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| 教 育 專 題 深 入 報 導《2008-05-01》 |
| 本期內容 | |
| ◎國際專題：勞工的節日──勞動節 | |
| ◎挑剔的中國工人宣示廉價勞工時代結束 | |
| ◎誰來關心現代奴隸 | |
| 國際專題：勞工的節日──勞動節 | |
| 策劃、編譯■陳銳嬪、陳玫伶 | |
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5月1日勞動節，應該是每個人的節日。 但是最受忽略的勞工，是離鄉背井的移工。 在這個全球化時代，給移工一份關心與相同的權益， 是各國政府與人民都應該努力的方向。 |
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| （回目錄） | |
| 挑剔的中國工人宣示廉價勞工時代結束 | |
| （路透社） | |
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數十年來，中國廣大的工廠工人與建築工人只有很少的選擇，他們必須在惡劣的工作環境下長時間工作，賺取微薄的薪水。 但是工廠開始如雨後春筍般出現，就算在發展遲緩的內地也不例外，這表示，現今的工人在找工作時，有了更多選擇。薪水開始調漲，企業也開始獲得微薄的利潤。 薛國傑（音譯）正探訪父母的3房農舍，他說：「公司發現，要找工人越來越難了。」河南位於中國中部，是數百萬散落在中國各地移工的家鄉。 中國的商業活動可能蓬勃發展，但是勞動力卻因為1979年的一胎化政策而下降。1979年的法律條文禁止人們擁有超過一個小孩，目前這些小孩已屆18歲到35歲之間，正是工廠最需要的勞動力人口。 穿著牛仔外套與滑板鞋，薛是個典型的例子。 23歲的薛是冷氣機製造廠的員工，他把農曆新年假期延後兩週才回來上班，並要求1千5百人民幣的月薪可以再增加1百元（約新台幣434元）。這樣的事情，以往不曾聽聞。 他說：「我的老闆寧願多給我錢，也不願尋找與訓練新人。」 這似乎是說，這個有13億人口的國家，有一半依然待在農田的勞力，將不會獲得關注。 但是短缺的勞工與在全國蓬勃興建的工廠，讓勞工可以有更多選擇。因為就算在河南省封丘縣的小村落也有工廠。 大多數的移民依然到沿海城市尋找工作，每年只有在農曆新年的時候才能見到家人，然後匆匆趕回去上班。 現在有更多人，選擇離家更近的工作。 在政府的鼓勵下，一大票小工廠已經遷到內地。為了使全國平均發展，中國政府用減稅與更寬鬆的污染管控，吸引小工廠到比較貧窮的省份，並遠離靠近香港的傳統製造業重鎮。 瑞銀集團經濟學家安德森估計，新受雇者在各方面將會面對更艱辛的挑戰。移工薪水一年漲幅，將可高達15％。多年以前，移工的薪水漲幅是以個位數成長。 工廠的手，農田的手 根據全國農村人口普查，貧困的中國內地已經出現了1億3千萬名的廚師、服務生、清潔工、建築工人與鐵路工人。 經濟學家相信，其他還留在內地的5億3千萬鄉村勞工，是有辦法在內地找到謀生方法的一群。換句話說，對鄉下赤貧的農人來說，唯一的希望是遷移到城市。 「這個村莊只有老人與小孩。所有人都已經離開。」51歲的杜史城如是說。他是封丘縣的農夫，他的兩名孩子都在東部的手機廠工作。 孩子寄回來的錢讓杜史城與妻子有能力在去年建造一座兩層樓高的房子，但是這個住著他們夫妻倆與一個孫子的房子，卻顯得太過空曠。 這樣的故事，發生在全國各地。 中國科學院的農村專家陶然解釋說，農村50％的收入來自移工的匯款，但是另一方面，這卻消耗農村資源，並使家庭分裂。 杜史城表示，該村落的官方人口數是2千人，但是全年都住在那裡的只有1千5百人，而且很多都是頭髮已經灰白的老人。 擔心高齡化社會和勞動力減少，政府正在研究，是否應該放寬或者廢除備受爭議的一胎化政策。 今年2月，國家人口和計劃生育委員會副主任趙白鴿表示：「我們希望可以逐漸改變。這對決策者來說是個大議題。」 而製造業者也表達了他們對勞動合同法的不滿。 珠江三角洲，是中國製業業在南方的基地。製造業組織警告說，會有多達1萬5千間工廠可能關閉。 這些大多數是鞋廠與紡織品廠，它們依靠廉價勞工來面對全球化的市場，因為它們所生廠的是低附加價值的產品。 安德森指出：「普遍上，在過去幾年，中國的輕工業的成長都很穩定。但是製造業在2008年，才勉強有利潤而已。」 競爭依舊 對電腦晶片、飛機零件與一些精密零件的製造商來說，獲利並不是主要的關注焦點，因為在過去數十年來，中國勞工的生產力已經讓他們獲利良多。 渣打銀行的經濟學家史提芬‧格林在最近的報告指出，勞工的能力超過薪資的調升，現在給勞工更高的薪資只是對工人的彌補。 他說，中國的薪資依然便宜，舉個例子，中國勞工的薪資比墨西哥工人少了25％。 「在未來5年，中國還是會維持具競爭力的薪資。」 但是也有明顯的跡象顯示，經濟權力以往都在雇主這邊，現在已經逐漸轉向工人。 廣東的勞工部在3月初指出，在農曆新年過後，有11％的移工沒有回來上班，使到企業忙於找人填補空缺。 工人也開始發聲，他們會找人權律師幫他們討回薪資、挑戰惡劣的工作環境和剝削的工作合約，這風氣已經在中國的工廠蔓延開來。 這個轉變可以在鄭州的就業博覽會中看到，來自內地與沿海的工廠都在搶工人。 對23歲的張世雷（音譯）來說，設在家鄉河南的工廠最吸引他。去年，他到廣州當機器設計員，每個月賺2千元。 他說：「內地的薪水肯定比南部少，但是南部的生活開銷也比較大。」 張世雷想在離家人較近的地方工作是可以理解的。在這個農曆新年假期，因為天氣惡劣影響鐵路交通，他花了3天的時間才回到家。 「中國內陸正在迅速發展，我應該可以找到工作。」他說：「我想和爸媽更靠近。」 For decades, China's massive workforce of factory hands and construction workers had little choice but to work long hours in often poor conditions for pitifully low salaries. But a mushrooming of factories, even in the country's sluggish interior, mean that these days workers have more clout than ever when hunting for jobs. Wages are being pushed up and firms' margins are being squeezed. "Companies are finding it harder and harder to get people," said Xue Guojie, visiting his parents' three-room farmhouse in Henan, a central province which is home to millions of migrant laborers who fan across China ever year. Business might be booming in China but the workforce is shrinking as the "one child policy" generation -- products of a 1979 law banning couples from having more than one child -- enters the crucial 18-35 age bracket, the main workforce for factories. Sporting a jean jacket and skateboarding shoes, Xue is a perfect example. The 23-year-old air conditioner factory worker expects to receive a 100 yuan ($13.98) increase to his 1500 yuan monthly wage when he returns back to work after extending his Chinese New Year holiday by two weeks, something