廉价背后的代价

As Mike Duke, Walmart’s chief executive, prepared to give a talk on corporate responsibility last week in New York, protesters outside said a deadly factory fire in Bangladesh last month had shown he did not have the credibility to do so.

当沃尔玛(Walmart)首席执行官迈克·杜克(Mike Duke)近期准备在纽约就企业责任问题发表演讲时，会场外聚集的抗议者们宣称，鉴于上月在孟加拉某工厂发生的一起造成人员伤亡的火灾事故，杜克在企业责任问题方面并不具有公信力。

The blaze killed at least 117 people at the Tazreen factory on the outskirts of Dhaka, which made clothes for Walmart , albeit without its approval. Maritza Silva-Farrell, one of the protest’s organisers, said: “They could easily support these factories to improve safety conditions. And they chose not to.

这场火灾至少导致117人死亡。事故工厂名为Tazreen Fashions Ltd，位于达卡(Dhaka)市郊。该厂为沃尔玛生产服装，但并无来自沃尔玛的授权。抗议活动的组织者之一玛丽察·席尔瓦-法雷尔(Maritza Silva-Farrell)表示：“沃尔玛完全可以帮助这些工厂改善安全生产条件。但他们没有这么做。

As with previous fatal accidents at factories supplying other multinationals – a fire in 2010 and a building collapse in 2005 – November’s tragedy prompted a vow from Walmart to do more on safety.

与其他跨国公司供货工厂早前发生过的致命事故类似——在2010年发生过一起火灾，在2005年则发生过一起楼房倒塌事故——今年11月发生的这场悲剧促使沃尔玛承诺将在安全生产方面采取更多措施。

Sears, whose products were also being made at the Tazreen plant, apparently without its knowledge, likewise pledged to take action.

发生事故的Tazreen工厂也为西尔斯(Sears)生产货品，不过后者对此显然毫不知情。西尔斯也做出了和沃尔玛类似的承诺，表示将采取措施。

But labour activists say that in the past, business as usual has resumed all too quickly. Averting more disasters, they say, requires substantive safety investments from an industry under pressure to supply cheap clothes to the west while delivering higher profits for shareholders and better conditions for workers.

但劳工维权人士指出，过去这些企业在灾难发生之后很快就会故态复萌。这些人士指出，若想避免发生更多事故，服装生产行业需要在安全领域投入大量资金。该行业同时面临着向西方买家供应廉价服饰、为股东带来更高收益以及为工人提供更好工作环境的三重压力。

Other industry watchers say that while multinationals have been lax, Bangladesh’s government has indulged them and must shoulder the responsibility for enforcing higher standards among local manufacturers.

其他行业观察人士则表示，虽然跨国企业在监督把关方面较为松懈，但孟加拉政府对这些企业一直持放任态度，因此应当承担起敦促本国制造商提高安全标准的责任。

An official inquiry this week concluded that the Tazreen fire was an act of sabotage, but its preliminary report also called for criminal charges to be brought against the factory owner for death by negligence.

一项官方调查得出的结论是，Tazreen工厂火灾是有人蓄意破坏的结果，但其初步报告还提出应以过失杀人罪对工厂所有者提起刑事诉讼。

Rising labour costs in China, the world’s biggest clothes maker, have shaped Bangladesh’s garment industry as multinationals have diverted orders to the south Asian country in search of lower costs – and driven helter-skelter factory expansion.

中国是全球第一大服装生产国。受中国劳动力成本上升影响，跨国公司纷纷将订单转移至孟加拉，以期降低生产成本，这一趋势塑造了这个南亚国家服装制造业的整体格局，并推动孟加拉的服装加工厂无序扩张。

Now the world’s second-biggest garment producer, clothing exports from Bangladesh surged to $19bn in the 12 months to June this year. But many of its 5,400 garment factories still lack basic safety measures, with highly flammable fabric kept in corridors, windows barred, doors locked to prevent theft, and jerry-rigged wiring that is prone to electrical fires.

