日本政府發(fā)布“過勞死”白皮書

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)“過勞死”這個(gè)仍屬禁忌的現(xiàn)象的首份政府白皮書。該白皮書披露，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)“過勞死”(即工作過度導(dǎo)致的死亡)現(xiàn)象已有近三十年。這份長280頁的報(bào)告承認(rèn)，這個(gè)問題形勢嚴(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)，這樣的加班水平會加大因心血管問題及其他問題死亡的風(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)起防止過度工作導(dǎo)致死亡和自殺的責(zé)任。白皮書公布前的一年里，日本過勞死索賠案件數(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.

過勞死受害者家屬的代理律師們表示，即使是那樣，這個(gè)問題仍被大大淡化，幾乎沒人討論。這次調(diào)查原本希望能獲得1萬家日本企業(yè)的回復(fù)并據(jù)此開展研究，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，政府的努力仍未見效。除了簡單計(jì)算工時(shí)以外，日本的職場文化未能構(gòu)想出什么其他的業(yè)績評價(jià)機(jī)制。在這樣的職場文化中，用“讓我們縮短工作時(shí)間”這樣不痛不癢的口號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，根本問題在于，政府和企業(yè)部門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：“問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)為通過長時(shí)間呆在辦公室展現(xiàn)出對企業(yè)的無私奉獻(xiàn)是一種至高美德……事實(shí)上，可以說正是這種無私奉獻(xiàn)導(dǎo)致日本企業(yè)競爭力逐步下降。”

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)道的過勞死案例集中在社會服務(wù)和建筑等領(lǐng)域。這些都是日本長期勞動力短缺最嚴(yán)重的領(lǐng)域——勞動力短缺本身就是一場緩慢發(fā)酵的危機(jī)，它源于兩點(diǎn)，一是就長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)問題存在于更普遍的領(lǐng)域。就在白皮書發(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，屬于過勞死案例。24歲的Matsuri Takahashi的家人表示，她在月加班時(shí)間超過105個(gè)小時(shí)后結(jié)束了自己的生命。她在電通的數(shù)字廣告部門工作，該部門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.

白皮書稱，綜合來看，全職和兼職員工的平均個(gè)人工作時(shí)長略有下降，但這其中有兼職勞動者數(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(12.5%)和美國(16%)的比例。