unheard of in the past. "My boss would rather give me more than find and train someone new," Xue said. It seems far-fetched that China's vast pool of workers in a population of 1.3 billion, nearly half of whom still live on farmland, could be drying up. But a shrinking labor force at a time when factories are springing up across the country, including in dusty rural districts such as Fengqiu County in central China, means that workers can afford to be more selective about where they work. Most migrant laborers still head to coastal cities to find work, seeing their families once a year over the New Year festival and then rushing back to their jobs. A growing number, though, are choosing jobs closer to home. Droves of smaller factories have moved inland as the government, aiming to spread China's development more evenly, uses tax breaks and looser pollution controls to lure them to poorer central provinces, away from the traditional manufacturing heartland near Hong Kong. A smaller workforce for more jobs in more locales translates into stiffer competition among businesses for new hires. Migrant workers' pay is increasing by as much as 15 percent a year from low single-digit growth a few years earlier, UBS economist Jonathan Anderson calculates. FACTORY HANDS, FARM HANDS China's poor hinterland has already dispatched 130 million cooks, waiters, cleaners, builders and line workers across the country, according to the national agricultural census. The remaining rural labor force of 530 million is about the number that economists think can earn a fair living off the land. In other words, the countryside no longer has vast reserves of hand-to-mouth farmers whose only hope is to move to a city. "This village is just old people and children. Everyone else has already left," said Du Shicheng, 51, a farmer in Henan's Fengqiu county whose two adult children work at a mobile phone factory in the east. Money sent back by the children allowed Du and his wife to build a two-storey home last year, though it is half empty as the bottom floor offers more than enough space for the two of them and one grandchild. It is a story that rings true throughout the countryside. Migration has delivered as much as 50 percent of rural China's income through remittances but at the same time it has depleted villages and broken up families, explained Ran Tao, a rural expert at the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Du said his village has an official population of 2,000 but only 1,500 people live there year round, and they are mostly at the grey-haired end of the spectrum. The government, worried about an ageing population and diminishing workforce, is studying whether to slacken or even scrap its controversial one-child policy. "We want incrementally to have this change," Vice Minister of the National Population and Family Planning Commission Zhao Baige said in late February. "This has become a big issue among decision makers." And manufacturers have not been shy about voicing their displeasure about the higher wage bills. Complaints have built to a fever pitch in the Pearl River Delta, China's manufacturing base in the south, where industry organizations warn that as many as 15,000 factories may close. Most of these are smaller footwear and textile makers that have relied on cheap labor to corner the global market in low-value-added production. "While overall Chinese light industrial margins have been surprisingly stable over the past few years, 2008 will likely mark the year manufacturers were finally forced to take a general hit on