【英语中国】外企雇廉价实习生激怒中国罢工工人

Recent strikes in China are highlighting a technique widely used by foreign companies to keep costs down: hiring large numbers of trainee workers who can be paid less than the legal minimum wage.

The practice, while legal, has been a source of complaint for at least some workers during recent strikes, and labor experts say foreign companies may have to refrain from overly relying on it.

For companies operating in China, 'the whole labor-unrest saga should lead to a rethinking of labor relations,' said Andreas Lauffs, head of law firm Baker & McKenzie's employment-law group in Hong Kong.

As China's migrant workers become more aware of their legal rights, they are starting to question some employment practices, such as excessive overtime and the wide use of trainees on the factory floor.

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao on Tuesday urged better treatment for migrant laborers and said he recognized that a new generation moving from villages to work in factories wouldn't be satisfied with the hard conditions their parents endured. His comments, published in the state-run People's Daily newspaper, didn't directly address the recent labor unrest.

In a strike at Honda Motor Co.'s wholly owned gearbox factory that crippled the Japanese auto maker's car production for 10 days starting in late May, regular workers were joined by student trainees from local vocational schools in demanding a pay raise and better treatment.

'Factories treat all workers unfairly, but especially trainees,' said Tan Guocheng, one of two strike leaders fired May 22. Honda has said the two workers were let go for violating the plant's in-house work and contract rules but not for leading the walkout.

In Guangdong province, China's main manufacturing hub where the Honda transmission factory is located, local law limits the use of student trainees to 30% of a factory's overall labor force, according to Baker & McKenzie. Mr. Tan said the ratio of trainees at the transmission factory 'definitely exceeds 30%.'

Trainees usually come to factories under an internship program, which Baker & McKenzie says isn't covered by China's employment-law system but under separate, much vaguer sets of national and local regulations.

Mr. Tan and Xiao Lang, the other fired strike leader, suggested that the trainee system is a deliberate way to allow factories to pay workers less than the minimum wage. The two strike leaders say that in some cases, trainees at the Honda gearbox factory are paid 20% below the minimum wage set by the city of Foshan for qualified workers, which is 920 yuan, or approximately $135, a month. Baker & McKenzie's Mr. Lauffs said such a practice is within legal limits in China.

Honda strongly disputes the characterizations made by the two fired workers. Roughly 30% of the workers at Honda's transmission plant in Foshan, or about 600 of the plant's 1,900 employees, are trainees, said Takayuki Fujii, a Beijing-based company spokesman. They receive 'near the minimum wage' in Foshan, he said. He declined to provide a precise wage figure.

The trainee system arose to feed demand for qualified workers in regions of heavy foreign investment that sometimes lacked educational infrastructures. The schools are supported by local governments, which set them up as part of a package to lure large foreign employers.

In some cases, the schools are partially funded by foreign multinationals, which provide expensive equipment, course materials and even trainers to ensure that the schools churn out graduates with specific skills who can easily be slotted into production lines.

The schools often become integrated into factory operations as, in effect, apprenticeship programs. Some students spend their final year on the factory floor, doing a full-time job but being paid as an intern.

Mr. Lauffs of Baker & McKenzie said that as a result of the wide use of student interns and trainees, 'there is a lot of incompliance and noncompliance going on in China with labor rules.'

Honda's Mr. Fujii said the company doesn't 'knowingly violate specific rules.' The relatively high percentage of interns at the Honda transmission plant results from a staff expansion the company undertook in recent months, Mr. Fujii said, as China's auto market surged.

Next month, the factory plans to promote 390 of the 600 trainees to regular full-time positions, Mr. Fujii added. 'We believe our internship program is living up to its purpose, a way for students to test and improve their skills and for the company to discover good talent,' he said.

