In the garment industry the low-paid workers are ethnic Khmer; the high-paid supervisors Chinese
By Norris Lo
Phnom Penh Post, Issue 15 / 12, June 16 - 29, 2006
Most of Cambodia's garment factories have a firmly established hierarchy: a management team is the top tier of supervision under which are the quality controllers, supervisors, and finally, the workers.
With the exception of a small number of other Asian nationalities, Cambodians and ethnic and expatriate Chinese comprise the two main labor groups in the country's roughly 300,000-strong textile trade workforce.
Ken Loo, secretary-general of the Garment Manufacturing Association of Cambodia, estimates that there are about 30,000 Chinese from China, including Hong Kong, working in the garment sector.
But according to factory executives and labor union leaders, , the division between blue-collar and white-collar workers is drawn brazenly, and unfairly, along clearly defined ethnic lines.
And although the importance of the Chinese role in the garment industry is indisputable, the gap between Chinese management and supervisors and ethnic Khmer laborers has some industry insiders blasting the existing corporate structure as disrespectful, discriminatory and even, at times, racist.
"From my observations 99 percent of supervisors are Chinese," said Ath Thun, president of the Coalition of Cambodian Apparel Workers Democratic Unions (CCAWDU). "In the past, I acknowledge that it was fair to choose Chinese as supervisors because at the time we didn't have enough skill. But now, we have enough skill, the same as the Chinese. Today, even when they select Cambodian supervisors, they are still paid less then the Chinese. I think it is racism."
According to the International Labour Organization, the garment industry is one of Cambodia's main revenue sources. It accounts for around 12 percent of Cambodia's gross domestic product (GDP) and makes up almost 80 percent of all Cambodia's exports.
Sixty-five percent of the roughly 270,000-member manufacturing labor force works in the more than 200 garment factories in the country.
The factories, mostly in Phnom Penh and near the port of Sihanoukville, are mainly owned by companies based in China, Hong Kong and Taiwan - although Malaysian and Singaporean firms are also invested in the sector. In 2005, over 71 percent of garment exports were shipped to the United States, and 22 percent to Europe.
"Cambodia can attract garment investments because it had a quota to the US before - but it has no industrial base and the people have limited skills," Wong Swie-Hwa, vice chairwoman of the China Hong Kong and Macau Expatriate and Business Association of Cambodia, told the Post on June 9.
"Cambodians are lazy and their productivity is low, but their quality is rising," she said. [So much for exploiting Khmer workers! Ungrateful woman - KI-Media]
Wong said the US buyers usually place orders with Hong Kong garment trading agencies, then the Hong Kong agents deliver the orders to the factories in Cambodia.
The factory owners employ many Chinese as supervisors and technicians because they are generally inexpensive and have more experience, she said.
"Another important reason for employing Chinese nationals is that they share a common language with owners from Hong Kong and other Chinese-speaking countries," Wong said. "Employers find it hard to communicate with Cambodians because they cannot speak Cantonese or Mandarin."
Chinese supervisors often earn US$500 a month, while Cambodians in the same position receive half that. But in addition to their salary the Chinese may have their living expenses paid for them and get air tickets for trips back home.
'Chinese employees deserve more'
"Chinese employees deserve more because they have to leave their country to work here," Wong said. "The employers also pay their food, lodging and air tickets to home."
CCAWDU's Thun said that based on 2004 figures, Cambodian supervisors were paid only $150 to $200, while Chinese received $400 to $500.
Loo said Chinese nationals play a big role in the Cambodian garment industry.
According to Loo, Cambodian workers can learn from the Chinese nationals "who were experienced in the garment trade." After all, he said, the garment and textile trade has been thriving for many years in China.
"The Chinese mainly differ in the fact that they are more experienced and that they are usually more hard-working," Loo said. "They have left their homeland and ventured overseas to come to Cambodia hoping to earn more money."
Chea Mony, president of the Free Trade Union, estimates that Cambodians represent less than 25 percent of the garment industry's management and mid-management positions. He concedes that Chinese are selected to overhead positions because of their skill, but he blames employers for failing to advance qualified Cambodians. Mony said that since he became involved in garment sector labor unions, he has not seen a single factory train its workers for managerial positions.
"We are very polite: we always respect our duties, but we are not recognized for being able to work in other areas of production," Mony said. "They do not wish to talk to us, so the gap between us is wide."
