1990年代起，英國警察被禁止採取任何行業行動。
However, even if members vote for the right to strike, the change would require the law to be amended and could be blocked by parliament.（Reuters）
然而，即使聯盟會員投票通過罷工權，要想實現轉變還需修改法律，而這可能會被國會封殺。（路透）
新聞辭典
bobbies：（英國口語）警察。這和19世紀英國政治家羅伯特．皮爾爵士（Sir Robert Peel）有關 。1829年，時任英國內政大臣的皮爾在倫敦建立了全球第一個常備警力部隊，所以英國人根據皮爾的小名Bobby，將警察叫做bobbies。
infuriate：動詞，激怒，使狂怒。例句：It infuriated me to read that he had been indicated.（讀到他被控告的消息我火冒三丈。）
be barred from：片語，被禁止。Dogs are barred from that store.（那家店不准狗進入。）
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