Rightwing lobby group campaigns to undermine UK four-day week
-TaxPayers Alliance is key player in attempts to end trials of shorter working week in public sector

右翼游说团体发起运动，破坏英国的四天工作制
——“纳税人联盟”是试图终结公共部门缩短工作日试验的关键参与者
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(Advocates of a four-day week claim it boosts productivity and public health.)

（四天工作制的支持者声称，该工作制能提高工作效率，促进公众健康。）
新闻：

A rightwing lobby group that does not declare its donors is spearheading a campaign to undermine the spread of the four-day week in the UK.

一个不公布其捐助者的右翼游说团体正在带头发起一场运动，以破坏英国四天工作制的推广。

The TaxPayers’ Alliance (TPA) has emerged as a key influence behind ministerial attempts in the last week to try to shut down the first public sector trial of a shorter working week at South Cambridgeshire district council (SCDC).

上周，大臣们试图阻止南剑桥郡区议会首个缩短工作日的公共部门试验，而“纳税人联盟”在这一尝试背后发挥了关键作用。
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There are signs of a town hall fightback, with shorter hours now poised to be introduced in neighbouring Cambridge city council, and eight other English councils said to be considering testing the approach. Glasgow city council said it was monitoring pilot programmes and described the four-day working week as “an aspirational position”.

有迹象表明，市政厅正在进行反击，邻近的剑桥市议会现在准备引入缩短工作时间的做法，其他八个英国议会据说也在考虑测试这一做法。格拉斯哥市议会表示，他们正在监督试点项目，并将每周四天工作制描述为“一个令人向往的状态”。

Dozens of private companies have successfully trialled the working pattern, and councils regard it as a solution to acute recruitment and retention problems that nine out of 10 councils say they face.

数十家私营公司已经成功地试行了这种工作模式，地方议会认为这是解决严重的招聘和留用问题（10个地方议会中有9个表示它们面临这些问题）的办法。

The levelling up, housing and communities secretary, Michael Gove, told council leaders this week he believed “very strongly” that taxpayers “need to have people working a full five-day week”.

住房和社区大臣迈克尔·戈夫本周告诉议会领导人，他“非常强烈地”认为纳税人“需要让人们一周工作五天”。

The TPA, which claims to be a grassroots organisation and is part of a global alliance of free-market advocacy groups known as the Atlas Network, is running a “Stop the clock off” campaign against the four-day week.

“纳税人联盟”自称是一个草根组织，是自由市场倡导组织“阿特拉斯网络”全球联盟的分支。该组织正在发起一场“停止计时”运动，反对四天工作制。

Advocates of the working pattern – 100% of the work done in 80% of the time for 100% pay – claim the shorter working week boosts productivity, public health and builds a society “where we work to live, rather than live to work”.

这种工作模式（在80%的时间内完成100%的工作，获得100%的报酬）的倡导者声称，缩短工作日可以提高生产率、促进公共健康，并建立一个“我们为生活而工作，而不是为工作而生活”的社会。

But the TPA claims the day off amounts to a free holiday and says that is “simply unacceptable” in the public sector.

但“纳税人联盟”声称，这一天的休假相当于免费假期，并表示这在公共领域是“完全不可接受的”。

This week, the Guardian reported that shortened weeks were bleeding into schooling, with teachers reporting many fewer pupils attending on Fridays.

《卫报》本周报道，工作日缩短模式也正在渗入学校，老师们报告说，周五上学的学生越来越少了。

The TPA has previously been funded by US-based donors, and others it does not name because “many people do not like to talk about or broadcast their political views”.

“纳税人联盟”以前是由美国的捐助者资助的，它没有透露其他捐助者的名字，因为“许多人不喜欢谈论或传播他们的政治观点”。

The former chief executive, Matthew Elliott, went on to run the Vote Leave campaign. The TPA has campaigned against socialism (which it says “destroys freedom”), for the abolition of inheritance tax, and to scrap the BBC licence fee.

该组织前首席执行官马修·埃利奥特继续运营“投票脱欧”运动。“纳税人联盟”发起过反对社会主义（它宣称社会主义“破坏自由”）、废除遗产税和取消BBC许可费的运动。

In the House of Commons in May, the Conservative MP Anthony Browne quoted the TPA’s claim that a four-day week in the public sector could cost £30bn a year in lost time. The prime minister, Rishi Sunak, said he was “disappointed” in the SCDC and urged it “to reconsider its decision”, saying residents “deserve better”.

今年5月，在下议院，保守党议员安东尼·布朗援引“纳税人联盟”的说法称，公共部门每周工作四天，每年可能损失价值300亿英镑的工作时间。首相理希·苏纳克表示，他对南剑桥郡区议会感到“失望”，并敦促其“重新考虑其决定”，称居民“应当得到更好的对待”。

Last weekend, the local government minister Lee Rowley told SCDC to “end your experiment immediately” and claimed it could be in breach of the council’s legal duties to achieve “best value”. He thanked the TPA for its work on the issue.

