中國鼓勵提前退休以精簡國企

Hard-hit Chinese provinces are instituting early retirement to push workers off state sector employment rolls, generating a spate of small protests and further straining local economies in the nation’s rust belt.

中國一些問題嚴重的省份正在實行提前退休制度，以減少國有部門的勞動者數(shù)量。此舉引發(fā)一波小規(guī)模抗議活動，并使中國“銹帶”老工業(yè)區(qū)的地方經(jīng)濟更加緊張。

The move is designed to help capacity cuts in bloated state-run heavy industry companies. It also marks a return to policies from the 1990s, when an estimated 30m workers were dropped from state payrolls and offered subsidies in a practice known as “internal retirement”, which avoided an increase in official unemployment numbers.

此舉旨在幫助臃腫的國營重工業(yè)企業(yè)削減產(chǎn)能。它還標志著重拾20世紀90年代的政策，那時估計有3000萬勞動者被國有部門從工資單上除名，同時他們得到補貼，這種做法被稱為“內(nèi)部退休”，它避免了官方失業(yè)人數(shù)的增加。

At least seven provinces have drawn up plans for workers to take early retirement, Chinese media reported this month. The plans are viewed as a way to comply with Beijing’s directives this year to reduce excess steel and mining capacity without the plant shutdowns that could lead to street protests.

據(jù)中國媒體本月報道，至少有七個省已制定了讓工人提前退休的計劃。這些計劃被視為奉行北京方面今年發(fā)出的指令，目的是在不導致工廠關(guān)停(那可能引發(fā)街頭抗議)的情況下減少鋼鐵業(yè)和礦業(yè)的過剩產(chǎn)能。

“That they are encouraging it now suggests it has gone or is going well and is avoiding unrest,” said Keegan Elmer, researcher for China Labour Bulletin, which tracks workers’ issues.

“他們正在鼓勵這種做法，這一點似乎表明，此事迄今或者目前進展良好，避免了出亂子，”關(guān)注勞工問題的中國勞工通訊(China Labour Bulletin)研究員基根•埃爾默(Keegan Elmer)表示。

Nevertheless, an increase in protests in October followed a series of large demonstrations early in 2016 when steel and coal capacity cuts were first announced. Most were relatively small involving dozens of affected workers holding signs rather than the mass street marches that authorities fear.

然而，在2016年初爆發(fā)一系列大規(guī)模示威活動(當時剛剛宣布將削減鋼鐵和煤炭產(chǎn)能)后，10月份抗議活動又有所增加。多數(shù)抗議活動規(guī)模較小，通常是數(shù)十名受影響的工人舉著標語，而不是當局擔心的大規(guī)模街頭游行。

Workers who were laid off or retired early in the 1990s often resurface to protest in provincial capitals or Beijing, usually because compensation has dried up. Many found informal jobs in the intervening years, but are now growing older without adequate state-backed insurance or pensions.

90年代下崗或者被提前退休的工人經(jīng)常到省會城市甚至北京舉行抗議，通常是因為補償金花光了。許多人在那期間找到了非正式工作，但這批人目前在沒有充足國家保險或養(yǎng)老金的狀況下步入老年。

“Staff cutbacks become a long-term battle between the companies, governments and the workers. Internal retirement just means kicking the can further down the road. There has been lots of steelworker activism that has gone on for decades,” said Mr Elmer. “All these old sores can easily be brought back to the surface.”

“裁員成為企業(yè)、政府和工人之間的長期戰(zhàn)斗。內(nèi)部退休只是意味著把問題踢到未來去解決。鋼鐵工人的很多維權(quán)活動已經(jīng)進行了幾十年，”埃爾默說。“所有這些傷痕都很容易再度撕裂。”

China’s official retirement age is 60 for men. For female civil servants it is 55, for female workers, 50. Early retirement brings that forward by five years, leaving female employees in depressed cities vulnerable to losing their jobs in their mid-40s when they still have dependants at home. Former employees get a stipend but must wait until formal retirement age to claim their pensions.

中國的官方退休年齡為男性60歲。女性公務員為55歲，女性工人為50歲。提前退休意味著在此基礎(chǔ)上再提前五年，使經(jīng)濟不景氣城市的女性員工在45歲上下、可能仍需要撫養(yǎng)子女的時候就失去工作。前雇員獲得一定津貼，但必須等到正式退休年齡才能領(lǐng)取養(yǎng)老金。

In February, labour and human resources minister Yin Weimin encouraged voluntary early retirement as one solution for the struggling steel and coal sectors, and the government said it would allocate Rmb100bn ($14.6bn) to retraining or relocating about 1.8m laid-off workers. Since then the top planning agency has put out a number of notices discouraging early retirement, indicating that there may be disagreement among bureaucracies about the merits of the practice.

今年2月，人力資源和社會保障部部長尹蔚民鼓勵自愿提前退休，將這作為困難重重的鋼鐵和煤炭行業(yè)的解決方案之一;同時政府表示將撥出1000億元人民幣(合146億美元)用于再培訓或重新安置約180萬下崗工人。自那以來，中國最高規(guī)劃部門發(fā)布了一些不鼓勵提前退休的通知，表明官僚機構(gòu)之間對這種做法的利弊可能存在分歧。

One of the concerns is the rickety state of local pension funds, particularly in industrial areas that are also the centre for the slowdown.

其中一個令人關(guān)切的問題是地方養(yǎng)老金捉襟見肘的狀態(tài)，特別是在經(jīng)濟放緩最明顯的工業(yè)地區(qū)。

“When you look at how [internal retirement] is put into practice, you realise that in the Chinese situation where the development of workers’ organisations is weak and state-owned enterprises are overly powerful, it’s very easy for workers to become the biggest losers,” Liu Dapeng, a law professor at Wuhan University, wrote on a social media blog post.

“當你看看(內(nèi)部退休)如何落實時，你會發(fā)現(xiàn)，工人組織發(fā)展疲弱，國有企業(yè)過于強大。中國的這種國情意味著，工人很容易淪為最大輸家，”武漢大學法學教授Liu Dapeng在社交媒體博客上寫道。