日本政府發(fā)布“過(guò)勞死”白皮書(shū)

Japan’s first government white paper on the still largely taboo phenomenon of “death by overwork” has revealed that a fifth of surveyed companies acknowledge their full-time staff works dangerously long hours.

日本發(fā)布了有關(guān)“過(guò)勞死”這個(gè)仍屬禁忌的現(xiàn)象的首份政府白皮書(shū)。該白皮書(shū)披露，五分之一的受訪企業(yè)承認(rèn)，自己的全職員工工作時(shí)間長(zhǎng)到了危險(xiǎn)的地步。

The 280-page report — published almost three decades after Japan legally recognised death driven by overwork, known as karoshi — acknowledged that its contents made for bleak reading.

該報(bào)告發(fā)布時(shí)，日本距離從法律上承認(rèn)“過(guò)勞死”(即工作過(guò)度導(dǎo)致的死亡)現(xiàn)象已有近三十年。這份長(zhǎng)280頁(yè)的報(bào)告承認(rèn)，這個(gè)問(wèn)題形勢(shì)嚴(yán)峻。

Nearly 11 per cent of companies surveyed said they had full-time staff working at least 80 hours of overtime a month — a level which, by official acknowledgment, brings an increased risk of death from cardiovascular issues and other problems. Almost 12 per cent of companies surveyed said they had staff working more than 100 hours of overtime a month.

近11%的受訪企業(yè)表示，它們有全職員工每個(gè)月至少加班80個(gè)小時(shí)。官方承認(rèn)，這樣的加班水平會(huì)加大因心血管問(wèn)題及其他問(wèn)題死亡的風(fēng)險(xiǎn)。將近12%的受訪企業(yè)表示，它們有員工每個(gè)月加班逾100小時(shí)。

The white paper, which was forced into existence by a 2014 private member’s bill obliging the government take responsibility for preventing deaths and suicide through overwork, follows a year in which karoshi compensation claims surged to a record high of 1,456.

這份白皮書(shū)是迫于2014年一份日本普通議員法案的要求發(fā)布的，該法案要求日本政府承擔(dān)起防止過(guò)度工作導(dǎo)致死亡和自殺的責(zé)任。白皮書(shū)公布前的一年里，日本過(guò)勞死索賠案件數(shù)量達(dá)到了1456起的創(chuàng)紀(jì)錄高點(diǎn)。

Even then, say lawyers who have represented the families of victims, the issue is greatly understated and barely discussed. The survey had hoped to base its research on responses from 10,000 Japanese companies; in fact, it received replies from just 1,743.

過(guò)勞死受害者家屬的代理律師們表示，即使是那樣，這個(gè)問(wèn)題仍被大大淡化，幾乎沒(méi)人討論。這次調(diào)查原本希望能獲得1萬(wàn)家日本企業(yè)的回復(fù)并據(jù)此開(kāi)展研究，事實(shí)上卻只收到了1743家企業(yè)的回復(fù)。

Government efforts have yet to bite, say labour groups. Gentle slogans urging armies of reluctant salarymen “let’s work shorter hours”, or more practical measures such as turning office lights out at 7pm, are making no visible dent in a work culture that has devised few mechanisms for evaluating achievement beyond simply counting the hours worked.

多個(gè)勞工組織表示，政府的努力仍未見(jiàn)效。除了簡(jiǎn)單計(jì)算工時(shí)以外，日本的職場(chǎng)文化未能構(gòu)想出什么其他的業(yè)績(jī)?cè)u(píng)價(jià)機(jī)制。在這樣的職場(chǎng)文化中，用“讓我們縮短工作時(shí)間”這樣不痛不癢的口號(hào)敦促不情愿的工薪人士減少加班、或者推出下午7點(diǎn)辦公室關(guān)燈等更實(shí)際的舉措，都沒(méi)有產(chǎn)生明顯成效。

The fundamental problem, said Koichi Nakano, a political scholar at Tokyo’s Sophia University, is that neither the government nor the business sector is especially keen to inform workers of their rights and to uphold them.