上周末，地方政府大臣李·罗利要求南剑桥郡区议会“立即结束你们的实验”，并声称这可能违反了该议会实现“最佳价值”的法律职责。他感谢“纳税人联盟”在这个问题上所做的工作。

“Claims that services have improved barely stand up to scrutiny,” Elliot Keck, the TPA’s head of campaigns, claimed.

“纳税人联盟”运动负责人艾略特·凯克表示：“声称服务已经得到改进的说法几乎经不起推敲。”
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Joe Ryle, the director of the 4 Day Week campaign, described the TPA’s £30bn claim as a “back of a fag packet” calculation and cited a study by the thinktank Autonomy that put the annual cost at around £9bn, although it also estimates it could create more than 300,000 new jobs.

“四天工作制”活动的负责人乔·赖尔将“纳税人联盟”“300亿英镑”的说法描述为“拍脑袋”的计算，并援引智库“独立自主”的一项研究称，该工作制度每年的成本约为90亿英镑，但该机构也估计，它可能创造逾30万个新工作岗位。

SCDC is refusing to stop its trial among 500 desk-based staff and plans to extend it to refuse collectors. It claims the four-day week has boosted recruitment and retention, cutting a £2m-a-year agency staff bill by close to £300,000. It said performance improved in processing housing benefit claims, emergency housing repairs, tax collection and planning, and asserted the councils’ right to “determine their own employment policies”.

南剑桥郡区议会拒绝停止在500名办公室工作人员中进行的该项试验，并计划将其扩大到垃圾环卫工。该议会声称，四天工作制促进了员工招聘和留用，将每年200万英镑的机构员工支出减少了近30万英镑。它表示，在处理住房福利申请、紧急住房维修、税收征收和规划方面的行政效能有所改善，并主张地方议会有权“决定自己的就业政策”。

On Monday, Cambridge city council voted to trial the four-day week for bin crews it shares with SCDC. It called for the government to “reconsider its position”.

周一，剑桥市议会投票决定试行与南剑桥郡区议会相同的垃圾环卫工四天工作制。它呼吁政府“重新考虑其立场”。

James Naish, the leader of Bassetlaw district council in Nottinghamshire, told the Guardian it planned to trial the four-day week to try to tackle recruitment and retention problems that could ultimately prevent the provision of services.

诺丁汉郡巴塞特劳地区议会领导人詹姆斯·奈什告诉《卫报》，他们计划试行四天工作制，以试图解决招聘和留用问题（这些问题最终可能会阻碍服务的提供）。

“It isn’t for the government to say you must work five days a week because that will ultimately damage councils and damage local services if in fact the rest of the job market is moving in a different direction,” he said.

他说：“政府不应该说你必须每周工作五天，因为如果事实上就业市场的其他部分正在朝着不同的方向发展，那么这最终会损害地方议会和地方服务。”

Referring to SCDC, a spokesperson for the Department of Levelling Up, Housing and Communities said: “Pressing ahead with the choice to remove up to a fifth of their capacity would need to be backed by clear evidence.” It said this would be made clear in forthcoming guidance to councils.

谈到南剑桥郡区议会，住房和社区部门的一位发言人说：“推进取消多达五分之一工作量的选择，需要有明确的证据支持。”据说，这将在即将向议会提供的指导文件中明确说明。
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The UK last year ran the world’s largest six month trial of the shortened week. Of the 61 companies involved, 56 extended the trial, 18 of which made it permanent.

去年，英国进行了世界上规模最大的为期六个月的缩短工作日试验。在涉及的61家公司中，有56家延长了试验，其中18家使其成为永久性工作制度。

Atom Bank, which, with 470 staff, is the UK’s biggest private sector employer operating a four-day week, challenged the government’s claim that shorter hours would mean 20% less work.

Atom银行拥有470名员工，是英国最大的私营雇主，每周实行四天工作制。该银行对政府关于“缩短工作时间意味着减少20%工作量”的说法提出了质疑。

“I would recommend that any enterprise, whether public or private, follows the data,” Mark Mullen, the chief executive, told the Guardian. “All companies experience wastage and fall-offs in productivity.”

“我建议任何企业，无论是公共企业还是私营企业，都要遵循这些数据，”首席执行官马克·马伦告诉《卫报》。“所有公司都有浪费和生产力下降的经历。”

He said “productivity gaps” can be reduced through the four-day week, thereby offsetting the costs of the apparent reduction in capacity.

他表示，“生产率差距”可以通过每周四天的工作制来缩小，从而抵消产能明显下降带来的成本。

Labour’s position is unclear. Lisa Nandy, the shadow secretary of state for levelling up, housing and communities, declined to comment. Under Jeremy Corbyn, the party committed to reduce average weekly full-time hours to 32 within the next decade.

工党的立场尚不明朗。负责升级、住房和社区事务的影子大臣丽莎·南迪拒绝置评。在杰里米·科尔宾的领导下，该党承诺在未来十年内将每周平均全职工作时间减少到32小时。