中國養老金欠繳問題值得政府關注

Perched in front of a computer in a one-room apartment in Gaobu, Ms Wang opens the social security website, enters her personal details, and calls up her pension payment record.

在高埗鎮的一間單房公寓裏，王小姐（化名）坐在電腦前，打開社保網站，輸入她的個人信息，並調出了她的養老金繳款記錄。

The screen says she has paid into the pension for 85 months. She then points to a printed record from a recent visit to the social security bureau that says she has only contributed for 35 months, and laughs.

屏幕顯示，她已爲養老金賬戶連續繳款85個月。她又指了一下最近去社保局打印的一份記錄，上面顯示，她僅連續繳款35個月。王小姐笑了出來。

“If you ask 10 workers, nine don’t understand what is on the forms,” says Ms Wang, an alias for one of 40,000 workers who recently joined the biggest strike in China in decades.

王小姐說：“如果你問十個工人，有九個人都搞不明白這些表格上寫的是什麼。”不久前發生了中國數十年來規模最大的一場罷工，王小姐是參與此次罷工的4萬名工人中的一員。

Workers at Yue Yuen Industrial, which makes running shoes for Nike and Adidas at a factory complex in Gaobu, said it underpaid their pensions for years.

裕元工業（集團）有限公司（Yue Yuen Industrial，簡稱裕元集團）的工人表示，該企業多年未給他們足額繳納養老金。裕元集團在高埗鎮擁有一座大型工廠，爲耐克(Nike)和阿迪達斯(Adidas)生產運動鞋。

After 11 days of protest, the Dongguan municipal government handed them a rare victory by saying the company should have based contributions on a higher pay level. Yue Yuen estimates it will have to pay an additional $31m just this year after agreeing to base pension payments on total pay, including overtime.

在抗議活動持續了11天之後，東莞市政府的表態使這些工人罕見地取得了一次勝利。東莞市政府表示，裕元集團應基於較高的薪資基數計算繳款金額。裕元集團估計，在同意基於包括加班費在內的總工資計算養老金繳款額之後，僅今年就需額外支付3100萬美元。

The strike cast a harsh spotlight on Yue Yuen, the biggest employer in Gaobu, one of many towns that form the manufacturing metropolis of Dongguan. But workers, labour activists and factory managers say the practice is widespread in the Pearl River Delta – the workshop of the world – in south China.

此次罷工將裕元集團置於聚光燈下。該公司是高埗鎮的第一用工大戶——高埗鎮和其他多個鄉鎮一起組成了東莞的製造業中心區。但工人、勞工活動人士以及工廠經理指出，養老金繳納不足的情況，在被譽爲世界工廠的中國南部珠三角地區普遍存在。

Local governments are allowing companies to pay lower contributions than required as they fear their leaving, particularly as factories face double-digit wage rises each year.

地方政府允許企業的繳款金額低於應繳標準，因爲他們害怕企業離開當地，特別是鑑於企業每年都面臨幅度達到兩位數的工人工資增長。

“The government has been keeping one eye open, one eye closed all along,” said one Yue Yuen worker. “It did not want to put too big a burden on the factory, since it wants foreign investment.”

裕元集團的一名工人表示：“政府一直都是睜一隻眼閉一隻眼。政府不希望讓企業背上太重的負擔，因爲政府希望吸引海外投資。”

In 1997, China introduced a national pension system that requires employers and employees to contribute. Companies should make payments as a percentage of total pay, but many use a lower figure that does not include overtime. Factory workers often earn several multiples of the minimum wage through extra hours.

1997年，中國引入了全國養老保險制度，僱主和員工都必須繳款。企業應按員工總薪資的一定百分比繳款，但很多企業採用的是不包括加班工資的較低基數。工廠工人通過加班常常能夠掙到數倍於最低工資的收入。

Zhang Zhiru, a labour activist who was detained by police for helping Yue Yuen workers, says local governments allow companies to underpay pensions as long as their calculations are based on a higher figure than the minimum wage.

