[英中對譯學習][紐約周報精選] 中國勞工不再沉默 新時代來臨

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New Dawn in China As Labor Speaks Out
中國勞工不再沉默 新時代來臨

By DAVID BARBOZA and HIROKO TABUCHI  紐約周報精選
陳世欽譯  2010-06-22/聯合報/G9版/UNITEDDAILYNEWS

SHANGHAI — The bargaining power that China’s cheap labor army is gaining with the aid of strikes, suicides and government pressure is changing the dynamics of doing business in the country.  


在罷工、自殺事件以及政府施壓助勢下，中國廉價勞工大軍談判實力日增，已經開始改變當地的企業經營環境及模式。


Increased pay and improved labor conditions could induce some companies to consider shifting production elsewhere even while rendering China a more attractive market for their products.  


勞工薪資提高及勞動條件改善，使得中國成為對企業界產品更具吸引力的市場，卻也使部分企業考慮將生產線轉移到其他國家。


“Companies that looked to China only for lower costs need to change course,’’ said Tomoo Marukawa, a specialist on the Chinese economy at Tokyo University.  


東京大學研究中國經濟問題的專家丸川知雄說：「只因為成本比較低而進軍中國的企業必須改變經營方式。」


After years of focusing on luring foreign investment, Chinese government officials are endorsing efforts to improve conditions for workers and raise salaries.  


多年來，中國官員全力對外招商，如今已經改變心態，轉而致力改善勞工的勞動條件，並為他們爭取更高的薪資。


Analysts say the government is quietly accepting the need to change its lowcost manufacturing model, hoping to stimulate domestic consumption, ease a widening income gap between the rich and the poor, and prevent social unrest over soaring food and housing prices.  


分析家表示，中國政府已經默默認同改變低成本生產模式的必要性，期望藉此刺激國內消費，紓解貧富收入差距不斷擴大的現象，同時防止糧食及住房價格不斷飆漲引發社會動盪。


Ma Jun, a Hong Kong economist at Deutsche Bank, said that many Chinese cities and provinces would soon raise their minimum wages 10 to 20 percent. Factory workers in southern China now earn about 75 cents an hour. “A faster-than-expected labor cost increase has now become a political imperative,’’ Mr. Ma said in a report, citing comments from Beijing’s leadership about improving social justice.  


德意志銀行香港分行經濟學家馬駿表示，許多中國省市很快就會將法定最低薪資提高10%到20%。中國南方地區的工廠工人目前平均時薪大約75美分（台幣24元）。馬駿在一項報告中引述北京領導階層關於改善社會正義的談話指出：「速度高於預期的勞動成本增加已經成為一種政治需要。」


Analysts say wage pressure is also coming from the spreading of the country’s economic boom, and from labor shortages in coastal cities as the declining Chinese birth rate reduces the number of young people entering the work force.  


分析家指出，中國經濟欣欣向榮，再加上全國人口出生率不斷下降使得投入勞動市場的年輕人逐年減少，以致沿海城市面臨勞力短缺的現象，也都構成薪資上漲的壓力。


As a result, economists say, China’s labor force has been growing increasingly bold.  


經濟學者指出，在這種局面下，中國的勞動大眾越來越勇於發聲。


Over the last year, workers have periodically carried out strikes in southern China — some supposedly involving global companies. Although these actions were resolved quietly , the strikes going on at Honda’s plants have generated considerable public attention.  


去年，中國南方地區的勞工經常集體罷工，其中一部分罷工事件涉及全球性企業。雖然這些事件都悄悄解決，日本本田汽車公司的工人罷工事件卻受到各界高度關切。


The Japanese company offered workers raises of 24 to 32 percent, bringing the monthly average salary to about $300. But only days later it was a target of labor unrest again.  


本田汽車同意為工人加薪24%到32%，使工人的平均月薪來到大約300美元。然而短短幾天後，本田汽車再度成為工人騷動的目標。


A new walkout, at an exhaustsystem factory in the city of Foshan, forced Honda to halt work at one of its four auto assembly plants in China. At least two auto parts suppliers were also struck.  


佛山市一座排氣系統工廠出現新一波罷工潮，迫使本田汽車將它在中國的4座汽車裝配廠中的一座停工。至少2家汽車零組件供應商也受到波及。


Another big employer in China wrestling with labor issues, Foxconn Technology — a giant contract electronics manufacturer that has also announced wage increases month — said it was reconsidering the way it ran its operations in response to criticism of its workplace practices.  


富士康公司是電子產品的代工巨擘，也是另一個已經在中國面臨各種勞動問題的大雇主，最近宣布為工人加薪。富士康表示正在重新斟酌經營方式，以回應社會各界對其勞動條件的批評。


Foxconn, which has experienced nine suicides among workers at its sprawling, citylike campuses in the southern metropolis of Shenzhen, said it may turn the management of some of its worker dormitories over to local governments in China.  


富士康公司位於中國南部大都會深圳市的廠區占地遼闊宛如城市，最近發生工人接連跳樓自殺的事件。該公司表示可能將部分工人宿舍的管理工作移交當地政府。


“Because Foxconn is a commercial enterprise operating like a society, we’re responsible for almost everything for our workers, including their job, food, dorm and even personal relationships,’’ Arthur Huang, a Foxconn spokesman, said. “That is too much for a single company. ”  


富士康的黃姓發言人說：「正因為富士康是一個運作有如社會的企業，我們幾乎要為員工的一切負責，包括他們的工作、食宿甚至人際關係。對一家公司而言，這些責任過於沉重。」


After the suicides, Chinese sociologists called for an end to “a development model that sacrifices human dig nity.”  


自殺事件發生後，許多中國的社會學家提出呼籲，要求終結「犧牲人性尊嚴的發展模式」。


Foxconn, a subsidiary of Hon Hai Precision Industry of Taiwan that makes devices for companies like Apple, Dell and Hewlett- Packard, said it planned to double the salaries of many of its 800,000 workers in China to 2,000 renminbi, or nearly $300, a month.  


富士康是台灣鴻海集團的子公司，為蘋果、戴爾、惠普等大企業代工生產。富士康在中國雇用的工人約80萬人。它表示打算將其中許多工人的薪資提高一倍，平均達到2000元人民幣（約台幣9400元）。


The company said it will pass on the costs to customers.  


富士康表示，這些增加的成本將轉嫁到客戶身上。


Many global companies — including Daimler-Benz, Ford, Coca-Cola and PepsiCo — have operations in China that could be vulnerable to plant-by-plant labor unrest.  


包括戴姆勒-賓士汽車、福特汽車、可口可樂及百事可樂在內，許多全球性大企業均已在中國生產，很容易因為各工廠工人相繼罷工而受到衝擊。


For Japan’s flagship exporters, the Honda strikes served to drive home the point that as Chinese incomes and expectations rise in line with the country’s rapid economic growth while Japan’s own economy falters, the two countries face a realignment that will alter the way their economies interact.  


對日本的旗艦出口企業而言，本田汽車罷工事件呈現的重點是，中國人的收入、期望與國家經濟同步快速成長，日本的經濟卻出現步履蹣跚的衰敗之象，兩國必須重新調整彼此的定位和關係，改變經濟互動的模式。