“机器人待遇比人好”:亚马逊仓库工人在英国首次举行罢工
2023-01-29 jiangye111 11729
正文翻译
‘Robots are treated better’: Amazon warehouse workers stage first-ever strike in the UK
-Amazon workers staged their first-ever strike in the U.K. at the tech giant’s warehouse in Coventry, central England.
-Staff say they are unhappy with a below-inflation pay increase and tough working conditions.

“机器人待遇比人好”:亚马逊仓库工人在英国首次举行罢工
——亚马逊工人在英格兰中部考文垂的这家科技巨头的仓库举行了他们在英国的首次罢工。
——员工们表示,他们对低于通货膨胀率的加薪和艰苦的工作条件感到不满。


(Amazon packages move on a conveyer belt at a fulfillment center in England.)

(在英国的一个物流中心,亚马逊的包裹在传送带上移动。)
新闻:

Hundreds of Amazon workers are on strike in Britain. The walkout marks the first formal industrial action in the country for the U.S. tech giant.

数百名亚马逊员工在英国举行罢工。这次罢工标志着这家美国科技巨头在这个国家的首次正式工业行动。

The 24-hour strike action began Wednesday a minute after midnight. Strikers are expected to picket outside the company’s site in Coventry in central England throughout the day.

这场24小时的罢工行动于周三午夜过后一分钟开始。罢工者预计将全天在该公司位于英格兰中部考文垂的厂址外举行堵路。

At 6 a.m. London time, workers were pictured camping by a bonfire and waving unx flags outside the Coventry site near Birmingham airport, known as BHX4.

伦敦时间早上6点,在伯明翰机场附近的考文垂工厂外,工人们被拍到在篝火旁露营,挥舞着工会旗帜。

One poster behind the workers had a slogan that said “Fight for £15,” and encouraged workers to join the GMB unx. Another, which was bannered across a fence, read: “The wrong Amazon is burning.”

工人们身后的一张海报上写着“为15英镑而战”的口号,并鼓励工人们加入GMB工会。另一条横幅贴在栅栏上,上面写着:“错误的亚马逊正在燃烧。”

The GMB unx, which represents the workers involved, said it expects 300 employees out of a total 1,000 at the plant to turn up to the walkout.

代表参与罢工的工人的GMB工会表示,预计工厂1000名员工中有300人会参加罢工。
原创翻译:龙腾网 http://www.ltaaa.cn 转载请注明出处


Workers are planning to hold a larger scale demonstration from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. London time.

工人们计划从伦敦时间下午4点到8点举行更大规模的示威。

Staff are unhappy with a pay increase of 50 pence (56 U.S. cents) per hour, equivalent to 5% and well below inflation. Amazon introduced the pay hike last summer. But warehouse workers say it fails to match the rising cost of living. They want the company to pay a minimum £15 an hour.

员工们对每小时50便士(56美分)的加薪表示不满,这相当于5%,远低于通货膨胀率。亚马逊去年夏天开始实行加薪。但仓库工人表示,这跟不上不断上涨的生活成本。他们希望公司支付最低每小时15英镑的工资。

They also want better working conditions. Amazon workers have raised concerns about long working hours, high injury rates, and the unrelenting pace of work, as well as aggressive, tech-enhanced monitoring of employees.

他们还希望有更好的工作条件。亚马逊员工对长时间工作、高受伤率、无情的工作节奏,以及对员工积极的、高科技的监控表示担忧。

A spokesperson for the tech giant told CNBC in a statement that the staff involved represent “only a fraction of 1% of our UK employees.” The spokesperson said that pay for Amazon’s U.K. warehouse workers has increased 29% since 2018, and pointed to a £500 one-time payment made out to staff to help with the cost-of-living crisis.

这家科技巨头的发言人在一份声明中告诉CNBC,涉及的员工“只占我们英国员工的1%的一小部分”。该发言人表示,自2018年以来,亚马逊英国仓库工人的工资上涨了29%,并指出,亚马逊向员工一次性支付了500英镑,以帮助解决生活成本危机。

Wednesday’s action against the firm is the first legally mandated strike to take place in the U.K. Amazon’s U.K. staff previously stopped working spontaneously in August and on Black Friday in November.

