沃尔玛关闭中国门店引发抗议

A restructuring of Walmart’s China business is being challenged by the country’s normally reticent official union, which is involved in at least one of three protests that have erupted at stores slated for closure this month.

沃尔玛(Walmart)重组中国业务计划正受到中国通常沉默寡言的官方工会的挑战。在计划关闭的门店本月爆发的3场抗议中，官方工会至少参与了其中一场抗议。

A unit of the government-sanctioned All China Federation of Trade Unions has been leading the protests outside a Walmart store in Changde, Hunan province that closed last week. The ACFTU’s involvement in an industrial action, which is extremely rare, could increase official scrutiny of the closures.

政府批准的中华全国总工会（All China Federation of Trade ，简称ACFTU）的一个单位，近日在上周关闭的沃尔玛湖南常德店外领导抗议活动。中华全国总工会极其罕见地参与劳工行动，可能加强官方对沃尔玛关店措施的关注。

“The fact that the union president has come forward in Changde has given the workers great confidence,” said Wang Jiangsong, a labour expert who has been advising the workers in Changde and at two other Walmart stores in Maanshan, Anhui province.

“工会主席在常德出面的事实，给了工人们很大信心，”劳动关系专家王江松表示。近期他为常德以及安徽马鞍山另外两家沃尔玛门店的工人们提供建议。

The protests highlight Chinese workers’ growing willingness to demand higher compensation during corporate acquisitions and restructurings, in addition to agitating for higher pay adjustments every year. A historic demographic shift in 2017, when China’s working-age population declined for the first time, has given workers greater bargaining power.

这些抗议活动突显中国工人除了每年要求得到更大幅度的加薪外，还越来越倾向于在企业并购和重组时要求得到更高补偿。中国在2017年发生历史性的人口结构变化，劳动适龄人口首次减少，这给了工人们更大的议价能力。

China has proved to be a difficult market for Walmart. It opened its first stores in the country in 1996 and now has about 400, but it has struggled to get a satisfactory return on investment and in the past two years has admitted to making mistakes in its haste to expand.

对沃尔玛来说，中国已被证明是一个困难的市场。沃尔玛1996年在中国开设首批门店，目前拥有大约400家门店，但该公司一直难以取得令人满意的投资回报，在过去两年里承认在匆忙扩张的过程中出现失误。

While China’s ACFTU was instrumental in establishing branches at Walmart’s Chinese stores in 2006 and 2007, many labour activists say that it is more interested in collecting lucrative payroll fees than fighting for workers’ rights. ACFTU officials played no part in a recent strike that affected an IBM factory in southern China and have also been silent on two other labour protests in which workers were charged with disrupting public order.

尽管中华全国总工会在2006年和2007年大力推动在沃尔玛的中国门店设立分支机构，但许多劳工活动人士表示，这个官方工会更感兴趣的是收取丰厚的工会会费，而非为工人争取权益。前不久在中国南方一家IBM工厂发生的罢工行动中，中华全国总工会的官员没有扮演任何角色；这些官员在另外两场劳工抗议活动中也保持沉默，尽管参与抗议的工人被控扰乱公共秩序。

China Labour Bulletin, a Hong Kong-based rights group, has described the situation in Changde as “historic”.

总部位于香港的劳工权利组织——中国劳工通讯(China Labour Bulletin)形容常德发生的情况是“历史性的”。

“It’s a very unusual and encouraging sign that a store union chairman would take the initiative and take such a strong stand in defence of his members’ interests,” said Geoffrey Crothall at CLB.

“这是一个非常不寻常和令人鼓舞的迹象：某一家店的工会主席站出来，采取强硬立场捍卫工会会员的权益，”中国劳工通讯的杰弗里•克罗塞尔(Geoffrey Crothall)表示。

Chinese workers have been picketing the stores in Changde and Maanshan since it was announced that they would be closed. They are demanding twice the compensation offered by Walmart to workers who will lose their jobs, and also rental and other subsidies for those who transfer to stores in other cities.

自沃尔玛宣布将要关闭常德和马鞍山的门店后，中国工人们就在相关门店外聚集抗议。他们要求沃尔玛对将要失去工作的工人提高一倍补偿金，并向调任其它城市的门店的员工提供房租及其它补贴。

The more than 140 workers at Walmart’s Changde store have been offered positions in the city of Yiyang, a three-hour bus ride away. “Workers cannot survive elsewhere on their low wages,” said the store’s union head, Huang Xingguo. “Walmart’s offer is an empty cheque. Our families are in Changde. It would cost more to rent new homes in Yiyang.”

沃尔玛常德店的140多个工人已被提供益阳市的岗位，从常德搭乘巴士到那里需要3小时。“工人们凭这点低工资是无法在其它地方生存的，”沃尔玛常德店的工会主席黄兴国表示。“沃尔玛的提议是一张空头支票。我们的家在常德。在益阳租一个新家需要更多钱。”

Mr Huang has vowed to continue the Changde protest even after police forcibly detained workers at the weekend.

黄兴国誓言将常德的抗议进行下去，即便警方在周末强行带走了一些工人。

Walmart has denied claims that its workers in Changde and Maanshan were given inadequate notice about the closures and says that it consults closely with local governments, the ACFTU and affected workers. “The nearest store [to Changde] is Yiyang, which unfortunately is about 100km away,” said Ray Bracy, a senior vice-president with Walmart’s China operations. “That makes it really difficult for the associates to transfer.”

沃尔玛否认有关常德和马鞍山的工人们没有在关店这件事上得到充分通知的说法，并表示，公司在与地方政府、中华全国总工会和受影响的工人密切磋商。“距离常德最近的门店在益阳市，可惜该市在大约100公里外，”沃尔玛中国区高级副总裁雷•布雷西(Ray Bracy)表示。“这真的使员工们很难调任。”

Mr Bracy said Walmart was closing about 20 stores as part of a wider restructuring of its China business, but also has plans to open another 110 new stores and hire 19,000 more workers over the next three years. “Those stores [that are closing] are not acceptable from a dollars and cents standpoint,” he added. “In the cases where we’re closing it’s a decision of last resort.”

布雷西表示，作为在华业务整体重组计划的一部分，沃尔玛将关闭大约20家门店，但同时也计划在未来三年开设110家新店，新增1.9万员工。“那些将要关闭的门店从财务角度看是不可接受的，”他补充道。“关店是我们在万不得已的情况下作出的决定。”