The widely held belief that the Great Hall of the People, iconic edifice of China's political democracy, had little room for spontaneous dissent crumbled today when Finance Minister Lou Jiwei delivered a lengthy attack on a standing law, live on national TV.
人民大會(huì)堂代表了中國(guó)民主政治，人們普遍認(rèn)為政務(wù)討論中很難聽到批評(píng)的聲音，但3月7日十二屆全國(guó)人大四次會(huì)議記者會(huì)卻讓人們聽到了不同的聲音。財(cái)政部部長(zhǎng)樓繼偉在中央電視臺(tái)的直播記者會(huì)上發(fā)表長(zhǎng)篇言論，直擊現(xiàn)行《勞動(dòng)合同法》的弊端。

Monday was the third day of the national parliamentary session, and the news briefing where Lou made his unprecedented statement was hosted by the National People's Congress (NPC), the body which approved his nomination as Finance Minister and whose Standing Committee in 2007 passed the Labor Contract Law which has so irked the minister.
3月7日是十二屆全國(guó)人大四次會(huì)議召開的第三天，在由全國(guó)人大主持的記者會(huì)上，財(cái)政部部長(zhǎng)樓繼偉發(fā)表了這篇前所未有的言論。樓繼偉正是被全國(guó)人大任命為財(cái)政部部長(zhǎng)的，讓他感到困擾的法律就是2007年人大常委會(huì)討論通過的《勞動(dòng)合同法》。

Hundreds of reporters were present to hear the man who holds China's purse strings, when one of them, citing complaints from entrepreneurs, lit Lou's fuse by asking about previous criticism he had made of the law.
記者會(huì)上有數(shù)百名記者出席，有記者援引企業(yè)家對(duì)《勞動(dòng)合同法》的意見和抱怨，再次對(duì)樓繼偉此前對(duì)此法的批評(píng)言論提出問題，由此觸發(fā)了這位手握中國(guó)經(jīng)濟(jì)命脈的財(cái)政部部長(zhǎng)的長(zhǎng)篇言論。

Those comments had been to a rather different audience, one composed mainly of academics in Tsinghua University and on another occasion at a scholars' forum. Well-known as a no-nonsense straight-talker, Lou held nothing back.
樓繼偉干脆利落，直言不諱，對(duì)問題毫不隱瞞。他曾兩次就《勞動(dòng)合同法》的問題對(duì)不同聽眾提出意見，一次是在清華大學(xué)管理學(xué)院從學(xué)術(shù)角度進(jìn)行批評(píng)，另一次是在中國(guó)經(jīng)濟(jì)五十人論壇上向參會(huì)學(xué)者提出修改勞動(dòng)法的建議。

The minister's argument is that the law is overprotective of employees, making employers unwilling to create jobs and invest in training. This, Lou claims, ultimately hurts workers by denying them jobs openings or the opportunity to improve their skills.
樓繼偉認(rèn)為，現(xiàn)行《勞動(dòng)合同法》對(duì)在職職工的保護(hù)比較多，未能激勵(lì)企業(yè)對(duì)職工進(jìn)行企業(yè)培訓(xùn)、為勞動(dòng)者提供就業(yè)機(jī)會(huì)，這最終會(huì)對(duì)勞動(dòng)者造成傷害，因?yàn)槠髽I(yè)提供的職位和員工提高自身技能的機(jī)會(huì)都減少了。

"For enterprises and employees, the extent of protection afforded by the Labor Contract Law is unbalanced," Lou said. "For prospective employees, especially the low-skilled, the law discriminates against them.
樓繼偉說：“《勞動(dòng)合同法》在企業(yè)方面和雇員方面，保護(hù)的程度是不平衡的。對(duì)于新入職的人，特別是低技能的體力勞動(dòng)者的實(shí)際就業(yè)是帶有歧視的。”

"As employees are allowed to terminate employment easily with only one month's notice, employers lack the motivation to invest in training. Why would any business spend money on training them? Our acute shortage of medium to highly skilled technicians partly stems from this law."
“企業(yè)如果加大了企業(yè)培訓(xùn)，提高技能，而職工可以提前一個(gè)月不說什么原因就可以離開，企業(yè)為什么花錢給你提高技能呢？目前中高級(jí)技師是最為短缺的，與《勞動(dòng)合同法》是有關(guān)的。”

"An employee may not work hard and the law makes it difficult for the employer to deal with by, for example, firing him or her. That prevents another prospective employee from taking the position."
“一個(gè)職工如果工作不努力，企業(yè)很難對(duì)他進(jìn)行處理，比如解雇，那么位置就占著，對(duì)新入職的就形成歧視。”

Lou is not the first to voice concern over the Labor Contract Law. The draft spent nearly a year in front of the cabinet before being submitted to the Standing Committee of the NPC and took another 19 months to be approved.
樓繼偉不是第一個(gè)針對(duì)《勞動(dòng)合同法》提出意見的人。經(jīng)過近一年的討論后，國(guó)務(wù)院將《勞動(dòng)合同法》草案提交至全國(guó)人大常委會(huì)審議，審議過程歷時(shí)19個(gè)月之久。

In China drafts are usually read three times, but the labor contract draft was read for a fourth time, after its full text was released for public consultation.
在中國(guó)，法律議案一般要經(jīng)過三次審議，但《勞動(dòng)合同法》在經(jīng)過三次審議后向公眾征求意見，后又進(jìn)行了第四次審議才通過。

英文來源：中國(guó)日?qǐng)?bào)
譯者：郭雯熙
審校&編輯：丹妮