三星承認未能杜絕中國供應商違規
Samsung Electronics’ Chinese suppliers have continued to commit legal and safety violations that the South Korean technology company had vowed to eliminate by the end of 2012, it revealed yesterday.
三星電子(Samsung Electronics)昨天披露，其中國供應商仍存在違法和安全違規行爲，這家韓國科技公司曾誓言在2012年底前結束這種狀況。In its annual “sustainability report”, Samsung divulged the results of an independent audit that it commissioned after admitting violations by its suppliers in September 2012.
在年度“可持續發展報告”中，三星透露了一項獨立審查的結果。三星在2012年9月承認供應商違規後委託進行此項審查。Working conditions have become a vulnerable point for the group, the world’s largest technology company by sales, as it has been hit by a series of damaging allegations about its Chinese supply chain from the non-profit group China Labor Watch.
三星是全球銷售額最高的科技公司。工作條件近年成爲三星的薄弱環節，非營利機構中國勞工觀察(China Labor Watch)對它的中國供應鏈提出一系列頗具殺傷力的指責。
Separately, South Korean courts have determined there is a link between some Samsung employees’ working conditions and subsequent terminal illness, sparking concern in the company’s home market.
另外，韓國法院認定一些三星員工的工作條件和他們隨後罹患的絕症之間存在聯繫，這在韓國市場引發了擔憂。The new audit, conducted last year, showed that 59 of 100 suppliers inspected failed to provide sufficient safety equipment or supervision to their workers, while 33 used fines or penalties to discipline workers.
去年開展的最新審查顯示，在100家受檢查的供應商中，59家未能向工人提供足夠的安全防護器材或監督，33家使用罰金或懲戒措施來管教工人。This clashed with Samsung’s promise in November 2012 to eliminate these practices by the end of that year. It also vowed to eliminate by the same deadline all discrimination in hiring, irregularities in contracts and companies not providing copies of contracts to workers, but each of these was seen at a minority of suppliers during last year’s audit.
這與三星2012年11月誓言在當年年底前根除這些行爲的承諾不符。三星還承諾在當年年底前根除一切僱傭歧視、合同不規範和公司不向工人提供合同副本的行爲，但去年的審查發現少數供應商仍存在這些行爲。Samsung, one of the largest foreign investors in China, said in yesterday’s report that it had responded to each of these problematic findings by ordering that the suppliers in question eliminate the practices.
作爲中國最大的外來投資者之一，三星在昨天報告中表示，它已經對發現的各個問題做出迴應，要求相關供應商根除這些行爲。“Samsung takes concerns about working conditions at its suppliers very seriously,” the company said in a separate statement, adding that it had made “significant progress” in stemming the violations, and would “constantly call for corrective actions [from suppliers] to ensure the issue is resolved in the shortest time possible”.
“三星非常重視對供應商工作環境的擔憂，”公司在一份單獨的聲明中表示。它還表示，已在制止違規行爲方面取得“顯著進展”，並將“不斷要求供應商進行整改，確保問題在最短時間內得到解決”。Park Yoo-kyung, an investment adviser on governance at APG Asset Management Asia, which invests in Samsung, said that despite the continuing violations by suppliers, Samsung had offered a higher degree of disclosure than many other leading Asian companies. The company had done well in meeting environmental standards, she added, but “on the social side, there are some missing parts”.
三星投資者APG Asset Management Asia的企業治理投資顧問Park Yoo-kyung表示，雖然供應商仍存在違規，但三星的信息披露程度高於亞洲其他領先企業。她補充道，公司在環境達標方面表現出色，但“在社會方面還存在欠缺”。Samsung’s inability to eliminate unlawful practices among its suppliers reflects broader problems in the Chinese manufacturing sector, which have caused embarrassment to other companies, including its rival Apple.
三星未能杜絕供應商違法行爲，反映出中國製造業的普遍問題，這些問題也造成了其他公司的難堪，包括三星的競爭對手蘋果(Apple)。
