社評雙語道：政府應盡快外判救生員服務

http://paper.wenweipo.com [2014-09-24] 我要評論

放大圖片

■康文署宣布，由於救生員不足，泳灘懸掛紅旗。資料圖片

職工盟屬會港九拯溺員工會9月9日在公眾假期發動全港罷工，估計有逾1,000人參加，部分泳池和泳灘因當值救生員人數不足而全面關閉或懸掛紅旗，引起市民不滿。事實上，政府救生員待遇一向優於私人市場，非旺季工作量亦大幅減少，工會再次以罷工手段脅迫政府提高待遇並無道理。私人公司為私人會所提供泳池救生服務，不僅質量有保證，符合成本效益，而且沒有出現罷工情況。政府應盡快外判救生員服務，既節省公帑開支，又可避免再有工潮影響拯溺服務。

政府救生員為市民提供游泳救急服務，應以公眾利益及泳客安全為前提。處理員工內部問題，救生員應與政府理性商討，確保不會影響服務。然而，港九拯溺員工會趁中秋節翌日假期發起大規模罷工，導致康文署部分泳灘救生服務暫停，有公眾泳池更需關閉，不少希望享受游泳活動的市民敗興而回，直接影響市民使用康體設施。

Government should outsource lifesaving service as soon as possible

The Hong Kong and Kowloon Life Guards' Union, an affiliated member of the Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Unions, launched a general strike of life guards on 9 September, a public holiday. It was estimated that more than 1,000 lifeguards had taken part. Some of the swimming pools and beaches had to close completely or hoist a red flag because of insufficient lifeguards on duty. The move was met with disapproval from citizens. As a matter of fact, lifeguards employed by the government are given relatively higher remuneration compared with those working in the private sector; their workload during the off-peak season also greatly decreases. It is indeed unreasonable for the union to once again pressurize the government to raise remuneration by holding a strike. There are private companies that provide swimming pool lifesaving service to private clubs. These companies guarantee the quality of service in a cost effective manner and without any outbreak of strike. The government should outsource lifesaving service as soon as possible in order to cut public expenditure and prevent lifesaving service from being disrupted by industrial actions in the future.

Lifeguards employed by the government have a duty to provide lifesaving service to citizens using the swimming pools and lifeguards should put public interest and safety of swimmers first. Any internal employment issues should be dealt with by having rational discussions with the government and in no way should service be affected. However, the Hong Kong and Kowloon Life Guards' Union hosted a large-scale strike on the next day of the Mid-Autumn festival, which was a holiday, rendering a lack of lifesaving service in some beaches managed by the Leisure and Cultural Services Department (LCSD) as well as the closures of some public swimming pools. Many citizens who had gone to these venues to enjoy their swimming activity had to return disappointed. The strike in fact directly affected the right of the general public to use recreation and sport facilities.

■Translation and Learning Points by Tung-ming [ tungming23@gmail.com ]

（節自香港《文匯報》2014年9月10日）

Learning Point:

Vocabulary related to employment - 與工作有關的字眼

Strike（名詞或動詞，過去式及過去分詞是struck）: 罷工 ; on strike 是形容詞

Remuneration（名詞）: 待遇、酬勞；remunerate 是動詞，意思是給予報酬

Outsource（動詞）: 外判；outsourcing可用作名詞，指外判制度或行為

Exercise - 把上面各字詞填入下面各題的適當空位。你可能需要改變字詞的語態。

1.The workers are ___________ for a reduction in working hours.

2.The company is going to ___________ part of their work to cut costs.

3.The workers are unhappy because of their small ___________ and long working hours.

4.They are not well ___________ for the work they have done.