孟加拉目前已是全球第二大服装生产国，在截至今年6月的十二个月中，孟加拉的服装出口规模已高达190亿美元。但在该国的5400家服装加工厂中，许多仍未采取最基本的安全生产措施——高度易燃的纺织品被堆放在过道上，窗户被封死，大门上锁以防偷盗，布局杂乱无章的电线极易因短路引发火灾。

Bangladesh’s 3.6m garment workers are also among the lowest paid in the world, even after the government raised the minimum wage two years ago in response to violent protests stoked by double-digit inflation.

孟加拉的360万名服装厂工人也是全球薪资最低的群体之一。该国政府在两年前上调了最低工资标准，因为高达两位数的通货膨胀引发了暴力抗议罢工，但此举也无助于改善服装厂工人的处境。

At the same time, cash-strapped consumers struggling with the fallout of economic crises in the US and Europe have created more demand for cheap clothes from discount chains and “fast fashion stores. Big buyers include Sweden’s Hennes and Mauritz, which plans to double its purchases from Bangladesh to $3bn a year.

与此同时，欧美消费者在经济危机的影响下购买力有所减弱，对折扣连锁店以及“快时尚类品牌所提供的廉价服装需求大增。其中采购量较大的品牌包括瑞典的H and M(Hennes＆Mauritz)，该公司计划将发往孟加拉的订单规模扩大一倍，使其达到每年30亿美元。

The price of clothes in the US fell 4 per cent in the decade to the end of 2011 while the consumer price index rose 27 per cent.

在截至2011年底的十年中，美国的服装类商品价格下跌了4%，而同期消费价格指数的累计增幅则达到了27%。

Scott Nova, executive director of the Worker Rights Consortium, a monitoring group in Washington, said: “There’s this giant contradiction between the sourcing imperatives of the companies and their labour rights commitments. You cannot fundamentally change labour practices and cut prices at the same time.

斯科特·诺瓦(Scott Nova)是总部设在华盛顿的监督组织——工人权利联盟(Worker Rights Consortium)的执行总监。他指出：“在企业必要的外包生产模式与保护劳工权益的承诺之间，存在着巨大的矛盾。你无法在压低产品价格的同时从根本上改变工厂用工制度。

But Walmart’s Mr Duke told his audience in New York there was no conflict between lower prices and safer factories. “If a factory is not going to operate with high standards then we would not purchase from that factory and there is no discussion about price, he said.

但沃尔玛CEO杜克在纽约发表演讲时对听众表示，更低廉的产品价格与更安全的生产环境之间并不矛盾。他指出：“如果一家工厂不愿按照高标准生产运营，我们将不会从这家工厂采购商品，更不会有商谈价格的余地。

However, Walmart goods were being made at the Tazreen factory – even though the US group had withdrawn its authorisation several months ago – because a supplier had subcontracted an order to it.

但事实上沃尔玛确曾销售过Tazreen工厂生产的商品——虽然这家美国公司早在几个月前就已撤销了对该厂的生产授权，但沃尔玛的一家供应商向Tazreen分包了部分订单。

One activist said a Walmart official had led opposition to a plan for multinationals to invest in safety improvements at an industry meeting in Bangladesh in 2011, but Walmart said her remarks were taken out of context. It said it recognised that the cost of goods would include the cost of meeting its safety standards.

一名活动人士表示，在2011年于孟加拉举行的一个行业会议上，沃尔玛的一位高管带头对一项有关跨国公司应投资改善外包工厂生产条件的方案表示反对。但沃尔玛声称这位人士的言论被断章取义。该公司表示，其体认到，商品的总成本中应包含为达到其安全生产标准所需的花费。

Mustafizur Rahman, executive director of the Dhaka-based Centre for Policy Dialogue, a private think-tank, says western retailers are guilty of “hypocrisy but will be more careful after the Tazreen fire.

