对于富士康电子公司(Foxconn Electronics Inc.)将以机器人全面取代中国工人的新闻，媒体以及产业有好几种不同的解读方式。
首先是公认最讽刺的观点：机器人不会抱怨工作环境不佳，也不会闹自杀。或许所有有关剥削劳工的负面形象与新闻也将随之而去。
另一种较中肯的看法是：富士康将可为全球制造业带来公平的竞争环境。如果中国的最大的竞争优势是劳动力成本低，那么在机器人全面取代劳工后，中国还剩些什么呢？
当然，中国还有其它的优势：庞大的制造设施基地、既有的供应链网络，以及约十亿人口的消费市场。但如果世界最大的合约制造商打算引进机器人，你可以想象其它的制造商也将会跟进。为了保持竞争力，小型EMS公司必须符合成本。
对于真的真的很想将制造业外移至海外的公司来说，这可能是个千载难逢的好机会。只要让机器人开始工作，就不必再担心劳动成本了。然而，这样做并不能增加工作机会。我们一直听到如何使制造业回流的种种讨论，其背后的真正用意不就是为了要增加工作机会吗？
至少在美国，增加就业机会才是关键。不过，最近一个电视节目强调美国制造业合格工人短缺的问题。这种观点真是令人耳目一新，在失业率持续攀升的情况下，怎么还会有工作断层的问题？
首先，美国制造业的确还存在许多工作机会－－Alcoa Inc.就是其中之一，而且这家公司还面对找不到所需人才的问题。近来，入门级的制造业工作必须懂得三角学以及高精确设备的校准等技能。而现有的求职人员不是条件太好(Alcoa并不需要电子工程师)就是资格不符。制造业员工最好至少要有社区大学或机械工程学位的背景。
此外， 无法满足就业需求的大学教育体系也是问题之一。还有，培训员工的成本又是另一个问题。当然还有来自中国的竞争威胁。如果工作环境动荡不安的问题解决了，就真的能够取得进展吗？事实上，真正的问题还出在一个容忍侵犯人权的环境。同样地，如果移除了人为的因素，是否就能解决这个问题？
我认为未来在这方面将会取得进展，因为越来越多的中国人开始了解到，在他们的国家以外还有一个全然不同的世界。西方公司在中国生产产品，他们所制造的产品也为当地人民打开通往世界其它地方的一扇窗。中国无法独立于经济真空下。但很讽刺的，因应工人动 乱的问题以及虐 待工人的指控，最快的解决方案之一就是摆脱掉这些工人？
本文授权编译自EBN Online，版权所有，谢绝转载
编译：Susan Hong
参考英文原文：Foxconn's Solution to Labor Unrest，by Barbara Jorgensen, EBN Community Editor
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Foxconn's Solution to Labor Unrest
Barbara Jorgensen
There are a couple of ways to spin the news that Foxconn Electronics Inc. is replacing Chinese workers with robots.
The first is admittedly the most cynical: Robots don't complain about lousy working conditions, and they don't commit suicide. Maybe all that nasty PR about exploiting workers will go away. Here's the more moderate reaction: Foxconn is leveling the playing field for global manufacturing. If China's biggest competitive edge is low-cost labor, and labor is taken out of the equation, what's left?
OK, there are other advantages: a huge base of manufacturing facilities, an established supply chain network that shouldn't be dismantled, and a billion or so consumers buying electronic goods manufactured close to home. But if the world's largest contract manufacturer is going robotic, you can bet other manufacturers will follow. To stay competitive, smaller EMS companies will have to meet costs.
This could be the opportunity of a lifetime for all those companies that say they really, really want to manufacture onshore again. Stop worrying about labor costs, and put those robots to work. But this isn't going to create jobs. (We're using robots.) And job creation is the real force behind the bring-back-manufacturing movement we've been hearing so much about, isn't it?
There is a jobs angle to this, at least in the US. A recent 60 Minutes report looked at the alleged shortage of qualified workers for US manufacturing jobs. With unemployment so high, how could there be a job gap? The report was eye-opening. First, there are still US manufacturing jobs -- the $25 billion Alcoa Inc. was among the companies interviewed for the story. And, yes, it is having trouble finding workers. These days, entry-level manufacturing jobs require skills like trigonometry to calibrate the high-precision equipment used in manufacturing. The available workers are either overqualified (Alcoa doesn't need EEs) or underqualified (they have only a high school diploma). The perfect manufacturing employee will have about two years at a community college and/or a mechanical engineering degree.
There are a number of bigger issues at play here. An educational system that doesn't match employment needs is one. The cost of training employees is another. Then there’s China. If the recent unrest regarding working conditions disappears, will progress ever be made? As EBN readers have pointed out, the real problem is an environment that tolerates human rights abuses. Again (taking the cynic's view), removing humans from the employment equation solves that problem.
I think progress will be made because the Chinese are acutely aware that things are different outside their nation. Western companies manufacture there, and the products they make give citizens an open window to the rest of the world. China can't exist in an economic vacuum. But it is ironic that one of the quickest solutions to charges of worker abuse is to get rid of the workers.
责编：Quentin
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