周三针对该公司的行动是英国发生的第一次法律授权的罢工。亚马逊英国员工此前在8月和11月的黑色星期五自发停止工作。

‘Historic’
Darren Westwood, one of Amazon’s warehouse workers taking part in the strikes, said it “has been a long road” to the day itself, which he described as “historic.”

“历史性的”
达伦·韦斯特伍德是参加罢工的亚马逊仓库工人之一,他说,距离这一天本身“已经走了很长一段路”,他说这是“历史性的”。
原创翻译:龙腾网 http://www.ltaaa.cn 转载请注明出处


“We all saw the profits they’re making during the pandemic — that’s what angered people more,” Westwood told CNBC via phone call. “We were expecting a better increase than what they were imposing.”

韦斯特伍德在电话中告诉CNBC:“我们都看到了他们在疫情期间获得的利润,这才是更让人们愤怒的地方。我们期待的涨幅比他们强加的要高。”

Inflation has soared due to increased energy costs and supply chain disruptions stemming from the war in Ukraine. Consumer prices rose 10.5% year-over-year in December; in response, the Bank of England has hiked interest rates to tame rising costs.

由于能源成本上升和乌克兰战争导致的供应链中断,通胀飙升。12月居民消费价格同比上涨10.5%;作为回应,英国央行提高了利率,以抑制不断上升的成本。

Westwood said that he and his partner are in a reasonable financial position for now. But he worries for other employees, one of whom he said was working 60 hours a week to meet mortgage payments.

韦斯特伍德表示,他和他的爱人目前处于合理的财务状况。但他担心其他员工,他说其中一名员工每周工作60个小时来支付抵押贷款。

“Someone the other day said we’re treated like robots — no, robots are treated better,” Westwood told CNBC.

韦斯特伍德在接受CNBC采访时表示:“前几天有人说我们被当作机器人对待——不,机器人的待遇比我们好。”
原创翻译:龙腾网 http://www.ltaaa.cn 转载请注明出处


Wednesday’s action in the U.K. comes as Amazon is laying off thousands worldwide. The company began laying off 18,000 workers last week in an attempt to dial back some of the expansion it undertook during the Covid-19 period and brace for a possible recession in 2023.

周三在英国采取行动之际,亚马逊正在全球裁员数千人。该公司上周开始裁员1.8万人,以减少新冠肺炎疫情期间的部分扩张,并为2023年可能出现的衰退做准备。

Earlier this month, Amazon launched a consultation to close down three of its U.K. sites, where it employs a combined 1,200 people. The move is not part of Amazon’s 18,000 job cuts, according to the firm.

本月早些时候,亚马逊就关闭三家英国网站展开磋商,这三家网站之前总共雇佣了1200名员工。据该公司称,此举不是亚马逊裁员1.8万人计划的一部分。

Amazon has long been criticized for labor shortcomings, with the company often accused of poor working conditions in its warehouses and delivery operations and squashing attempts from employees to unxize. In April, staff at the company’s Staten Island warehouse in New York became the first group in the U.S. to vote in favor of joining a unx.

亚马逊长期以来一直因劳工问题受到批评,该公司经常被指仓库和配送业务的工作条件恶劣,并压制员工成立工会的企图。今年4月,该公司纽约斯塔顿岛仓库的员工成为美国第一个投票赞成加入工会的群体。

“We stand in solidarity with the Amazon workers of Coventry fighting for higher pay and benefits,” Chris Smalls of Amazon Labor unx, which established the unx, told CNBC. “It’s time Amazon who claims to be Earth’s best company come to the table and bargain in good faith with its unxs.”

“我们与考文垂的亚马逊工人站在一起,争取更高的工资和福利,”建立工会的亚马逊工会的克里斯·斯莫尔斯告诉CNBC。“是时候让自称是地球上最好的公司的亚马逊坐到谈判桌上,真诚地与工会讨论协商了。”

Amazon has previously said its employees have the right to join or not join a unx, but that it doesn’t believe unxs are the best choice for its workers.

