U.S. Firms Refuse Aid to Victims
美商拒絕援助職災受害者
By Steven Greenhouse

One year after the Tazreen factory fire in Bangladesh, many retailers that sold garments produced there or inside the Rana Plaza building that collapsed last spring are refusing to join an effort to compensate the families of the more than 1,200 workers who died in those disasters.
孟加拉首都達卡的塔茲林成衣廠一年前發生大火，該市設有成衣廠的拉納廣場大廈則於今年春天（四月）倒塌，兩次職災罹難工人超過1200人，然而許多販售這兩處工廠所生產成衣的零售商，至今仍然拒絕加入為死者遺屬提供撫卹的行列。

The International Labor Organization is working with Bangladeshi officials, labor groups and several retailers to create compensation funds to assist not just the families of the dead, but also more than 1,800 workers who were injured.
國際勞工組織正與孟加拉官員、勞工團體及部分零售商攜手設立撫卹基金，不只協助罹難者家屬，而且還要照顧在災難中受傷的1800多名勞工。

A handful of retailers – led by Primark, an Anglo-Irish company, and C&A, a Dutch-German company – are involved in starting compensation funds, one for Rana Plaza’s 1,129 victims and one for the victims of the Tazreen fire, which killed 112 workers on November 24, 2012.
以英國與愛爾蘭合資的平價服飾Primark、荷蘭與德國合資的C&A公司為首的部分零售商已開始共同籌設兩個撫卹基金，分別針對拉納廣場職災的1129名遇難者，以及2012年11月24日塔茲林成衣廠大火的死者，後者奪走112名勞工的寶貴生命。

But the American companies that were selling goods produced at Tazreen or Rana Plaza – Walmart, Sears, Children’s Place and others – have not agreed to contribute.
然而那些販售塔茲林或拉納廣場成衣廠所生產成衣的美國企業，包括沃爾瑪、席爾斯百貨、Children’s Place童裝，卻迄未同意出錢參與此事。

“Compensation is so important because so many families are suffering – many families don’t have anyone left to support them,” said Kalpona Akter, executive director of the Bangladesh Center for Worker Solidarity.
孟加拉勞工團結中心執行長卡普波娜‧艾克特說：「撫卹非常重要，因為許多家庭正在承受苦難。許多家庭已經失去了依靠。」

Primark, which says it has spent more than $3.2 million for aid to the victims, is working to develop a compensation fund to help victims for years.
Primark自稱已經出資逾320萬美元協助受害者。它正在籌設一項撫卹基金，準備長期協助受害者。

Primark, whose brands include Atmosphere and Denim Company, was a major customer of New Wave Bottoms, one of the five garment factories inside Rana Plaza. For six months, Primark has paid the salaries of all 3,600 Bangladeshis who worked in the building, giving the money to the surviving workers or families of the dead.
Primark的品牌包括Atmosphere與Denim公司，是拉納廣場大樓內五家成衣廠之一New Wave Bottoms的大客戶。過去六個月，Primark一直支付曾經在該大樓工作的全體孟加拉勞工的薪資，付給存活工人及罹難勞工的遺族。

Primark also pledged to pay another three months’ salary if no other company stepped up, but Loblaw, a Canadian retailer that makes the Joe Fresh brand, agreed to join that effort.
Primark還承諾，如果其他公司不肯出面，它將再支付三個月的薪資給受害者。不過經營Joe Fresh品牌的加拿大超市連鎖巨擘Loblaw已經同意加入。

Labor advocates single out Walmart for criticism – partly because production documents recovered after the Tazreen fire indicate that two months before that fire erupted, 55 percent of the factory’s production was being made for Walmart contractors. Walmart has repeatedly been asked to contribute to the anticipated $6 million compensation program for Tazreen survivors and families.
勞工維權人士特別把矛頭指向沃爾瑪，部分原因是，塔茲林火災後取得的生產文件顯示，事發前兩個月，該廠55%的產品貨主是沃爾瑪的合約商。有關方面多次要求沃爾瑪出錢，資助打算針對塔茲林倖存者及其家屬設立的600萬美元撫卹基金。

“Walmart is the one company that is showing an astonishing lack of responsibility, considering that so much of their product was being made at the Tazreen factory,” said Samantha Maher, a campaign coordinator for the British arm of the Clean Clothes Campaign, a European anti-sweatshop group.
珊曼莎‧馬赫是歐洲反血汗工廠組織「乾淨衣服運動」的協調人。她說：「如果考慮它的許多商品在塔茲林成衣廠生產，沃爾瑪表現出的不負責任態度，令人不敢置信。」

After the International Labor Rights Forum, an advocacy group based in Washington, wrote to Walmart to urge its participation in the compensation efforts, Rajan Kamalanathan, a Walmart vice president, said in an email that Walmart did not intend to participate. He wrote that “there was no production for Walmart in Rana Plaza at the time of the tragedy” and that the Walmart-related production at Tazreen was unauthorized.
華府公益組織「國際勞工權益論壇」曾經致函沃爾瑪，力促它參與撫卹計畫。沃爾瑪副總裁卡馬拉納坦事後在一封電子郵件中表示，沃爾瑪不打算參加。他又說，悲劇發生時，拉納廣場成衣廠並未生產沃爾瑪訂購的商品，與沃爾瑪有關的塔茲林成衣廠生產作業則未獲沃爾瑪授權。

Mr. Kamalanathan made clear that Walmart would raise its standards “by partnering with other stakeholders to improve the standards for workers across the industry.”
卡馬拉納坦明白指出，沃爾瑪「將與其他利益相關者攜手，設法全面改善這個行業勞工的工作環境」，以提高自己的標準。

Asked whether Sears would provide monetary aid for Tazreen victims, Howard Riefs, a company spokesman, said his company “remains committed to improving conditions in the factories we utilize for production of our merchandise.”
詢以席爾斯百貨是否可能為塔茲林成衣廠的受害者提供現金協助時，該公司發言人芮福斯表示，席爾斯百貨「致力改善用以生產本公司商品的工廠的工作環境，此一承諾並未改變」。

Walmart, Sears and 24 other American and Canadian companies have joined an alliance to upgrade factory safety in Bangladesh.
沃爾瑪、席爾斯與另外24家美國、加拿大的企業已經相繼加入一個聯盟，準備共同加強孟加拉工廠的安全。

Some industry analysts say the North American retailers are reluctant to join the compensation efforts because they fear it could be seen as an admission of wrongdoing, perhaps leading to legal liability.
部分業界分析師指出，北美地區的零售商不肯加入主要是因為，擔心一旦加入可能被視為承認有錯，導致官司上身。

原文參照：
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/23/business/international/us-retailers-decline-to-aid-factory-victims-in-bangladesh.html

2013-12-10聯合報/G9版/UNITEDDAILYNEWS 陳世欽譯 原文參見紐時週報七版右