Text B. EC employment law

1. EC (European Community) law sometimes gives better protection to employees than English law. When Ms. Helen Marshall claimed that she should not have been made to retire from her job at age 62 since male employees were allowed to continue until they were 65, she lost her case at an industrial tribunal which argued that EC law did not prevent member countries from having different retirement ages for men and women. But the European Court ruled that although different ages for receiving retirement pension were legal, it was not legal for a member state to force women to retire from work earlier than men.

2. Since there is supposed to be a single labor market in the EC there have been many attempts to harmonize employment rights among member states. One of the many questions still to be agreed on is whether there should be a standard minimum wage. Supporters argue that low-paid workers would be better protected if all employers had to pay a minimum hourly rate. But opponents say that this would put too much pressure on small businesses and discourage them from creating new jobs.

3. Sunday trading is another issue dividing the EC. Although many European countries allow businesses to open every day of the week, the 1950 Shops Act limits Sunday trading in Britain—partly for religious reasons, and partly to ensure that shopworkers get at least one day's holiday a week. But the rules are complicated and out of date. Stores can sell whiskey, for example, but not coffee; magazines but not books; lightbulbs for cars but not for houses. Some fish and chip shops can sell many kinds of takeaway food on Sundays, but not fish and chips. B & Q, a large D-I-Y business, has claimed that the 1950 Act restricts imports from other EC countries and, therefore, breaks Article 30 of the Treaty of Rome.

4. The right to strike was one of the first employment rights to be recognized by law, yet the specific rules have varied from time to time and country to country. Since the 1984 Trade Union Act, all strikes in Britain must be supported by a majority vote of the workers in a secret ballot. Technically, strike action still constitutes a breach of an employee's contract of employment. Indeed in 1976 when Grunwick, a London film-processing firm, dismissed all its striking workers, the workers lost their claim in an industrial tribunal for unfair dismissal. However, employers are unlikely to dismiss worker who are all backed by a trade union. When Britain had a high record of strikes in the 1970s, it was sometimes said that there were too many different unions inside each company—one to represent each kind of job. Recently there has been a trend towards adopting single-union agreements whether it is legal for an employer to decide which union a worker is to join.

2. Выпишите из текстов английские эквиваленты следующих слов и выражений: специальная законодательная база; наниматель; неофициальные соглашения; наемный работник; собрать большое количество рабочих на одном рабочем месте; быстрое экономическое развитие; упорядочить права и условия работы; ограничение времени работы и возраста работающего; система страхования на случай болезни, безработицы, увольнения; единый трудовой рынок; оказывать давление на малы бизнес; право на забастовку; признавать законом.

3. Найдите и выпишите из текстов 3 предложения, содержащие инфинитив. Определите формы и функции инфинитива. Переведите предложения на русский язык.

4. Найдите и выпишите из текстов 3 предложения, содержащие причастие. Определите формы и функции причастия. Переведите предложения на русский язык.

5. Найдите и выпишите из текстов 3 предложения, содержащие герундий. Определите формы и функции герундия. Переведите предложения на русский язык.

6. Переведите письменно 1, 2 абзацы текста A, 8 абзац текста B.

7. Напишите аннотацию к тексту, используя следующие клишированные словосочетания (3-5 предложений): the precis deals with …; the abstract is devoted to …; the work is concerned with … (bears on …, gives explanation of …, is intended to demonstrate certain phenomena, is designed to provide some information about …); the subject of the paper under review is …; the author touches upon the problem of …; … is (are) described; special attention is given (paid) to …; the chief aim (main purpose) of the work is …; the main result of the work is … (that it has given a clue to …).

8. Составьте свое жизнеописание (C.V.), используя образец на стр. 29.