紐時賞析／法國餐旅業迎解封 喊缺工10萬

Wanted in France: Thousands of Workers as Hotels and Restaurants Reopen

法國餐旅業迎解封 喊缺工10萬

For six months, Christophe Thiriet has waited for France’s grinding national lockdowns to be lifted so he can reopen his company’s restaurants and hotels in a picturesque corner of eastern France and recall the 150 employees who were furloughed months ago.

六個月來，克里斯多弗．提希耶一直等待折磨人的法國全國封城解除，好讓公司設在如詩如畫的法國東部的餐廳和飯店能重新開張，並召回數個月前放無薪假的一百五十位員工。

But when he asked them to return for a reopening in mid-May, he faced an unexpected headache: At least 30 said they wouldn’t be coming back, leaving him scrambling to hire new workers just as he needed to swing into action.

但是當他要求他們於五月中旬重新開業時復職，卻面臨意料之外的頭痛狀況：至少三十人說他們不會回來，讓他在需要積極展開行動之際急著雇請新員工。

“When you close things for so long, people think twice about whether they want to stay,” said Thiriet, a co-manager of the Heintz Group.

「當你關店太久，人們會三思是否要留下。」海因茲集團共同經理人提希耶說。

Restaurants and hotels across the country are facing the same problem. After months on furlough, workers in droves are deciding not to return to jobs in the hospitality industry.

全國各地的餐廳和飯店正面臨相同問題。在數個月的無薪假後，成群的勞工決定不返回在餐旅業的工作。

A shortfall of perhaps as many as 100,000 restaurant and hotel workers is especially troubling, because hundreds of thousands of people are looking for work after France’s worst recession in decades. Employers say it is becoming harder to lure job seekers to an industry whose future is more or less tethered to the vagaries of the coronavirus and the uncertainty of vaccine campaigns.

餐廳和飯店工作者的短缺可能多達十萬人，這一點格外令人憂慮，因為在法國經歷數十年來最嚴重的經濟衰退後，此際有數十萬人正在找工作。雇主說，這個產業未來或多或少受制於新冠病毒的變化莫測，以及疫苗推廣的不確定性，要吸引求職者變得更困難。

The missing manpower conundrum has emerged as thousands of hotels and restaurants that survived the crisis pivot toward trying to make up for an 80% plunge in business since last spring. The COVID-19 lockdowns have cost France’s tourism industry, a cornerstone of the economy, more than 60 billion euros in lost revenue since last year.

正當數千家飯店餐廳熬過危機存活下來，力圖補回自去年春季以來暴跌百分之八十的業績之際，人力流失的難題卻浮現了。新冠病毒封城已讓作為法國經濟一大基石的旅遊產業付出巨大代價，自去年以來營收損失超過六百億歐元。

“We know we’re going to have customers again this summer — that’s not the problem,” said Yann France, the owner of La Flambée, a restaurant in the popular northern seaside city of Deauville. “The concern is that we won’t have an adequate workforce at a time when we need to make up for a huge loss in sales.”

「我們知道今年夏天我們會再度有顧客上門，這不是問題。」北方熱點海濱城市多維爾「火焰餐廳」的老闆揚恩．方瑟說，「重點是，當我們需要在銷售上彌補巨大損失的時刻，卻沒有足夠人力。」

Some say the problem may not be so stark, since international visitors aren’t yet flocking back to France, and job seekers, including students who need work to help make ends meet, could eventually fill any shortfall.

有些人說這問題也許沒那麼嚴重，因為國際遊客還沒大舉回流到法國，而包括需要打工賺錢的學生在內的求職者，最終會補足所有缺口。

But others say the precariousness of the businesses is the broader question.

不過也有人說，這行業前途不穩靠才是更大的問題。

“The bigger issue is the uncertainty over the industry’s future,” said Thierry Gregoire, the owner of NT Hotel Gallery group, which owns five hotels and three restaurants around Toulouse. “Will things stay open, or could there be another shutdown because of a new virus?”

「更大的問題是這個產業未來的不確定性。」在土魯斯擁有五間飯店和三間餐廳的NT Hotel Gallery集團老闆泰希．葛黑卦說，「開放狀態能否就此維持，或是又有隨新病毒而來的另一次封城？」

文／Liz Alderman 譯／莊蕙嘉、核稿／樂慧生