勞工活動人士張治儒曾因幫助裕元集團的工人被警方拘押。他表示，政府允許企業不足額繳納養老金，只要企業的計算基數高於最低工資即可。

Factory managers said the practice was common. One said that Dongguan required his company to make payments for only 55 per cent of its workers, and added: “The base for calculating contributions should have been raised to Rmb2,138 ($342) from Rmb1,813 in 2012. But most factories still use the lower number and the Dongguan social security bureau has been acquiescing.”

工廠經理們表示，這種做法非常普遍。一位經理指出，東莞市只要求他所在的公司爲55%的工人繳納養老金，並補充稱：“計算繳款金額的基數本應從2012年的1813元人民幣提高至2138元人民幣（合342美元）。但絕大多數企業仍然使用較低的基數，而東莞社保局對此一直默許。”

Adidas said Yue Yuen’s payments were “in accordance with an agreement which they had reached with the Dongguan authorities”. Yue Yuen has denied breaking any laws. Asked about deals with companies over payment levels, a Yue Yuen spokesman said it was a “prevalent practice”.

阿迪達斯表示，裕元集團的繳款“符合他們與東莞政府早前達成的一項協議”。裕元集團不承認自身違反了任何法律規定。在被問及政府與企業就繳款金額達成的協議時，一名裕元集團的發言人表示，這是一種“非常普遍的做法”。

“Yue Yuen has given local governments in the Pearl River Delta a real headache,” says Mr Zhang. “How do you solve the pension problem?”

張治儒稱：“裕元集團讓珠三角地區的地方政府感到非常頭痛。你能如何解決養老金問題呢？”

The pension issue has not previously sparked as much unrest as that witnessed at Yue Yuen. One reason is workers are reluctant to contribute due to difficulties transferring pension when they move cities – a big problem given the fluid nature of the labour force.

養老金問題此前從未引發嚴重如裕元集團事件的動盪。一個原因是，工人不願繳納養老金，因爲當他們去別的城市時，養老金的轉移非常困難——考慮到勞動力高度流動的特點，這是一個大問題。

Zheng Bingwen, an adviser to the Chinese labour ministry, says in some cases when workers move, the government in their new district must fund the portion of the pension that could not be transferred, creating a reluctance to accept accounts.

中國人力資源和社會保障部的顧問鄭秉文表示，在某些情況下，當工人跨地區流動時，流入地的政府必須爲無法轉移的那一部分養老金提供補貼，這使其不願接受養老金賬戶轉入。

Professor Mu Guangzong, of Peking University’s Institute of Population Research, says: “The social security system is fragmented. It’s like the Beijing metro system – lines are not well connected making transfers very difficult.”

北京大學(Peking University)人口研究所(Institute of Population Research)教授穆光宗表示：“目前社保系統是碎片化的。就好像北京的地鐵系統一樣，線路之間銜接得不好，使得換乘非常麻煩。”

Sitting in a café near Yue Yuen, one furniture factory worker in his early twenties says many young workers have not worried about pensions. “I don’t really care about the pension issue, as I’m really young. I won’t spend my whole life in a factory,” says the man.

在一家靠近裕元集團工廠的咖啡廳裏，一位二十出頭的傢俱廠工人表示，很多年輕工人並不爲養老金而擔心。“我不是很關心養老金問題，因爲我真的很年輕。我不會一輩子都待在一間工廠裏的。”

A friend chimes in that “most young workers think the same way, which is why nobody at Yue Yuen checked their pensions”, but that more are now paying attention. He says some of his co-workers have recently found similar problems, but are of unwilling to start a strike out of fears that they would be fired.

他的一位朋友插話表示，“絕大多數年輕工人都是這麼想的，所以在裕元集團纔會無人查看他們的養老金”，但現在越來越多的工人開始注意這個問題了。他說，自己的一些工友最近也發現了類似問題，但他們不願發起罷工，因爲擔心可能因此遭到解僱。

“Since Yue Yuen, many people have gone to print their pension records,” says Ms Wang. “I waited for an hour to print mine. In ­normal times, nobody would be lining up.”

王小姐說：“自從裕元集團事件發生以來，很多人都去社保局打印了他們的養老金繳款記錄。我等候了一個小時纔打印了自己的記錄。而在正常情況下，根本不會有人排隊。”