亚马逊此前曾表示,员工有权加入或不加入工会,但它不认为依靠工会是员工的最佳选择。

评论翻译
Costyyy
Sadly that's probably because robots are expensive to replace.

遗憾的是,这可能是因为替换机器人的成本很高。

MiaowaraShiro
Exactly, they own the robots. If they had to pay for all the "maintenance" of the employees they wouldn't treat them so poorly.
Edit: It's interesting how many people are jumping to "ownership" of humans. Responsibility of care doesn't imply control.

没错,他们拥有机器人。如果他们必须支付所有员工的“维持费”,他们就不会对员工这么差了。
PS:有意思的是,有多少人开始“拥有”人类员工了。照顾的责任并不意味着控制。

berryblackwater
Lol, this is the same argument pro-slavery folks made comparing the Northern factories who had no reason to care for their employees in favor of slavery in which the slave owner had a financial imperative to care for his slaves as they were his property.

呵呵,这和支持奴隶制的人提出的论点是一样的,北方的工厂没有理由照顾他们的员工,而支持奴隶制的南方奴隶主们却有经济上的必要照顾他们的奴隶,因为后者是他们的财产。

FlatPanster
And they work 24/7. And they don't complain, or strike, or have interpersonal drama. And they do exactly what you tell them to do.

而且机器人全天候工作。它们不会抱怨,不会罢工,也不会发生人际冲突。它们完全按照你说的去做。

kneel_yung
As someone who did systems integration and field service on industrial machinery for a living, I promise you they do complain (system alxs), strike (licensing issues, faulty firmware, etc), and have interpersonal drama (dont play nice with other equipment). And doing exactly what you tell them to do is a major reason they're not as good as human workers. If you accidentally tell them to shake themselves to death, they will do it happily.
Machines require a huge amount of maintenance that people just don't. I know everyone thinks robots are coming for our jobs, but it's not really feasible to replace a lot of jobs with robots. Only the dumbest and most repetitive/dangerous tasks are good candidates. Currently, anyway. It's always getting cheaper.
But humans are dirt cheap. And unlike humans, you can't threaten to replace a robot, and you usually can't reassign them (easily). They just sit there, costing you money, whether they're doing anything or not.

作为一个以工业机械系统集成和现场服务为职业的人,我向你保证,它们确实会抱怨(系统警报),罢工(许可问题,错误的固件等等),并且有机际冲突(与其他设备不友好相处)。(只会)完全按照你说的去做是它们不如人类工人的主要原因。如果你不小心告诉他们“抖到死”,它们会抖得很开心。
机器需要大量的维护,而人却不需要。我知道每个人都认为机器人会取代我们的工作,但是用机器人取代很多工作是不可行的。只有最愚蠢和最重复/危险的任务才是好的选择。目前,不管怎么说。它总是越来越便宜。
但是人是非常便宜的。而且与人不同,你不能威胁机器人要拿人来取代你,你通常也不能(轻易地)重新分配它们。它们只是坐在那里,花你的钱,不管它们做什么。

tech_fu
So this is true now, but wait 20-30 years and I bet a lot more jobs can be automated. I work in IT and programming is one of my hobbies. During COVID lockdown I spent some time messing around with Machine Learning and physical automation. Even I was able to create an articulated robot arm controlled by voice commands that could locate simple obxts by shape using a camera and then pick them up. It was janky but it worked. The technology is definitely not there yet to replace workers en mass but I would think that we're getting much closer.

所以现在是这样,但再等20-30年呢,我敢打赌更多的工作可以自动化。我在IT行业工作,编程是我的爱好之一。在新冠疫情封锁期间,我花了一些时间研究机器学习和物理自动化。就连我也能创造出一个由语音命令控制的铰接机械臂,它可以通过摄像头根据物体的形状定位,然后将它们捡起来。这很蹩脚,但很管用。这种技术肯定还没有完全取代工人,但我认为我们正越来越接近这一天。

walks_into_things
I work with scientific instruments, so slightly different, but the same principle applies. Our instruments get cranky if they’re not treated well. Some things we monitor from day to day to keep them happy, like time running, light conditions, temp, running fluids/buffers, waste, cleaning. Most of them get preventative maintenance yearly, and emergency maintenance when needed. If a part breaks, it’s usually the best option to pay for the part and labor to replace it.
Yet the actual humans are treated like they don’t need limits on running time (time worked), can do without inputs like running buffers (food, water), and don’t need to have waste emptied (bathroom). Companies don’t want to give time for yearly preventative maintenance (paid vacation leave) or emergency maintenance (sick leave). Companies also don’t like paying a little extra to solve a problem (similar to repairing a part), even though it will pay off down the road.

