中国制造业的原罪——“血汗工厂”

最近美国舆论对于中国制造业糟糕的劳动环境与工作状况多有批评，指出很多中国工厂生产出的电子装置都是伪善、不当的产物；而拥有那些出自西方人永远无法接受的劳动环境之电子产品的我们，都需要承担罪过。 美国《纽约时报》近来有一系列文章，以苹果(Apple)与其最大合约制造商鸿海(Foxconn Electronics)做为案例，来说明西方国家业者是如何利用中国的工厂；当地的劳动环境在欧美看来可说是“骇人听闻”，但那些企业管理高层与中国官 方却轻易地接受、甚至为其辩护。 那些报导颇具毁灭性，但所揭露的事实却都不是新闻；我们所有人不约而同将目光抽离我们所知道 的中国制造业情况，因为他们所生产的产品更便宜、出货更快速，甚至通常比西方同业所生产的品质更好。中国之所以成为世界制造业中心，并非只因为劳动成本低廉──请别再相信这种唬人的理由──还有中国制造商能执行那些在西方国家无人会接受的劳工政策，又可轻易被原谅。 你还是不相信我？好，请试着回答以下问题：你会睡在你工作的地方吗？你会让家里的青春期孩子去需要寄宿(而且一层公寓有时会挤十几个人)的工厂上班吗？你愿意在一个安全条件会危害健康的工厂工作吗？还有，你肯为一家基本政策会强迫加班，但在被质问时又全盘否认的公司卖命吗？那些都只是冰山的一角，实情是，在中国的制造业者为了追求更高的利润、并满足像是苹果这样的客户需求，而压榨供应链厂商。 鸿海在深圳有一个超大厂区，规模超越很多美国小镇，而且在当地雇用了超过40万个工人；该公司在厂区拥有自己的保全、餐厅、电影院、游泳池、消防队…等等一般现代城市里可看到的设施。尽管连已故的苹果前CEO乔布斯(Steve Jobs)都曾表示赞叹，恐怕我们之中很少有人愿意在那样的厂区工作。

身着工服上班的员工每天上下班都挤满了深圳观澜富士康大水坑三村大街(图片来自零丁网友)LGHesmc

根据一篇报导指出，乔布斯曾经这样形容过鸿海的厂区：“你走在这样的一个地方，是一座工厂…但我的天啊，他们有餐厅、电影院、医院与游泳池！以一座工厂来说，这真的是非常棒。”但我怀疑，乔布斯本人是否愿意在那里工作；他永远不需要。来自西方国家的乔布斯，身处于一个有主管机关严密执行完全不同劳动标准的世界，除了有人权组织近距离监视，一旦爆出任何违反劳工保护政策或工伤案件，就会引来大批人权律师关切。 本文下一页：谁之过？ 本文授权编译自EE Times，版权所有，谢绝转载

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{pagination} 在中国可不是这样；这也是为何包括苹果、戴尔(Dell)、惠普(HP)、摩托罗拉(Motorola Mobility)与诺基亚(Nokia)等公司选择在当地制造产品的原因之一。在那些厂区工作的劳工们选择有限，有很多人表示，如果苹果与其竞争对手不将产品制造外包给鸿海那样的厂商，他们可能根本找不到工作，或者是赚得更少。

富士康设在郑州的工厂目前每天能够生产约20万部iPhoneLGHesmc

也许确实如此，但那些辩驳也有很多是胡说八道；我们这些电子产品消费者，应该心里要有个底，了解某些中国制造的设备是在不道德的环境下被生产出来的。当我们买了苹果的股票，并开心看着其股价又一次因为该公司宣布业绩与利润创新高、而飙涨两位数字的时候，我们应该要记得那些背后的故事。 产业界高层早就知道那样的现实，但他们非常在意自己可领到的红利；那些红利都是靠压榨供应链以抬高利润而来，方法就是将生产外包到可以让产品制造成本一直被压低的区域。压榨就是牺牲他人，那些表示情况并非如此的声明──来自乔布斯、以及他的接班人库克(Timothy Cook)，还有其它电子厂商、西方世界采购主──都是废话。 需承担罪过的不只有那些人，事实上，如果要论罪，我个人认为中国政府得扛起最大的责任；他们要让经济成长，他们也做到了，但他们的人民却付出了可怕的代价，赔上身体健康与人身自由。 编译：Judith Cheng 本文授权编译自EE Times，版权所有，谢绝转载 参考英文原文： Chinese Labor Conditions Awful? You Are Guilty, Too ，by Bolaji Ojo；本文作者为EBN总编辑