profitability," Anderson at UBS noted. STILL COMPETITIVE Margins will be less of a concern, though, for makers of computer chips, airplane parts and other more sophisticated goods, as they have benefited from a dramatic rise in Chinese labor productivity over the past decade. Increases in labor skills have far outstripped increases in pay, so higher wages now represent basic catch-up for workers, Stephen Green, economist at Standard Chartered, wrote in a recent report. And China remains relatively inexpensive, with wages 25 percent below those in Mexico, for example. "China will still retain much of its competitive wage edge over the next five years," he said. But there are also clear signs that economic power within China, for years massively tilted towards employers, is slowly shifting in the direction of workers. The labor ministry in the southern province of Guangdong said last week that 11 percent of migrants had not returned after the New Year in early February, leaving businesses scrambling to fill positions. Workers have also gained more of a voice, often through activist lawyers, in fighting for back pay and challenging abusive conditions or the litany of other contract violations that are rife in Chinese factories. The changing landscape is laid bare at a Zhengzhou job fair where local inland factories and firms from the country's industrialized coastal areas compete for workers. Factories based in the home province of Henan are the main attraction for the crowds of job seekers including Zhang Shilei, a 23-year-old who earned 2000 yuan a month as a machinery designer in Guangzhou last year. "Wages here (inland) are definitely lower than in the south but the difference is not huge and the cost of living is much higher there," said Zhang. It's no surprise that Zhang wants to work closer to his family. It took him three days to get home for his brief Chinese New Year holiday in early February due to unusually harsh weather that disrupted the rail network. "Inland China is developing quickly and we should be able to get work here," he said. "And I want to be closer to my mom and dad." REUTERS |
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| （回目錄） | |
| 誰來關心現代奴隸 | |
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30多歲的孟加拉人德魯拉‧胡森喜歡馬來西亞，但是這個國家卻帶給他一段苦痛的回憶。 他到馬來西亞工作，期待緩解負債累累的家庭困境，卻沒料到最後什麼都沒有，只有慘痛的人生體驗。 德魯拉在家鄉繳了馬幣1萬2千元（約新台幣11萬5千元）的仲介費後，於去年抵達馬來西亞。依照仲介的說法，他將在萬撓得到一份高薪的建築工作。 當他抵達萬撓，才發現要跟28名勞工同宿一個屋簷下，第一個月的薪水也被扣留。 接著，他被帶到柔佛工作3個月，每月只領取馬幣兩百元（約新台幣1千9百元），買完食物後所剩無幾。 德魯拉表示，當打電話回家被家人追問薪水時，就感到特別沮喪。 他向雇主要求，把馬幣750元（約新台幣7千2百元）的薪水匯回孟加拉的老家， 但是無論是雇主或是仲介，沒有一人願意幫他。 沮喪之餘，德魯拉向民間機構「婦女力量」（Tenaganita）尋求法律諮詢的協助，但是卻在會見律師的途中，遭到不明男子的毆打，臉部受傷。 德魯拉的仲介警告他，不要把事情鬧大，並且告訴他，因為逞英雄，他將得不到任何薪資。 在德魯拉的簽證即將到期的最後2個月，他決定靠自己討回公道，並且追回應有的報酬。 德魯拉只是眾多被國際與當地仲介剝削的其中一名外籍移工，移工工作小組（Migration Working Group, MWG）成立的宗旨即是為了幫助這群人。 MWG於4月26日在吉隆坡中華大會堂舉辦名為「移動勞工與難民的賠償權力」的論壇中，聲明每一個移動勞工、尋求庇護者和難民，都有要求補償的權力。 MWG的協調員愛麗斯‧納表示，非公民只有在三權：申訴權、居留權和工作權被承認的時候，才有望爭取賠償權。 馬來西亞估計有1百萬到2百萬的無證勞工，以及220萬的合法勞工。 納說：「這個國家約有10萬個尋求政治庇護者和無國籍人士，但馬來西亞沒有相關的法律可以保護他們，他們絕大多數都被當成非法勞工對待。」 她說，無證勞工很難獲得賠償，因為即使是合法的外籍勞工，要求賠償也不容易。 「婦女力量」主席艾琳說：「許多案例顯示，當勞工要控告他的雇主時，雇主就會中止他的工作證，使他無法在此地居留和工作。」 艾琳表示，被迫賣淫的外籍移工、抵押勞工、人口販運進來的勞工與外籍配偶都是「現代奴隸」（modern day slaves）。他們通常沒有合法居留文件，所以一直被剝削。 另一名講者是律師公會人權委員會成員惹娜卡。她表示，語言障礙和忽視人權，是目前移工尋求賠償的最主要障礙。她認為，政府應該考慮設立專門審理移工案件的特別法庭。 論壇中的幾項提議，其中一項是只要持有聯合國最高難民公署核發的難民證件，難民身分的就可以被承認。 婦女援助組織（WAO）執行主任艾薇則表示，該組織和MWG希望很快可以和政府官員會面，討論移工的問題，並呈上他們的備忘錄。 參考來源：馬來西亞《新海峽時報》 http://www.nst.com.my/Current_News/NST/Sunday/National/20080427083514/Article/index_html |
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