FT社评：iPhone中的血与汗

It took Nike nearly 15 years to clear the stain on its brand caused by revelations about its use of sweatshops in the developing world. Today, in light of subsequent scandals and tragedies, not only is there greater scrutiny of the global supply chains used by multinationals and wider consumer awareness of the pitfalls of outsourcing manufacturing. Technology has also made it easier to monitor where and under what conditions things are made. There should be fewer excuses therefore for unethical behaviour.

耐克(Nike)花了近15年时间才清除在发展中国家使用血汗工厂一事曝光给其品牌带来的污点。如今，鉴于后续的一系列丑闻和悲剧，不仅跨国公司的全球供应链被置于放大镜下，消费者也更清楚地意识到了制造外包存在的种种隐患。技术进步还使得监测货品在何地以及何种条件下生产变得更加容易。因此，生产过程中存在不道德行为应该更说不过去了。

Yet big companies continue running into trouble. A Financial Times investigation revealed this week that Apple iPhones were being manufactured at a plant in China where school interns were forced to work illegal overtime. This was not the most shocking instance of exploitation. It is nonetheless unacceptable that one of the richest companies in the history of companies, had not conducted more effective due diligence of its supply chain.

然而，还是有一家家大型企业出问题。本周，英国《金融时报》的一项调查曝光了为苹果(Apple)生产iPhone的一家中国工厂强迫实习生违法加班。这并不是最令人发指的剥削事例，但它依然是不可接受的——苹果是有史以来最有钱的公司之一，而它居然未对其供应链进行更有效的尽职调查。

Foxconn, the main supplier of iPhones had turned to cheap student labour to catch up with a rush of orders of Apple’s anniversary iPhone X. The company says it has now halted abuse at its Zhengzhou plant. But it should not have required bad publicity for them to do so. Increased demand is no excuse for condoning exploitation.

为了赶苹果第十代iPhone X的大量订单，iPhone主要供应商富士康(Foxconn)利用了廉价学生劳动力。富士康表示，其郑州工厂已停止滥用学生劳动力。但它本不应该在被曝光后才进行改正。需求增加并非纵容剥削的借口。

There are lessons in the Nike story. By 2005 the company became the first in its industry to publish a complete list of the factories it contracts with. It had also, in preceding years, conducted audits at 600 plants. These showed that abuses still occurred. But they also showed that the company was making an effort to end them.

耐克的经历提供了很多前车之鉴。2005年，耐克成为其所在行业首家公布完整签约代工厂名单的企业。此前几年，耐克还对600家代工厂进行了审查。审查结果显示，滥用劳动力的行为仍在发生。但审查的开展也表明，该公司为终止这些行为做出了努力。

The sportswear company was obliged to introduce this level of transparency to detoxify a brand, which in the words of one former chief executive had become “synonymous with slave wages, forced overtime and arbitrary abuse”. There was no other way to halt the protests that were denting sales.

这家运动用品公司不得不引入这样高的透明度为耐克品牌正名——用该公司一名前首席执行官的话说，这一品牌已成为“奴隶工资、强迫加班和任意虐待的代名词”。要阻止导致销量下滑的抗议活动，已经别无他法。

To be fair to Apple, many Chinese factories have cleaned up their acts, although the practice of outsourcing to smaller “black factories”, when orders are too great to cope with, continues. These outfits come and go like flash floods — when opportunity arises. They go unmonitored and pay scant attention to workers’ rights.

为苹果说句公道话，许多中国工厂已经规范了自己的行为——尽管在订单大到无法应付的时候，外包给规模较小的“黑工厂”的做法仍在存在。当机会出现时，这些“黑工厂”就会像山洪暴发一样突然出现，完工后又消失不见。它们不受监管，也漠视工人权利。

The bigger problems occur where manufacturing capacity has moved out of China, in particular to low-wage Bangladesh. They are also to be found where primary resources are mined. Nowhere is more troubling than the Democratic Republic of Congo.

更严重的问题出现在中国以外的地方，尤其是低工资的孟加拉国。还有就是出产主要资源的地方。问题最严重的是刚果民主共和国。

Prompted by a report from Amnesty International, the London Metal Exchange has launched an investigation into whether cobalt mined by child labourers is being traded on the exchange. Demand for cobalt has pushed prices up by 80 per cent this year and is only likely to increase as more electric cars take to the roads.

在大赦国际(Amnesty International)一份报告的推动下，伦敦金属交易所(LME)启动了一项针对该交易所交易的钴是否由童工开采的调查。需求今年已将钴价推涨了80%，且随着更多的电动车上路，钴价只可能继续上涨。

Congo, the epitome of a failed state, produces more than half the world’s supply. So, it is nigh on impossible to cut it out altogether. Besides, recent experience shows that often action designed in the developed world to ease western consumer consciences can have grave unintended consequences at source. This has been the case with efforts to halt the exploitation by Congolese militia of coltan, used in mobile phones. Hundreds of thousands of legitimate jobs in Congo have been lost as a result.

刚果这个典型的失败国家出产了全球一半以上的钴供应。因此，完全封杀刚果几乎是不可能的。此外，近来的经验表明，发达国家为缓解西方消费者良心不安而采取的行动，通常会在产地国造成意想不到的严重不良后果。为阻止刚果境内武装组织开采钶钽铁矿(制造手机所需的一种矿物)而进行的努力就是如此——刚果国内失去了成千上万的合法工作。

Constraining whole industries is not necessarily the answer. Besides, most companies have the wherewithal to do a better job of policing their own supply chains. To paraphrase Amnesty, they should not need to be named and shamed before they act.

限制整个行业并非唯一的解决方式。此外，大多数公司都有能力更好地管理自己的供应链。套用大赦国际的话来说，它们本不需要被点名羞辱才采取行动。