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.
人民大會堂代表了中國民主政治，人們普遍認為政務討論中很難聽到批評的聲音，但3月7日十二屆全國人大四次會議記者會卻讓人們聽到了不同的聲音。財政部部長樓繼偉在中央電視臺的直播記者會上發表長篇言論，直擊現行《勞動合同法》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日是十二屆全國人大四次會議召開的第三天，在由全國人大主持的記者會上，財政部部長樓繼偉發表了這篇前所未有的言論。樓繼偉正是被全國人大任命為財政部部長的，讓他感到困擾的法律就是2007年人大常委會討論通過的《勞動合同法》。

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.
記者會上有數百名記者出席，有記者援引企業家對《勞動合同法》的意見和抱怨，再次對樓繼偉此前對此法的批評言論提出問題，由此觸發了這位手握中國經濟命脈的財政部部長的長篇言論。

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，對問題毫不隱瞞。他曾兩次就《勞動合同法》的問題對不同聽眾提出意見，一次是在清華大學管理學院從學術角度進行批評，另一次是在中國經濟五十人論壇上向參會學者提出修改勞動法的建議。

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.
樓繼偉認為，現行《勞動合同法》對在職職工的保護比較多，未能激勵企業對職工進行企業培訓、為勞動者提供就業機會，這最終會對勞動者造成傷害，因為企業提供的職位和員工提高自身技能的機會都減少了。

"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：“《勞動合同法》在企業方面和雇員方面，保護的程度是不平衡的。對于新入職的人，特別是低技能的體力勞動者的實際就業是帶有歧視的。”

"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."
“企業如果加大了企業培訓，提高技能，而職工可以提前一個月不說什么原因就可以離開，企業為什么花錢給你提高技能呢？目前中高級技師是最為短缺的，與《勞動合同法》是有關的?！?/p>

"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."
“一個職工如果工作不努力，企業很難對他進行處理，比如解雇，那么位置就占著，對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.
樓繼偉不是第一個針對《勞動合同法》提出意見的人。經過近一年的討論后，國務院將《勞動合同法》草案提交至全國人大常委會審議，審議過程歷時19個月之久。

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，法律議案一般要經過三次審議，但《勞動合同法》在經過三次審議后向公眾征求意見，后又進行了第四次審議才通過。

英文來源：中國日報
譯者：郭雯熙
審校&編輯：丹妮