Obama's Weekly Address WEEKLY ADDRESS: Congress Needs to Act on Minimum Wage

奧巴馬每周電視講話：國會要加快最低工資標準立法

Hi, everybody.  In my State of the Union Address, I talked about pizza.  More specifically, I talked about a pizza chain in Minneapolis – Punch Pizza – whose owner, John Soranno, made the business decision to give his employees a raise to ten bucks an hour.

大家好。在我的國情咨文中，我談到了披薩。更確切的說，我談到了明尼波里斯市的披薩連鎖店——潘琦披薩——連鎖店的總經理，約翰·索蘭諾，當時已經決定將他的員工工資提高到10美元每小時。

A couple weeks ago, I got a letter from a small business owner who watched that night.  Yasmin Ibrahim is an immigrant who owns her own restaurant – Desi Shack – and plans to open another this summer.

幾周前，我收到了觀看我國情咨文的一個企業主的來信。葉思敏·易卜拉欣，一位開了個名叫德西小屋的飯店的移民企業主，她計劃著今年夏天再開一個門面。

Here’s what she wrote.  “I was moved by John Soranno’s story.  It got me thinking about my … full-time employees and their ability to survive on $8 an hour in New York City.”  So a few weeks ago, Yasmin put in place a plan to lift wages for her employees at both her restaurants to at least $10 an hour by the end of this year.

她在信里是這么說的：“我被約翰·索蘭諾的故事打動了。他讓我重新思考我的全職員工，他們每小時8美元的工資在紐約這個大都市的生存能力。”因此幾周前，葉思敏開始實施她的計劃，將她兩個餐館員工的工資在今年年底之前都提高到10美元每小時。

But here’s the thing – Yasmin isn’t just raising her employees’ wages because it’s the right thing to do.  She’s doing it for the same reason John Soranno did. It makes good business sense.

但重要的是，葉思敏不僅僅是因為她認為做了應該做的事而去提高其員工的工資。他做這件事與約翰·索蘭諾有著相同的理由。因為這樣做對企業有好處。

Yasmin wrote, “It will allow us to attract and retain better talent – improving customer experience, reducing employee churn and training costs.  We believe doing so makes good business sense while at the same time having a positive impact on the community.”

葉思敏說：“這樣做可以讓我們吸引并留住優秀的人才，改善客戶體驗，降低員工人員變動和培訓成本。我們相信這么做對企業發展有好處，而且這對社會發展而言也是積極的正能量。”

Yasmin's right.  That’s why, two months ago, I issued an Executive Order requiring workers on new federal contracts to be paid a fair wage of at least ten dollars and ten cents an hour.

葉思敏說的很對。正是基于這樣的原因，兩個月前，我簽署了一項行政命令，要求新簽訂的聯邦合同承包商要向其員工公平支付10.10美元每小時的工資。

But in order to make a difference for every American, Congress needs to do something.  And America knows it.  Right now, there’s a bill that would boost America’s minimum wage to ten dollars and ten cents an hour.  That would lift wages for nearly 28 million Americans across the country.  28 million.  And we’re not just talking about young people on their first job.  The average minimum wage worker is 35 years old.  They work hard, often in physically demanding jobs.

但為了為所有美國人民帶來改變，國會也應該這么做。全美國都知道。當下，有一項法案將把美國的最低工資標準提高到10.10美元每小時。這將提高將近2800萬人的工資收入。2800萬。我們談論的不僅僅是年輕人的第一份工作，而是工作35年，辛辛苦苦，經常承擔著體力勞動的工人的平均工資。

And while not all of us always see eye to eye politically, one thing we overwhelmingly agree on is that nobody who works full-time should ever have to live in poverty.  That’s why nearly three in four Americans support raising the minimum wage.  The problem is, Republicans in Congress don’t support raising the minimum wage.  Some even want to get rid of it entirely.  In Oklahoma, for example, the Republican governor just signed a law prohibiting cities from establishing their own minimum wage.

由于我們并不總是在政治上保持一致，但有一件事是公認的，那就是任何人，只要他全職工作就不應該生活在貧困之中。這也是將近3/4的美國人民支持提高最低工資標準的原因所在。問題是，國會的共和黨人并不支持提高最低工資標準。有些人甚至想完全廢棄這一計劃。例如在俄克拉荷馬州，那位共和黨州長甚至簽署法律禁止各個城市確定其最低工資標準。

That’s why this fight is so important.  That’s why people like John and Yasmin are giving their workers a raise.  That’s why several states, counties, and cities are going around Congress to raise their workers’ wages.  That’s why I’ll keep up this fight.  Because we know that our economy works best when it works for all of us – not just a fortunate few.  We believe we do better when everyone who works hard has a chance to get ahead.  That’s what opportunity is all about.

正因如此這場斗爭才顯得尤為重要。正因為這樣像約翰和葉思敏這樣的人才要提高他們員工的工資。正因如此才有一些州、郡、市的人們來到國會呼吁提高最低工資標準。因為我們都知道，只有經濟發展惠及所有人而不是少數人的時候經濟本身的發展才是最好的。我們相信只要每個辛勤工作的人都有機會取得了成功我們就能做的更好。這正式機會的意義所在。

And if you agree with us, we could use your help.  Republicans have voted more than 50 times to undermine or repeal health care for millions of Americans.  They should vote at least once to raise the minimum wage for millions of working families.  If a Republican in Congress represents you, tell him or her it’s time to give the politics a rest for a while and do something to help working Americans.  It’s time for “ten-ten.”  It’s time to give America a raise.

如果你同意我們的觀點，我們需要你們的幫助。共和黨人已經不下50次，要削弱或廢止影響數百萬人的醫保法案。他們至少也要為提高全國工薪家庭最低工資的法案投上一次票吧。如果你們在國會有共和黨的代表，請告訴他或她，現在應該放下政見之爭，做些對工薪階層有好處的事情。現在到了10.10美元的時候了。到了提高美國工資標準的時候了。

Thanks, and have a great weekend.

謝謝大家，周末愉快！

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