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

奥巴马每周电视讲话：国会要加快最低工资标准立法

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。在我的国情咨文中，我谈到了披萨。更确切的说，我谈到了明尼波里斯市的披萨连锁店——潘琦披萨——连锁店的总经理，约翰·索兰诺，当时已经决定将他的员工工资提高到10美元每小时。

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.

几周前，我收到了观看我国情咨文的一个企业主的来信。叶思敏·易卜拉欣，一位开了个名叫德西小屋的饭店的移民企业主，她计划着今年夏天再开一个门面。

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.

她在信里是这么说的：“我被约翰·索兰诺的故事打动了。他让我重新思考我的全职员工，他们每小时8美元的工资在纽约这个大都市的生存能力。”因此几周前，叶思敏开始实施她的计划，将她两个餐馆员工的工资在今年年底之前都提高到10美元每小时。

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，叶思敏不仅仅是因为她认为做了应该做的事而去提高其员工的工资。他做这件事与约翰·索兰诺有着相同的理由。因为这样做对企业有好处。

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.”

叶思敏说：“这样做可以让我们吸引并留住优秀的人才，改善客户体验，降低员工人员变动和培训成本。我们相信这么做对企业发展有好处，而且这对社会发展而言也是积极的正能量。”

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.

叶思敏说的很对。正是基于这样的原因，两个月前，我签署了一项行政命令，要求新签订的联邦合同承包商要向其员工公平支付10.10美元每小时的工资。

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.

但为了为所有美国人民带来改变，国会也应该这么做。全美国都知道。当下，有一项法案将把美国的最低工资标准提高到10.10美元每小时。这将提高将近2800万人的工资收入。2800万。我们谈论的不仅仅是年轻人的第一份工作，而是工作35年，辛辛苦苦，经常承担着体力劳动的工人的平均工资。

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.

由于我们并不总是在政治上保持一致，但有一件事是公认的，那就是任何人，只要他全职工作就不应该生活在贫困之中。这也是将近3/4的美国人民支持提高最低工资标准的原因所在。问题是，国会的共和党人并不支持提高最低工资标准。有些人甚至想完全废弃这一计划。例如在俄克拉荷马州，那位共和党州长甚至签署法律禁止各个城市确定其最低工资标准。

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.

正因如此这场斗争才显得尤为重要。正因为这样像约翰和叶思敏这样的人才要提高他们员工的工资。正因如此才有一些州、郡、市的人们来到国会呼吁提高最低工资标准。因为我们都知道，只有经济发展惠及所有人而不是少数人的时候经济本身的发展才是最好的。我们相信只要每个辛勤工作的人都有机会取得了成功我们就能做的更好。这正式机会的意义所在。

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.

如果你同意我们的观点，我们需要你们的帮助。共和党人已经不下50次，要削弱或废止影响数百万人的医保法案。他们至少也要为提高全国工薪家庭最低工资的法案投上一次票吧。如果你们在国会有共和党的代表，请告诉他或她，现在应该放下政见之争，做些对工薪阶层有好处的事情。现在到了10.10美元的时候了。到了提高美国工资标准的时候了。

Thanks, and have a great weekend.

谢谢大家，周末愉快！