China's Pay Rises 中國薪資提升
Salaries in China are on average still just a quarter of those in Brazil, another emerging economy.
Will Foxconn's wage rise force salaries up?
Factory owners elsewhere don't believe wages will rise across the board.
While they may not make the same products that Foxconn does, they compete for young workers from the same shrinking pool.
Yet they say Foxconn's 70% pay rise, done to stabilize a workforce that showed an alarming tendency to commit suicide, only goes to show that they weren't paying their workers enough in the first place.
Foxconn workers needed to do overtime to make enough money to take home.
Other companies believe that it is enough to ensure that their staff develop new skills, remain happy and not want to leave.
Labor activists agree.
While they welcome increased pay packets at companies like Foxconn, they warn that it is equally, if not more, important to treat their workers better.
Otherwise, the gains will be short-lived.
There needs to be an improvement in working conditions, because people don’t just need more money.
They are human beings who need their dignity and need to be treated more fairly.
Just as Foxconn has realized after complaints of overwork, insults and late breaks, it is important that there are support programs in place that meet the needs of its employees.
Yet much of the international and local media are largely ignoring another issue.
It is very unfair that the double-digit salary increases given to the workforce at big companies are making headlines, yet meanwhile millions of others are getting left behind.
Low wages are a fact of life for many people in China, and there's no sign this will be changing anytime soon.
People like street cleaners haven't seen their wages rise, and their bosses are extremely unlikely to give up profits to fund a pay increase.
Higher wages might be on the cards for a small minority, but many poor Chinese still suspect that society in China is becoming less equal and more unfair.
<< 解 析 >>
中國的平均薪資仍是另一個新興經濟體，巴西的四分之一。
富士康的加薪作法是否會迫使薪資全面提高呢?
其他地方的工廠老闆不相信會有全面性的薪資提升。
儘管他們的產品也許和富士康不同，但他們卻在同一個日益縮小的人力市場裡搶年輕員工。
然而他們表示富士康為了安定陷入的自殺恐慌的員工而將薪資提高70%，這只是顯明他們當初就沒有付員工足夠的薪資。
富士康員工必須加班才能有足夠的錢帶回家。
其他公司則相信確保員工可以學到新技能，心情愉快和不想離職，其實這樣就夠了。
勞工團體同意此說法。
儘管他們認同富士康加薪的作法，但是他們也提出善待員工就算沒有比較重要，那麼也一定是一樣重要的警告。
要不然這一切只是短線操作。
工作環境必須要有所改善，因為員工並非只需要更多錢。
他們是一群需要被尊重和被更公平對待的人類。
然而在爆發一連串有關過度操勞，被羞辱和太晚休息的抱怨之後，富士康終於意識到援助計畫的施行，是滿足員工需求的重要環節。
然而大部分的國際媒體和當地媒體卻多半忽視了另一個議題。
非常不公平的是這家把薪資提高兩位數的大公司得到了新聞焦點，但同時其他千千萬萬名員工卻被忽略了。
微薄薪資一向是多數中國人的生活寫照，沒有跡象顯示這種現象在近期會有所改變。
許多員工，例如清道夫，從來不被加薪，而他們的老闆也極不可能會為了提高薪資而放棄某些利潤。
可能會有少數人能擁有較高的薪資，但許多貧苦的中國人仍然懷疑中國社會正朝越來越不平等以及越來越不公平發展。
<< 單 字 >>
emerging; (adj.); 新興的
shrinking; (adj.); 縮小的
alarming; (adj.); 令人恐慌的
dignity; (n.); 尊嚴
minority; (n.); 少數
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