On Foxconn suicides: Bringing Standard of Living and Concept of Civility to today's relevance

Source country/region: Singapore
Source: www.zaobao.com
Original contributor:
Original title: 移位的生存标准与文明底线

"　　在公开媒体上，同情工人、对资本持批判态度的声音占了上风。当然反对的声音也从未消减，至今双方仍在唇枪舌剑的进行激辩。
富士康发言人以及老板郭台铭本人坚称，富士康不是血汗工厂，他们没有强迫员工加班，工厂的经营方法在法律所允许的范围内进行，给员工制定的薪酬 也符合当地最低工资标准（上周宣布加薪20%）。也有人认为坠楼事件只能说明当事人的心理素质太差，毕竟中国东南沿海地区待遇比富士康更差的企业，大有人 在。 " ...
"What has been reported in media reflects that the majority sympathizes with the workers, and criticizes the "capitalists" (? unclear in original text). There are differing opinions, however, and heated controversy exists.
Guo Taiming, CEO and spokesperson of Foxconn, insists that Foxconn is not a death camp, did not force workers to work overtime, operates within what's dictated by laws, and compensates workers fairly according to local lowest wage standards (with a wage raise of 20% last week). There are also those who hold the opinion that workers who committed suicides could have been more robust in their psyche, since Foxconn is deemed to provide better welfare as compared to an enormous number of coastal enterprises in Southeast China."
"　　［青桐，一个前”打工妹“］说：“相对来讲，在长三角的很多代工厂里，富士康在待遇方面已经算是不错的了，但其实是我们整个社会把标准降得太低了，让我们的工人只在生存线上徘徊。”"
" 　　青桐提到了标准与生存线问题。对于农民工承受力日益低下的批评，说明中国社会对于底层群体应享的生存条件，以及他们“天生”应该具备的吃苦耐劳能力， 抱持一定的传统认知与判定，这个认知与判定已落后于时代变化。对于许多新一代农民工而言，他们的父辈过去可以承受，现在已经不再能够被接受；过去被认为不 错的报酬与生存状态，已脱离他们对现实的期望与人生梦想。
这个变化的出现，在积极的一面，是说明了中国的经济在总体上确实明显优于过去；而在另一方面，贫富两极化的事例也同时以不可辩驳的态势逼视每一个人，透露了财富效应与福利向社会底层分散的速度仍非常缓慢，甚至已经出现了停顿的现象。"
The writer quotes a former female factory worker, Qingtong, who recently autobiographed her Foxconn experiences: "Foxconn indeed provides comparatively superior welfare. However, the truth is the society has decreased the standard such that the factory workers [even those deemed well-provided for] are actually just barely on the edge of survival."
"There are people who disdain the inability of stress endurance, which they deem to be the cause of the suicides. This shows that the Chinese society holds a certain pre-conceived, traditional, attitude and judgement towards people of the lower social strata: that these people are "by nature" able to endure and bear an extraordinary amount of suffering. This attitude is becoming irrelevant as time and society progresses. For many of the rural workers today, what hardship their fathers have born is not necessarily what they are willing to accept; what was accepted as superior compensation and state of existence is lagging behind their expectations and hopes for their lives."
“N连跳”之 后，舆论界开始了一场对于发展模式与社会现状的大反思。“N连跳”刺痛了人们对公平正义的感受，牺牲一部分人的利益以换取大部分人的幸福，按照今天的文明 标准，不再像过去那么被社会视为理所当然，要求提升员工福利的呼声强烈。... 说明全社会都希望国家的发展模式变得更文明。每一次这样的讨论，都是劳动者权益与平等观念在全社会内的一次推进。这种追究的精神与姿态，将是中国走过目前 的转型期的最重要推动力。"

"After what was called the 'N-continuous-jumps', there was extensive ruminations on issues of a developing society. The jumps bothered people's sense of "justice". Sacrificing the well-being of a small number of people to exchange for the majority's "happiness" is no longer a civil norm (editor: think Lei Feng, the moral model of a past era). The demand for worker welfare is on the rise. ... It shows the whole society wishes that national development and building is carried out in a more civilized mode. Every of such debates signifies progress in an awareness of labor rights and equality, and such "inquisitory" spirits is what's necessary to pushing China towards a shifting shape."