我用的是科学仪器,所以稍有不同,但原理是一样的。如果不好好应对,我们的仪器就会坏掉。有些事情我们每天都在监控,以保持它们的“快乐”,比如时间运行、光照条件、温度、运行液体/缓冲液、废物、清洁。它们中的大多数每年进行预防性维护,并在需要时进行紧急维护。如果零件坏了,通常最好的选择是支付零件费用和人工更换。
然而,真正的人类被视为不需要限制运行时间(工作时间),不需要运行缓冲器(食物、水)等输入,也不需要清空废物(厕所)。公司不想给员工留时间进行年度预防性维护(带薪休假)或紧急维护(病假)。公司也不喜欢为了解决一个问题(类似于修理一个零件)而多花一点钱,即使它在将来会得到回报。

ButtholeAvenger666
Most jobs don't need a robot to replace them these days. An AI running in the cloud is coming for more jobs than people think. How long until an AI can create a feature length film from a scxt and a few pictures of the actors? Even doctors can be replaced with nurses running around doing what the AI tells them to do eventually.

如今,大多数工作都不需要机器人来代替。在云端运行的人工智能取代的工作比人们想象的要多。人工智能多久才能根据剧本和几张演员的照片制作出一部长片?甚至医生最终也会被护士取代,到处跑,做人工智能让她们做的事情。
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kneel_yung
An AI running in the cloud is coming for more jobs than people think.
I think AI is not coming for as many jobs as people think. AI aren't (always) deterministic, so you give it a set of inputs and who knows what it will do with them.
With machines you want reliability, but if an AI decides its better to turn a pump off because it's optimizing for some weird metric that nobody thought about, then what can you do about it?
Likewise, if you have an AI handling calls for your organization, and it's job is to retain customers, what if it starts doing illegal stuff like opening accounts in people's names? Or whatever. You have no idea what it's going to do. It doesn't have a sense of morality, unless it's trained to. And then if it determines your company is amoral, what if it decides to stop doing its job out of protest? It's horrendously complicated once you give it any real responsibility.
AI is still in its infancy. Don't let the ChatGPT hype fool you. We're decades and possibly a century or more away from AI that can actually think like a human. That thing may be able to write a freshman term paper, but that's literally all it's designed to do - regurgitate facts its scraped off the internet in a realistic way.

“在云端运行的人工智能取代的工作比人们想象的要多”
我认为人工智能不会像人们想象的能取代那么多工作岗位。AI并非(总是)具有确定性,所以你给它一组输入,谁知道它会用它们做什么。
对于机器,你想要的是可靠性,但如果人工智能决定关闭动力更好,因为它正在优化一些没有人想到的奇怪指标,那么你能做些什么呢?
同样地,如果你有一个人工智能为你的组织接电话,它的工作是留住客户,如果它开始做一些非法的事情,比如以人们的名义开立账户怎么办?之类的。你不知道它会做什么。它没有道德感,除非经过训练。如果它认为你的公司是不道德的,如果它出于抗议而决定停止它的工作呢?一旦你赋予它真正的责任,它就会变得异常复杂。
人工智能仍处于起步阶段。不要让ChatGPT(译注:人工智能研究实验室OpenAI在2022年11月30日发布的全新聊天机器人模型)的炒作欺骗了你。我们离能像人类一样思考的人工智能还有几十年、甚至一个世纪或更长时间。这东西也许能写一篇新生的学期论文,但这就是它设计的全部目的——以一种现实的方式反刍从互联网上搜刮下来的事实。

DctrGizmo
Warehouse workers will get replaced by robots sooner or later.

