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  3. Strikes and demonstrations in Germany, Britain and France helped to make the

Strikes and demonstrations in Germany, Britain and France helped to make the

游客2024-08-30  17
问题     Strikes and demonstrations in Germany, Britain and France helped to make the shorter working week a union priority. Employers gave way because in Germany sweating capital investment had traditionally been the way German managers sustained high productivity.
    In Britain, there was a certain cynicism in agreeing to a reduced working week as British workers have always opted for extensive overtime to make up low basic wages. A nominal 35-hour week merely allowed more overtime.
    Working with union leaders such as Ron Todd and Bill Jordan in Britain and Hans Mayr, the wily IG Metall leader, in Germany, I found that there was one big gap in the movement for a 35-hour week. The Swedish union movement refused categorically to join the campaign.
    Given that in the 1980s—as today—95% of the Swedish workforce is unionized, the absence of the Swedish metalworkers’ union left a large hole in the European campaign. The Swedish thought that focusing on nominal weekly working hours was fatuous.
    The Swedish metal union believed that the distribution of working time should focus on annual holidays, family leave and on rigidly enforced limits on overtime that would be unacceptable to any self-respecting British shop steward. For the Swedish unions, working hours should help support Volvo, Saab, Electrolux and other companies faced with the growing challenge of globalization.
    To prescribe a rigid working week as the solution to European labor market problems just did not make sense to the calm, consensual approach that had allowed Swedish capitalism to flourish while delivering the best version of "social Europe" on offer in the continent.
    At the time, it appeared frustrating to see this breach in solidarity. But today, the Swedish refusal to make a totem out of the 35-hour week appears more than justified. Sweden has maintained both full employment and record levels of trade union membership. By contrast, in Germany and France, where the 35-hour week was introduced, the continuing high level of unemployment and the lack of movement and energy in the labor market have contributed to the biggest slump in trade union membership ever seen in both countries. [br] The reason why in the end the 35-hour week has been gotten through in Germany is that _______.
选项 A、facing vast strikes and demonstrations, German managers couldn’t deny the longstanding fact of overworking employees for high profits
B、German workers devoted themselves to striking and demonstrating against the former longer working week
C、the new working rule has been approved in most of European countries
D、the new working rule would definitely improve the rate of employment
答案 A
解析 文章开头说明工人为争取“the shorter working week”罢工游行，并且获得成功。紧接着加以补充“Employers gave way because in Germany sweating capital investment had traditionally been the way German managers sustained high productivity．”其中，“sweating”在此处含义为“to overwork and underpay(employees)”。所以正确答案为A。
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