May 17, 2003 10:52
21 yrs ago
20 viewers *
German term

gewerbliche Mitarbeiter

German to English Bus/Financial Human Resources
Is blue-collar workers till politically correct? I looked up KudoZ - 1 entry but I'm not happy. Nothing suitable found in Schäfer, Dietl-Lorenz and some others. The sentence reads:

Die Auslastung der gewerblichen Mitarbeiter ist bis Mitte Juni gegeben.

All comments and suggestions welcome.
Change log

Apr 22, 2005 19:25: Steffen Walter changed "Level" from "Non-PRO" to "PRO" , "Field (specific)" from "(none)" to "Human Resources"

Jun 5, 2008 11:17: Steffen Walter changed "Field" from "Other" to "Bus/Financial"

Discussion

Non-ProZ.com May 17, 2003:
All what do our US colleagues feel about the political correctness. For the British Isles, I'm ok.

Proposed translations

+6
3 mins
Selected

blue-collar employees

Ich weiß nicht, ob's p.c. ist, aber in unserem Unternehmen wird's häufig verwendet (auch in Kombination mit white-collar e.).
Peer comment(s):

agree izy
11 mins
agree writeaway : I also have never heard anything to indicate there is anything politically incorrect with the term. is still used a lot, along with white-collar, as you say.
14 mins
agree Sven Petersson
17 mins
agree Rowan Morrell
52 mins
agree Ron Stelter : It sounds a lot better, Edith, than "unskilled" or what have you. We still say it here in the U.S.
5 hrs
agree Ino66 (X)
6 hrs
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3 KudoZ points awarded for this answer. Comment: "Danke Steffen, aber ich bin immer noch nicht überzeugt. Danke für die anderen Vorschläge, die zwar ok waren, wenn es nur um Mitarbeiter im *shop* gegangen wäre, aber in meinem Kontext handelte es sich um gewerbliche Mitarbeiter im Außendienst, also Monteure. Izy's industrial worker fand ich auch gut, passt aber nicht. Vielleicht wäre Nancy's Antwort im KudoZ Glossar garnicht so schlecht, sie schlug damals *hourly paid staff* vor, was im britischen Kontext absolut verständlich ist, und Nancy ist aus US. Ich habe demnach in meinem speziellen Zusammenhang den damaligen Vorschlag verwendet. Uff, eine lange Erklärung an einem regnerischen Sonntag."
1 hr

or "blue-collar colleagues"

halt waere eine Loesung hier. Viel Spass, Edith Kelly!
I hope it's quite politically correct. I used to speak with a porter in Paris last summer, and he mentioned "my black colleague". If one can be black, why can't be one "blue-collar"? Hope it helps & best regards.
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+1
2 hrs

factory-floor employees

is a fitting substitute for 'blue collar...' that seems to catch on in the media



or: industrial workers
Peer comment(s):

agree Melissa Field : for the US, something like this would be an alternative to blue-collar - also, floor associates, hourly associates.
6 hrs
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5 hrs

shopfloor workers

Another alternative.

E.g.:
-> "The other change today is that jobs are intrinsically insecure. You could argue that that has always been the case for shopfloor workers. However, if you look back from the end of the industrial revolution until, say, the end of the 1970s, you will see that, although shopfloor workers came in and out of the labour market, they tended to go back to work for their employers. They may have been laid off from the automobile plants, the mines, whatever, but they would be re-employed when they were needed."
From: Emerald Now (see below)
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+1
6 hrs

industrial employee

just another idea
Peer comment(s):

agree Ellen Zittinger
4 hrs
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1213 days

industrial workers

Jeder weiß gleich, was gemeint ist.
Example sentence:

Weiterbildungsaktivitäten für gewerbliche Arbeitskräfte. ... and implement innovations support further training activities for industrial workers. ...

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