仓库工人迟早会被机器人取代的。

guynamedjames
Yeah, and that's fine. People act like we should be trying to save low wage garbage jobs. Working in a mega warehouse or as a driver or a coffee shop worker will almost never pay well. We should be providing opportunities for better paid jobs and decreasing the amount of hours the people in those better paid roles are working.

是的,这很好。人们表现得好像我们应该努力挽救低工资的垃圾工作岗位似的。在大型仓库、司机或咖啡店工作的收入几乎都不高。我们应该为高薪工作提供机会,并减少那些高薪工作人员的工作时间。

unknownpanda121
Where as I sympathize with what they are saying I only see this as Amazon pushing for more automation.

我同情他们所说的,我只认为这是亚马逊在推动更多的自动化。

Sythic_
And they should, everything that can be automated should be. And then they should pay taxes to fund UBI so people can just live and enjoy life and pursue whatever they want be it something profitable or not.

他们也应该这样,所有可以自动化的东西都应该自动化。然后他们应该纳税来资助全民基本收入,这样人们就可以生活,享受生活,追求他们想要的任何东西,不管它是否有利可图。

shinigami052
And then they should pay taxes to fund UBI so people can just live and enjoy life and pursue whatever they want
So let me get this straight, a company needs to make a huge capital investment to develop their automation system then they need to pay an extra tax on top of that to NOT have workers? Why wouldn't they just keep workers, pay them as little as possible and the give them the bare minimum of conditions to maximize their profits?

“然后他们应该纳税来资助全民基本收入,这样人们就可以生活,享受生活,追求他们想要的任何东西”
让我开门见山吧,一家公司需要进行巨大的资本投资来开发他们的自动化系统,然后他们还需要因为不雇佣工人而支付额外的税?那为什么他们不干脆留住工人,给他们尽可能少的工资,给他们最低限度的条件来最大化他们的利润呢?

medimachine
They already push for maximum automation, who are you kidding?
The automation instead has become management - the surveillance labor state! It's hard to make robot workers so they're making workers into robots. Human labor is cheap. More so in America, of course, but pretty much everywhere. Given a limitless ability to monitor them and 'gamify' their performance, you can work them like sled dogs, and when they get injured or burned out, just hire another one. Humanity will make more.

他们已经在推动最大程度的自动化了,你在开玩笑吗?
自动化反而变成了管理——监督劳动的状态!制造机器人工人很难,所以他们把工人变成机器人。人力是廉价的。当然,在美国更是如此,但几乎在世界各地都是如此。如果你有无限的能力来监控他们,并将他们的表现“游戏化”,那你就可以像对待雪橇犬一样对待他们,当他们受伤或精疲力竭时,你就可以雇佣另一只狗。人类还将创造出更多人。

Islanduniverse
We should all be going on strike for every job until we take back workers rights. I’m a teacher and even I’m tired of making business people rich while I don’t even have insurance…

我们应该为每一份工作进行罢工,直到我们收回工人的权利。我是一名教师,我甚至厌倦了让商人发财,而我甚至都没有保险……

wiresrcool
Why don’t you have insurance?

你为什么不买保险?

Islanduniverse
I’m an adjunct. Most schools don’t give us insurance. And the ones that do, you have to keep x amount of classes, but then they won’t give us classes in the spring, so we lose the insurance every year come spring.
Some of the adjuncts were lucky enough to get hired earlier, (be older, I guess?) so they are usually the first to be offered courses, and are more likely to keep their insurance. But as things get more and more bleak, with enrollment down across the country, even those adjuncts with the best entitlement and seniority are losing classes to full-timers.

我是兼职。大多数学校不给我们保险。而那些学校,你必须保留一定数量的课程,但他们不会在春天给我们排课,所以每年春天我们都会失去保险。
有些兼职教授很幸运,能更早被聘用(我猜是年纪大了吧?),所以他们通常是第一个被安排课程的人,也更有可能保住他们的保险。但随着形势变得越来越严峻,全国各地的入学人数都在下降,即使是那些拥有最好权利和资历的兼职教师,也在被全职教师抢走课程。

Loki-L
You can't pretend that robots are independent contractors or responsible for their own upkeep.
You have to spend money to ensure the robots keep working and if a robot breaks You have to actually spend money to repair or replace them.