Norihiko Shirouzu

中国近期的多起罢工事件凸显了外企为控制成本而广泛采用的一个手段：大量招聘实习生。企业给实习生的报酬可以低于法定最低工资标准。

Reuters周一，工人们聚在本田制锁（广东）公司外。上周，该厂工人举行罢工要求加薪这样做虽然合法，但成了近期罢工事件中至少部分工人所抱怨的一个对象。劳工专家说，外企可能需要避免过度依赖这种办法。

律师事务所贝克•麦坚实(Baker & McKenzie)驻香港雇工法团队负责人劳夫斯(Andreas Lauffs)说，对于在中国经营的企业来讲，这一系列劳资纠纷应该会带来对劳资关系的反思。

随着中国的农民工越来越多地注意到自身的法律权益，他们正在开始质疑某些用工惯例，比如超长时间加班、生产线上普遍使用实习生。

国务院总理温家宝周二敦促提高农民工待遇，并说他知道新一代农民工不会满足于父辈承受的艰苦条件。他的言论发表在了官办报纸《人民日报》上，没有直接提及近期的劳资纠纷。

本田汽车公司(Honda Motor Co.)全资拥有的变速箱工厂曾发生一起罢工，导致这家日本汽车生产商从5月底开始停产10天。期间，来自当地职业学校的实习生和正式工人一起，要求加薪并改善待遇。

5月22日被解雇的两名罢工领袖之一谭国成（音）说，工厂对所有工人都是不公平的，特别是对实习生。本田曾说，这两名工人被解雇是因为违反工厂的内部工作与合同规定，而不是因为领导了罢工。

据贝克•麦坚时公司说，在本田变速箱工厂所在地、中国主要制造业中心广东省，当地法规规定工厂的实习生用工人数不得超过用工总人数的30%。谭国成说，本田变速箱工厂的实习生比例肯定超过了30%。

实习生常常是根据某个实习项目来工厂打工的。贝克•麦坚时说，实习项目不为中国就业法律体系管辖，而是遵循另外一套更加模糊的国家、地方规定。

Reuters本田制锁（广东）公司厂区里的工人们谭国成和另外一名被解雇的罢工领袖肖浪（音）觉得，实习生制度的目的，就是为了让企业付给工人的工资能够低于最低工资水平。两人说，在某些情况下，本田变速箱工厂实习生所获得的报酬比佛山市为合格工人设定的最低月工资920元（合135美元）标准低了20%。劳夫斯说，这样的做法在中国并不违法。

对这两名被解雇工人的描述，本田强烈批驳。本田公司驻北京发言人藤井隆行(Takayuki Fujii)说，其佛山变速箱工厂的1900名员工里，约600人是实习生，比例大概在30%。他说，这些实习生的报酬“接近”佛山的最低工资标准。他拒绝提供确切的工资数据。

实习生制度的出现，是为了满足外商投资大量聚集的地区对合格工人的需求，这些地区有时候缺乏教育方面的基础设施。学校由地方政府支持，作为吸引大型外资雇主的一揽子条件之一而设立。

在某些情况下，学校由跨国公司部分资助，它们提供昂贵的设备、课程材料甚至是培训师，以确保从学校出来的毕业生拥有专门技能，可以很容易地安插在生产线上。

这些学校常常作为事实上的学徒项目而成为工厂运营不可或缺的一部分。一些学生的最后一学年都在生产线上度过，做的是全职工作，但拿到的只是实习工资。

劳夫斯说，由于广泛使用实习生，中国存在大量违反劳动法规的现象。

本田发言人藤井隆行说，公司并没有对具体的法规明知故犯。他说，变速箱工厂实习生比例相对较高，是因为随着中国汽车市场的快速增长，公司近几个月扩大了员工队伍。

藤井隆行还说，佛山工厂准备在下个月把600名实习生中的390名提升到全职岗位。他说，我们相信我们的实习生项目符合其本来目的，这是一种让实习生检验并提升其技能，并让公司发现优秀人才的办法。

Norihiko Shirouzu

（更新完成）