GUANGZHOU, China – Nearly a decade after some of the most powerful companies in the world – often under considerable criticism and consumer pressure – began an effort to eliminate sweatshop labor conditions in Asia, worker abuse is still commonplace in many of the Chinese factories that supply Western companies, according to labor rights groups.
勞工權益團體表示，全球部分最具影響力的企業往往在極大的抨擊聲浪與消費者壓力下，開始致力消滅亞洲血汗工廠勞工惡劣的工作環境，但將近10年後的今天，剝削勞工在供應西方企業商品的許多中國大陸工廠仍司空見慣。

The groups say some Chinese companies routinely shortchange their employees on wages, withhold health benefits and expose their workers to dangerous machinery and harmful chemicals, like lead, cadmium and mercury.
這些團體指出，部分大陸企業經常短發員工薪資、取消健保福利，使員工接觸危險機器及鉛、鎘和汞之類有害化學物。

“If these things are so dangerous for the consumer, then how about the workers?” said Anita Chan, a labor rights advocate who teaches at the Australian National University. And so while American and European consumers worry about exposing their children to Chinese-made toys coated in lead, Chinese workers, often as young as 16, face far more serious hazards.
任教澳大利亞國立大學的勞工權益鬥士陳佩華說：「如果這些東西對消費者這麼危險，對那些勞工又如何呢？」美國和歐洲消費者擔心，孩子接觸塗有含鉛塗料的中國製玩具，通常年僅16歲的中國勞工面對更嚴重的危險。

In 2007, factories that supplied more than a dozen corporations, including Wal-Mart, Disney and Dell, were accused of unfair labor practices, including using child labor, forcing employees to work 16-hour days on fast-moving assembly lines, and paying workers less than minimum wage. (Minimum wage in this part of China is about 55 cents an hour.)
2007年，供應沃爾瑪、迪士尼和戴爾等10多家企業的工廠被控有不公平的勞動做法，包括雇用童工、強迫員工在快速作業的組裝生產線每天工作16小時，及勞工薪水低於最低薪資。（中國廣州的最低薪資約為每小時55美分。）

No company has come under as harsh a spotlight as Wal-Mart, the world’s biggest retailer, which sourced about $9 billion in goods from China in 2006.
全球最大零售商沃爾瑪是受到最嚴苛檢視的企業，該公司2006年從中國採購約90億美元的商品。

In December, two nongovernmental organizations, or NGOs, documented what they said were abuse and labor violations at 15 factories that produce or supply goods for Wal-Mart – including the use of child labor at Huanya Gifts, a factory here in Guangzhou that makes Christmas tree ornaments.
美國兩個非政府組織去年12月提出證據，指15家為沃爾瑪生產或供貨的工廠剝削或侵犯勞工權益，包括廣州的耶誕樹飾品製造廠環亞禮品公司雇用童工。

Wal-Mart officials say they are investigating the allegations, which were in a report issued in December by the National Labor Committee, a New York-based NGO.
沃爾瑪高層幹部表示，他們正在調查紐約非政府組織「全國勞工委員會」去年12月報告中的指控。

The National Labor Committee criticized Wal-Mart for not doing more to protect workers. The group charged that last July, Huanya recruited about 500 16-year-old high school students to work seven days a week, often 15 hours a day, during peak production months for holiday merchandise.
全國勞工委員會抨擊沃爾瑪未能採取更多行動保護勞工。該團體指控，環亞公司去年7月招募約500名16歲高中生，每周工作7天，假期商品生產旺季那幾個月經常每天工作15小時。

“At Wal-Mart, Christmas ornaments are cheap, and so are the lives of the young workers in China who make them,” the National Labor Committee report said.
全國勞工委員會的報告說：「在沃爾瑪，耶誕飾品很廉價，製造這些飾品的中國年輕勞工的性命也一樣不值錢。」

Many multinationals were harshly criticized in the 1990s for using suppliers that maintained sweatshop conditions. Iconic brand names, like Nike, Mattel and Gap, responded by forming corporate social responsibility operations and working with contractors to create a system of factory audits and inspections. Those changes have won praise in some quarters for improving worker conditions.
許多跨國企業因1990年代雇用經營血汗工廠的供應商，而受到嚴厲批評。耐吉運動用品、美泰兒玩具和蓋普服飾等指標性品牌因此發起企業社會責任運動，並和包商合作，創立工廠稽核檢查制度。這些改革在某些地區因改善工作條件，而贏得肯定。

