IV. Страноведческое чтение. «Рабочие организации в Британии»

Прочтите текст С и переведите следующие реалии:

CBI, TUC, a political levy, to contract out, chapels, a shop steward, British unionism, NUF.

Text c. Work organizations

The organization which represents employers in private industry is called the Confederation of British Industry (CBI). Most employers belong to it and so the advice which it gives to trade unions and the government is quite influential. The Trades Union Congress (TUC) is a voluntary association of the country's trade unions. There are more than a hundred of these, representing employees in all types of business.

Most British unions are connected with particular occupations. Many belong to the Labor party to which their members pay a 'political levy'. That is, a small part of their union membership subscription is passed on to the party, although they have the right to 'contract out' of this arrangement if they want to. However, the unions themselves are not usually formed along party lines; that is, there is usually only one union for each group of employees rather than a separate one for each political party within that group.

Unions have local branches, some of which are called 'chapels', reflecting a historical link with non-conformism. At the work site, a union is represented by a shop steward, who negoti­ates with the on-site management. His (very rarely is it 'her') struggles with the foreman, the management-appointed 'overseer, became part of twentieth century folklore.

Union membership has been declining since 1979. Immediately before then, the leader of the TUC (its General Secretary) was one of the most powerful people in the country and was regularly consulted by the Prime Minister and other important government figures. At that time the members of unions belonging to the TUC made up more than half of all employed people in the country. But a large section of the public became disillusioned with the power of the unions and the government then passed laws to restrict this power. Perhaps the decline in union membership is inev­itable in view of the history of British unions as organizations for full-time male industrial workers. To the increasing numbers of female and part-time workers in the workforce, the traditional structure of British unionism has seemed less relevant. In an effort to halt the decline, the TUC declared in 1994thatitwaslooseningits contacts with the Labor party and was going to forge closer contacts with other parties.

One other work organization needs special mention. This is the National Union of Farmers (NUF). It does not belong to the TUC, being made up mostly of agricultural employers and independent farmers. Considering the small number of people involved in agriculture in Britain (the smallest proportion in the whole of the EU), it has a remarkably large influence. This is perhaps because of the special fascination that 'the land' holds for most British people (see chapter c), making it relatively easy for the NUF to make its demands heard, and also because many of its members are wealthy.