東京上智大學(xué)(Sophia University)政治學(xué)學(xué)者中野晃一表示，根本問(wèn)題在于，政府和企業(yè)部門(mén)都不是很熱心于讓員工知曉自身權(quán)利和支持他們。

“At the heart of the issue is a deeply unenlightened but persistent attitude on the part of the government and management that regards selfless dedication to the company shown through long hours at the office as a prime virtue . . . in reality it is arguably responsible for the steady decline of the Japanese corporate competitiveness,” said Prof Nakano.

中野晃一說(shuō)：“問(wèn)題的核心在于政府和企業(yè)管理層非常落后又固執(zhí)的態(tài)度，他們認(rèn)為通過(guò)長(zhǎng)時(shí)間呆在辦公室展現(xiàn)出對(duì)企業(yè)的無(wú)私奉獻(xiàn)是一種至高美德……事實(shí)上，可以說(shuō)正是這種無(wú)私奉獻(xiàn)導(dǎo)致日本企業(yè)競(jìng)爭(zhēng)力逐步下降。”

Reported karoshi deaths in the 2015 financial year ending in March, published by the labour ministry in April, were concentrated on sectors such as social services and construction. These are on the front lines of Japan’s chronic labour shortage — itself a slow-burning crisis that derives from the country’s long-term demographic decline and historic resistance to large-scale immigration.

今年4月日本厚生勞動(dòng)省發(fā)布的數(shù)據(jù)顯示，在截至今年3月的2015財(cái)年里，媒體報(bào)道的過(guò)勞死案例集中在社會(huì)服務(wù)和建筑等領(lǐng)域。這些都是日本長(zhǎng)期勞動(dòng)力短缺最嚴(yán)重的領(lǐng)域——勞動(dòng)力短缺本身就是一場(chǎng)緩慢發(fā)酵的危機(jī)，它源于兩點(diǎn)，一是就長(zhǎng)期而言日本人口趨于下降，二是日本歷史上一直抵制大規(guī)模引入移民。

The survey underlying the new white paper found 44 per cent of IT companies admitted that some of their employees worked more than 80 hours of overtime a month.

新白皮書(shū)所依據(jù)的調(diào)查發(fā)現(xiàn)，44%的IT公司承認(rèn)，它們的一些員工每月加班超過(guò)80個(gè)小時(shí)。

But the problem is more widespread. The publication of the white paper came just a week after a Tokyo labour standards office ruled that the suicide of young graduate recruit at the Dentsu advertising agency had been a case of karoshi. The family of Matsuri Takahashi, 24, said she took her life after racking up 105 hours of monthly overtime. She had worked in Dentsu’s digital advertising division — the unit at the centre of a developing scandal that involved overcharging clients, and which Dentsu blamed on staff shortages.

但這個(gè)問(wèn)題存在于更普遍的領(lǐng)域。就在白皮書(shū)發(fā)布一周前，東京一個(gè)勞工標(biāo)準(zhǔn)辦公室裁定，電通(Dentsu)廣告公司的一名剛畢業(yè)不久的年輕新員工自殺，屬于過(guò)勞死案例。24歲的Matsuri Takahashi的家人表示，她在月加班時(shí)間超過(guò)105個(gè)小時(shí)后結(jié)束了自己的生命。她在電通的數(shù)字廣告部門(mén)工作，該部門(mén)目前正處于一樁仍在發(fā)酵之中的、涉及多收客戶費(fèi)用的丑聞的核心。電通將丑聞所涉情況歸咎于人手短缺。

Across the full- and part-time workforce, the average hours worked by individuals are falling very slightly, said the white paper, but that includes the rising cohorts of part time workers.

白皮書(shū)稱，綜合來(lái)看，全職和兼職員工的平均個(gè)人工作時(shí)長(zhǎng)略有下降，但這其中有兼職勞動(dòng)者數(shù)量日益增多的因素。

Among full-time staffers, on whom karoshi-generating pressures fall most heavily, approximately 21 per cent of Japanese work an average of at least 49 or more hours a week — far above the 12.5 per cent and 16 per cent rates reported in Britain and the US respectively.

全職員工是承受導(dǎo)致過(guò)勞死的壓力最嚴(yán)重的。日本約21%的全職員工平均每周至少工作49小時(shí)，遠(yuǎn)遠(yuǎn)高于英國(guó)(12.5%)和美國(guó)(16%)的比例。