英语新闻解读：华为洗牌沃尔玛裁员

　　Wal-Mart layoffs arouse controversy

　　Ivan Hu, working at one of Wal-Mart's global purchasing centers in Shanghai, recently received a surprising notice terminating his labor relationship with Wal-Mart as of November 30.

　　Hu is not the only unfortunate one. Wal-Mart's recent purchasing center layoffs are leading some to question whether the company is avoiding obligations it faces under an upcoming Chinese labor law.

　　According to the Law of Labor Contract of China, employers may revoke a labor contract only if the employee loses work ability due to illness or injury, or becomes unqualified for the work even after training or post adjustment, or if the objective conditions taken as the basis for the contract have greatly changed. In addition, the laborer must be given written notification 30 days in advance.

　　Thousands of Huawei staff "quit"

　　More than 7,000 loyal employees of Huawei, China's largest private telecom gear maker based in the southern city of Shenzhen, have quit in exchange for the chance to work for the company again.

　　The mass resignation triggered by the company management started last month. Many legal experts believe it was an irresponsible decision to exploit a legal loophole before the Labor Contract Law takes effect on January 1 next year. Under the new law, employees can sign open-ended labor contracts if they have worked for the same company for 10 or more years in a row.

　　To encourage them to accept the new arrangement, Huawei worked out a compensation scheme based on length of service, salaries and bonuses. The total cost of the package is expected to reach 1 billion yuan (US$134 million).

　　【词汇解析】

　　global purchasing centers：全球采购中心

　　terminate labor relationship：终止劳动合同

　　layoff：裁员

　　Law of Labor Contract：劳动合同法

　　revoke：取消、废除

　　notification：通知

　　telecom gear maker：电信设备制造商

　　in exchange for: 为了换得……

　　mass resignation：大批辞职

　　trigger：引发

　　legal loophole：法律漏洞

　　take effect：生效

　　open-ended labor contracts：无固定期限合同

　　in a row：连续

　　compensation scheme：补偿计划

　　package：一揽子方案(这里指补偿方案)

　　【词汇补充】 工作相关词汇

　　裁员：cut job/slash job/layoff/downsize/sack employees/discharge employees/dismiss employees

　　终止(合同)：terminate/revoke (the contract)

　　辞职：quit/resign

　　合同期满：expire

　　找工作：job-hunting

　　跳槽：job-hopping

　　上级：superior

　　下属：subordinate

　　职位：position/job title

　　加薪：raises

　　减薪：pay cut

　　升职：promotion

　　失业保险：unemployment insurance

　　补贴：subsidy/allowance

　　奖金：bonus

　　职责：duty/responsibility

　　【背景补充】

　　　　各公司“突击裁员”风波

　　6月底，LG电子(中国)公司在总部和全国各地分公司大量裁减5至9年的老员工，其中成都分公司的裁员规模达到20%.

　　9月底，展讯通信对北京分部进行了缩减，缩编人数在30人左右，随后上海总部也进行了裁员。

　　9月底开始，深圳华为7000多名工作满8年的老员工，相继向公司提交请辞自愿离职，这些员工是赶在2008年元旦之前“主动辞职”，再“竞业上岗”，他们将与公司签订1-3年的劳动合同。

　　10月22日，沃尔玛全球采购中心全球裁员200余名，其中在中国深圳、上海、莆田、东莞的四个分部，总计将裁掉约100人。

本文选自《昂立刘丹》的博客，点击查看博客原文