穆斯塔菲兹·拉赫曼(Mustafizur Rahman)是总部位于达卡的私人智库机构——政策对话中心(Centre for Policy Dialogue)的执行总监。他表示，西方零售商非常“虚伪，但在Tazreen火灾之后这些公司将更加小心谨慎。

“The front factory is compliant, but there are back contractors who are not being compliant?.?.?.?western buyers have overlooked those, he said.

拉赫曼称：“处于生产一线的工厂通常都是按规矩办事的，但存在一些不遵守安全规定的中游分包商……西方采购商忽视了这一问题。

Khalid Nadvi, senior lecturer at the University of Manchester, said the factory audit systems set up by companies were not effective because they were unregulated. “No one monitors the auditors, he said. “You have anecdotal evidence of workers being coached prior to audit inspections.

曼彻斯特大学(University of Manchester)的高级讲师哈立德·纳德维(Khalid Nadvi)表示，由零售商成立的工厂审查体系并未起到明显作用，因为这一体系本身不受监督。纳德维指出：“没有人来监督审查者，你会听到有关工厂工人在接受审查之前受到突击培训的小道消息。

Multinationals also face no financial or legal liability if they break their own rules.

此外，跨国企业如果违背自身规定，也不会在经济或法律层面背上任何包袱。

Phillips-Van Heusen– which makes Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger products and bought from the owner of the factory in the 2010 fire – signed a landmark agreement with labour groups in March 2012, which gave them the ability to hold it to account on safety. However, a lack of clarity about what powers the labour groups would have deterred some retailers from joining the deal.

服装公司Phillips-Van Heusen（简称PVH）旗下拥有CK(Calvin Klein)以及Tommy Hilfiger等品牌，并且曾向2010年火灾事故中的那家工厂采购过。2012年3月，PVH与劳工组织达成了一项具有里程碑意义的协议，劳工组织依据该协议将可以要求该公司对工厂的生产安全负责。但由于对劳工组织的权力范围尚无明确规定，这或不利于某些零售商加入该协议。

Kevin Burke, chief executive of the American Apparel and Footwear Association, a trade body for manufacturers and retailers, said: “The penalty for us is that the consumers won’t buy our product if we buy from factories where people are dying.

美国服装和鞋类协会(American Apparel and Footwear Association)的首席执行官凯文·伯克(Kevin Burke)表示：“如果我们从发生工人伤亡事故的工厂采购，消费者将以不购买我们商品的形式对我们进行惩罚。该协会是由加工企业和零售商所组成的一个行业组织。

“If Bangladesh wants to keep our industry in Bangladesh, they need to make enormous changes, he said.

伯克称：“如果孟加拉希望留住来自我们这一行业的订单，他们有必要做出重大改进。

The International Labour Organisation has been in talks about implementing a factory improvement programme that has been successful in Vietnam and elsewhere. But ILO officials said Bangladesh first had to do more to recognise workers’ rights.

国际劳工组织(International Labour Organisation)一直在就推广一项在越南等国家大获成功的工厂改进计划进行谈判。但该组织官员指出，孟加拉首先应在认识工人权益方面多下功夫。

Mr Rahman said the government should strengthen its supervision of the garment industry and send a clear signal that it had “zero tolerance in the case of flagrant violations of hitherto weakly enforced rules.

拉赫曼指出，孟加拉政府应加强对服装制造业的监管，并对公然违反强制法规的情况发出明确的“零容忍信号，不过到目前为止孟加拉国内的执法力度一直较为疲弱。

Western activists, however, insist that the answer lies with foreign buyers, which they say could eliminate the pressures that lead to such disasters by paying more. For companies such as Walmart, which wear frugality as a badge of honour, that raises tough questions.

但西方的活动人士坚称，向孟加拉外包订单的外国买家才是解决问题的关键，这些买家只需提高商品采购价格就可减轻引发此类惨剧的生产压力。对于沃尔玛这样以严格的成本控制为荣的企业来说，提高采购价格将引发一连串严峻问题。

Additional reporting by Richard Milne

理查德·米尔恩(Richard Milne)补充报道