美国总统奥巴马每周电台演讲2014.04.27

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.

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.

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.

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.

大家好。在国情咨文演讲中，我谈到了比萨。特别是我谈到了明尼波利斯的比萨连锁店--Punch Pizza--的老板，John Soranno，决定了给他的员工工资提高到每小时10美元。
几周前，我收到了一封来自一个小企业主的信，他那天晚上看了电视。Yasmin Ibrahim是一个经营自己的餐馆--Desi Shack--的移民，准备今年夏天在开一家店。
她在信中说：“我被John Soranno的故事深深地打动了。这让我考虑我自己的经营……全职员工和每小时8美元的工作在纽约生活的境况。”于是几周前，Yasmin决定给在年底前她的两个店的员工的工资提高到每小时10美元。
但是这件事的意义在于--Yasmin不仅仅是提高了她的员工的工资，她是做了正确的事。她做这件事的原因和John Soranno一样。合乎企业经营利益。

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.”

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.

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.

Yasmin写道：“这使我们能够吸引和留住更好的员工--增加顾客满意度，减少员工变动和培训的成本。我们相信这样做对企业有利于企业，同时还对社会有积极影响。”
Yasmin是对的。这就是为什么两个月前，我颁布总统令要求联邦政府雇佣的工人必须得到至少每小时10美元10美分的公平工资。
但是为了给每个美国人带来改变，国会也应该如此。美国在看。迄今为止，支持把美国的最低工资提高到每小时10美元10美分的议案已经提交到国会了。它将提高近全美2千8百万人的工资。2千8百万啊。我们不仅仅谈及做第一份工作的年轻人。拿最低工资的工人的平均年龄是35岁。他们努力工作，通常是做体力劳动。

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.

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.

结果并非我们所有人的政治观点都一致是司空见惯的，但是有一件事我们几乎都同意的就是不应该有谁做全职工作还生活在贫困线以下。这就是为什么有四分之三的美国人支持提高最低工资。问题是，共和党国会议员不支持提高最低工资。有些人甚至想彻底绕开这个问题。例如在俄克拉荷马州，共和党人州长就签署了法律禁止各市设立最低工资。
这就是为什么这个奋斗十分重要。这就是为什么John和Yasmin等人将提高他们的员工的工资。这就是为什么有几个州、几个县和几个市绕过国会提高了他们的工人的最低工资。这就是为什么我坚持为此奋斗。因为我们知道只有我们的经济为我们--而不是少数走运的人服务才发展得最好。我们相信只有每个努力工作的人都有机会过得好我们才过得好。这就是机会的全部意义。

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.

Thanks, and have a great weekend.

如果你们赞同我们，我们需要你们的帮助。共和党人投了50多次票反对或抗诉有利于几百万美国人的医保法案。他们应该至少投一次票赞同提高最低工资以惠及几百万美国家庭。如果国会的共和党人代表你们，告诉他现在是让政治休息一下的时候了，做点惠及美国工薪阶层的事吧。现在是为了“10--10”的时候了。现在是给美国人提高工资的时候了。
谢谢，周末快乐。