你不能假装机器人是独立的承包商或能负责自己维护自己。
你必须花钱来确保机器人继续工作,如果机器人坏了,你必须花钱来修理或更换它们。

NinjaCorgi
You can’t pretend that people are independent contractors or responsible for their own upkeep.
You have to spend money to ensure the people keep working and if a person breaks you have to actually spend money to repair or replace them.

你不能假装工人是独立的承包商或能负责自己维护自己。
你必须花钱确保工人继续工作,如果有人坏了,你必须花钱修理或更换他们。

Windyandbreezy
I agree they are! They not only have free healthcare but their own personal doctor. A machine breaks down, it's loved and taken care of. A human breaks down, get rid of em and replace them. These machines are valued at 100s of thousands to millions of dollars. Humans are expendable.

我同意!他们不仅有免费的医疗保健,还有自己的私人医生。机器坏了,也有人爱护和照顾。如果人崩溃了,那就把他们处理掉,换上新的。这些机器价值10万到数百万美元。而人是可牺牲的。
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spiritbx
Well, ya, because robots stop working if abused and are expensive to repair and replace.
Humans are a highly overstocked, self-producing, renewable, and disposable commodity.
The worth a a human life is pretty much nothing to corporations, they'll use you until you break, then throw you out and replace you with the next available human, rinse and repeat.

好吧,是的,因为机器人如果被滥用就会停止工作,而且维修和更换成本很高。
而人是一种高度过剩的、自我生产的、可再生的、一次性的商品。
一个人的生命价值对公司来说几乎不算什么,他们会剥削你,直到你崩溃,然后把你扔出去,用下一个可用的人取代你,如此循环往复。

TheB1GLebowski
Probably because they're expensive and do the job they're there to do. Not that every person is slacking, but it happens. Robots don't use the bathroom, eat, get tired, sick, etc they're dependable.

可能是因为机器人很贵,而且做的是机器人应该做的工作。并不是每个工人都在偷懒,但确实会偷懒。机器人不会上厕所,不会吃饭,不会累,不会生病,等等,它们很可靠。

E_PunnyMous
Robots receive regular offline preventative maintenance and if they don’t work properly the owner goes to great lengths to repair it.
Humans are lucky to get a bathroom break.

机器人接受定期的离线预防性维护,如果它们不能正常工作,主人会竭尽全力修理它。
而人能有个上厕所的间隔就已经很幸运了。

Bhimtu
The people who run these corporations would never...NEVER be able to work there because they would not be able to do the work at the pace they set for their workers -unreasonable as it is.

经营这些公司的人永远……永远不能在那里工作,因为他们无法按照他们自己为工人设定的速度工作——这是不合理的。

Book-Latter
Keep striking and the robots will take your job anyways lol

继续罢工吧,机器人会抢走你们的工作,呵呵

Competitive-Gift410
Do people understand now what "too big to fail" means?
When you have a market cap of a trillion dollars, you can treat employees however you want
These workers are cogs, even the ones who quit will simply be replaced, and then they will be dying to have their jobs back because there isn't enough competition that offers competitive wages etc
Capitalism has turned everyone who isn't worth several million dollars into a vessel used solely to generate and transfer wealth
You don't get "benefits" you get maintenance
You don't get "vacations", you get rotated out so you don't wear too quickly
Yet somehow many of you dumbasses still support these megacorps

人们现在明白“大到不能倒”的意思了吗?
当你的市值达到一万亿美元时,你就可以随心所欲地对待员工了
这些工人就是齿轮,即使是那些辞职的人也会被取代,然后他们会拼命想要回自己的工作岗位,因为没有足够的竞争来提供有竞争力的工资等等
资本主义把每个身家不足几百万美元的人都变成了一艘纯粹用来创造和转移财富的船
你得到的不是“福利”,而是维护
你不会有“假期”,你会被轮换,这样你就不会过快损耗
然而,不知何故,你们这些笨蛋中的许多人仍然支持这些大型公司

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