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{pagination} Chinese Labor Conditions Awful? You Are Guilty, Too Bolaji Ojo The recent handwringing over poor labor conditions and practices at Chinese factories that make electronics devices is hypocritical and misplaced. We are all guilty of owning products manufactured under conditions most us who live in the West would never accept. The New York Times recently featured a series of exposé articles using Apple Inc. (Nasdaq: AAPL) and its biggest contract manufacturer, Foxconn Electronics Inc. , as examples of how Western OEMs benefit from labor conditions at Chinese factories that would be considered appalling in Europe and North America but that are readily accepted and defended by the companies' management as well as government officials in China. I discussed these on Friday in Does Apple Have a Foxconn Problem? The reports are damning, but nothing here is new. We've all turned our collective eyes away from what we know is happening in Chinese manufacturing plants, since the products they churn out are made more cheaply, faster, and often better than at comparable Western facilities. China is the world's manufacturing center not just because of the lower labor costs -- so stop believing the hype -- but also because Chinese manufacturers can get away with practices nobody would accept in the West. You still don't believe me? OK, please answer these questions: Would you sleep where you also work? Would you send your teenage children to work in a factory where they live in hostels (stuffed 10, 15, or more to an apartment)? Would you work at a plant where safety rules are regularly violated at the expense of your health? And would you work for a company that systematically practices forced overtime but denies it when cornered? That's just the tip of the iceberg. The truth is that manufacturing companies in China squeeze their supply chains for higher and higher margins to boost profitability and satisfy the demands of companies like Apple. Foxconn has a mega facility in Shenzhen that is bigger than many American cities and where it employs more than 400,000 workers. The company has at this site its own security, restaurants, movie theaters, swimming pool, fire stations, and other facilities found in any modern city. Yet, for all its wonders extolled by Steve Jobs, the late CEO of Apple, few of us would want to work at a facility like this. Here's what Jobs had to say once about the Foxconn plant, according to a report: You go in this place and it's a factory but, my gosh, they've got restaurants and movie theatres and hospitals and swimming pools. For a factory, it's pretty nice. I wonder, though, if Jobs himself would have taken a job here. He never had to. As a Westerner, Jobs lived under different standards rigorously enforced by regulators, monitored closely by human rights organizations and constantly scrutinized by lawyers. Any of the violations and numerous injuries reported in the press would have attracted a swarm of lawyers. But not in China. That's partly why companies like Apple, Dell, Hewlett-Packard, Motorola Mobility, and Nokia make their products there. The workers at these plants have limited options. Many people point to the fact they wouldn't have a job at all or would be making a lot less, had Apple and its competitors not outsourced production to the likes of Foxconn. That may be so, but that argument amounts to still a lot of BS. We who buy the products should have at the back of our minds the knowledge some of the devices manufactured by the electronics industry in China were produced under unsavory conditions. We should have this at the back of our minds when we buy Apple shares and celebrate the stock jumping another double-digit percentage point each time the company announces another record sales and profits. Industry executives have known about these situations for a long time, and they are quite aware their bonuses depend on squeezing more gains out of the supply chain by outsourcing production to areas where the total cost of production is constantly being tamped down. That squeeze is at the expense of someone, and the claim that this is not the case -- by Jobs, his successor Timothy Cook, other electronics vendors, and the consuming Western buyer -- is hogwash. They are not the only guilty ones. In fact, if guilt could be weighed and measured out by portion, I would suggest depositing the heaviest portion at the doorsteps of the Chinese government. It wanted economic growth, and that's what it's getting. But its citizens are paying an awful price with their health and personal freedom.