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  3. Look around the world and the forces are massing. On one side are Californian prison guards, British policemen, French railworke

Look around the world and the forces are massing. On one side are Californian prison guards, British policemen, French railworke

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问题     Look around the world and the forces are massing. On one side are Californian prison guards, British policemen, French railworkers, Greek civil servants, and teachers just about everywhere. On the other stand the cash-strapped governments of the rich world. Even the mere mention of cuts has brought public-sector workers onto the streets across Europe. When those plans are put into action, expect much worse. In public services union power is magnified not just by strikers’ ability to shut down monopolies that everyone needs without seeing their employer go bust, but also by their political clout over those employers.
    Politicians have repeatedly given in, usually sneakily—by swelling pensions, adding yet more holidays or dropping reforms, rather than by increasing pay. This time they have to fight because they are so short of money. But it is crucial that the war with the public-sector unions is won in the right way. For amid all the pain ahead sits a huge opportunity—to redesign government. That means focusing on productivity and improving services, not just cutting costs.
    The immediate battle will be over benefits, not pay. Here the issue is parity. Holidays are often absurdly generous, but the real issue is pensions. Too many state workers can retire in their mid-50s on close to full pay. America’s states have as much as $ 5 trillion in unfunded pension liabilities. Another battleground will be the unions’ legal privileges. It would be perverse to ban public-sector unions outright at a time when governments are trying to make public services more like private ones. But their right to strike should be more tightly limited; and the rules governing political donations and even unionization itself should be changed to "opt-in" ones, in which a member decides whether to give or join.
    Fixing the public sector must not be allowed to degenerate into demonising it. Its health is vital to the health of society as a whole, not least because of its impact on economic growth. Private-sector productivity has soared in the West over the past quarter-century, even in old industries such as steel and carmaking. Companies have achieved this because they have the freedom to manage—to experiment, to expand successful innovations, to close down bad ones, to promote talented people. Across the public sector, unions have fought all this, most cruelly in education. It can be harder to restructure government than business, but even small productivity gains can bring big savings.
    The coming battle should be about delivering better services, not about cutting resources. Focusing on productivity should help politicians redefine the debate. The imminent retirement of the baby-boomers is a chance to hire a new generation of workers with different contracts. Politicians face a choice: push a-head, reform and create jobs in the long term; or give in again, and cut more services and raise more taxes.
For public sector workers, unionization is currently______.
选项 A、compulsory but beneficial
B、beneficial but not required
C、optional but worthwhile
D、voluntary and unrewarding
答案A
解析 第三段末句明确指出加入工会的原则应该加以改变，变成“自由选择”，言外之意就是，目前公共部门员工加入工会的原则并非出自自身意愿、不具备可选择性，而是带有强制性。与此同时，工会力量的雄厚给工会会员带来的间接收入也说明加入工会之举是有利的，故[A]选项正确。
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