But despite spending millions of dollars and hiring thousands of auditors, some companies acknowledge that many of the programs are flawed.
不過，儘管花費數百萬美元，還聘請數千位稽核員，部分企業承認許多計畫有瑕疵。

Some factories are warned about audits beforehand and some factory owners or managers bribe auditors. Inexperienced inspectors may also be a problem.
有些工廠事先接獲稽查警訊，部分工廠老闆或經理人賄賂稽查員。缺乏經驗的檢查員也可能構成問題。

Many labor experts say part of the problem is cost: Western companies are constantly pressing their Chinese suppliers for lower prices while also insisting that factory owners spend more to upgrade operations, treat workers properly and improve product quality.
許多勞工專家表示，部分癥結在於成本：西方企業不斷向中國大陸供應商施壓，要求壓低價格，又堅持中國工廠老闆投注更多錢提升工廠運作、妥善對待工人及改善產品品質。

At the same time, rising food, energy and raw material costs in China – as well as a shortage of labor in the biggest southern manufacturing zones – are hampering factory owners’ ability to make a profit.
同時，中國的糧食、能源和原物料成本高漲，加上最大的南方加工區勞力短缺，影響工廠老闆獲利。

The situation may get worse before it improves. A Chinese labor law that took effect on Jan. 1 makes it more difficult to dismiss workers and creates a whole new set of laws that experts say will almost certainly increase labor costs.
這種情況可能還沒改善就先惡化。中國大陸1月1日生效的勞動合同法使遣散工人更加困難，並衍生出一套專家表示幾乎肯定會提高勞工成本的法規。

At the center of the problem is a labor system that relies on young migrant workers, who often leave small rural villages for two- or three-year stints at factories, where they hope to earn enough to return home to start families.
問題核心在於勞動體制要靠年輕民工。民工通常從小農村前往工廠工作兩三年，希望賺夠錢後返鄉成家。

As long as life in the cities promises more money than in rural areas, they will brave the harsh conditions in factories in this and other Chinese cities. And as long as China outlaws independent unions and proves unable to enforce its own labor rules, there is little hope for change.
只要城市生活比農村地區能賺更多錢，民工就會勇敢面對廣州和其他大陸城市工廠的惡劣環境。只要中國禁止成立獨立工會，而政府自己又無法執行其勞工法規，改革就無望。

There is little that any Western company can do about those issues, no matter how seriously they take corporate social responsibility – other than leaving China.
不論西方業者多麼正視企業社會責任，他們都無能為力，除了離開中國。

關鍵字句

本文主旨是西方企業基於企業社會責任（corporate social responsibility），要求中國大陸包商（contractor）善待員工，但大陸各地血汗工廠（sweatshop）剝削勞工（worker abuse）情事仍時有所聞。

所謂血汗工廠，是指工廠以低薪雇用工人，甚至童工（child labor），在不利健康或壓榨的環境中從事長時間勞動的工作場所。

文中提到美國勞工權益團體「全國勞工委員會」去年12月發布題為「沃爾瑪給您來自中國血汗工廠的耶誕節（A Wal-Mart Christmas Brought to You from a Sweatshop in China）」的報告指出，中國主要耶誕飾品製造商環亞禮品（Huanya Gifts）公司為了趕工替沃瑪爾製造耶誕節飾品（Christmas ornament），雇用未成年學生每天工作長達15小時，且連續數月完全不給休假（off day），若請假1天要倒扣（dock）2天半工資。

報告還說，中國大陸的法定最低工資（legal minimum wage）是每小時0.55美元（約台幣17.7元），但環亞禮品公司給工人的平均時薪0.49美元（約新台幣15.8元），部分工人甚至時薪僅0.26美元（約新台幣8元），不到法定最低標準的一半。負責替飾品噴上噴漆（spray paint）的工人皮膚都會起疹子（rashes），資方不但拒絕支付醫藥費（medical bill），也不准請病假（sick leave）。  

原文參照
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/05/business/worldbusiness/05sweatshop.html　
http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/01/05/business/05sweatshop.php 

2008-01-21/聯合報/B4版/New York Times 陳宜君 原文請見1月21日紐時周報五版頭條