A range of interviews conducted by the Post in Cantonese and Mandarin with Chinese and Taiwanese factory executives revealed negative attitudes towards Cambodian employees.
"Cambodians cannot work in high positions as we do because they are backward and not educated enough," said Wu Lim-houng, a merchandiser from Shandong, China, who has worked in Phnom Penh since 2002. "They do not know how to supervise." [Unacceptable racist remarks - KI-Media]
'Lower-ranking workers Cambodians'
Wu's factory employs 7,000 to 8,000 workers, and most of them are Cambodians. About 5,000 of them work from 6am to 3pm, while the rest work from 3pm to 11pm. He said garment factories generally require at least 500 employees, and some need as many as 10,000.
"Eighty to ninety percent of all supervisors are Chinese, and the lower-ranking workers are Cambodians," Wu said.
Wu said the Cambodians usually earn $45 a month, with a $5 bonus if they are neither late nor absent. If a Cambodian works overtime, the salary may reach $70 to $80.
"Labour Law in Cambodia limits overtime to two hours a day, but most factories do not follow," Wu said. "Almost every worker works three to four hours more."
An ILO report said the frequency and duration of overtime remain an issue in most factories. More than two thirds of the factories surveyed did not limit overtime to two hours per day.
Merchandisers like Wu can earn as much as $700 a month. When their experience accumulates, it can top $1,000.
"Chinese usually make a better living than Cambodians. Certainly we can earn more than if we stay in China, otherwise we would not choose to stay here," Wu said.
A Chinese quality-assurance supervisor, Amy Yu, agrees that salary is the main incentive to work in Cambodia. Yu was hired in 2003, by her aunt who works as a garment factory manager.
In Yu's department, a Cambodian assistant makes $60 to $70 a month. Yu receives $400.
"Cambodians are very hard to manage - they are not responsible and lazy," said Yu, who said she tells Cambodians everything she knows. "The standard of Cambodians is low, and their thinking is old-fashioned."
Chinese citizen Li Zu-mei was attracted by better pay in Cambodia. She got her job as a quality-controller from a longtime friend.
"My employers pay my lodging and food," Li said. "They also buy me round-trip air tickets back home. That's why I've been here from Jiangsu in China for three years."
Li said most quality controllers are Chinese. Some of them work for more than one factory, and she works for two now in order to make more money.
"I save money for home, and I can save more in Cambodia because my bosses pay my living expenses and work visa," Li said. "I almost don't have any expenses."
Cambodian workers are not so fortunate. According to ILO research, most garment workers are poor, young women from the provinces with little education. Many live in overcrowded lodging, have little money for food, and send a large portion of their salaries home to their families each month.
"We make only $50 a month, but we have to spend $47 on living expenses," Mony said. "It is very hard and life is no good."
According to Alonzo Suson, country forum director for the American Center for International Labor Solidarity, the Chinese management style has yet to warm to labor unions.
"It's about cultural values and treatment. They don't know how to deal with unions," Suson said. "They come from a country where the workforce is controlled. They come here and say 'Wait a second - these workers have rights?'"
Suson urged factory owners to train more Cambodian supervisors.
"The Chinese factory owners bring in their own people, that has been identified as a problem," he said. "They don't employ local managers. Putting that practice into place here can seem disrespectful."
"If I were in union shoes, I'd be calling for an upgrading of skills."
By Norris Lo
Phnom Penh Post, Issue 15 / 12, June 16 - 29, 2006
Most of Cambodia's garment factories have a firmly established hierarchy: a management team is the top tier of supervision under which are the quality controllers, supervisors, and finally, the workers.
With the exception of a small number of other Asian nationalities, Cambodians and ethnic and expatriate Chinese comprise the two main labor groups in the country's roughly 300,000-strong textile trade workforce.
Ken Loo, secretary-general of the Garment Manufacturing Association of Cambodia, estimates that there are about 30,000 Chinese from China, including Hong Kong, working in the garment sector.
But according to factory executives and labor union leaders, , the division between blue-collar and white-collar workers is drawn brazenly, and unfairly, along clearly defined ethnic lines.
And although the importance of the Chinese role in the garment industry is indisputable, the gap between Chinese management and supervisors and ethnic Khmer laborers has some industry insiders blasting the existing corporate structure as disrespectful, discriminatory and even, at times, racist.
"From my observations 99 percent of supervisors are Chinese," said Ath Thun, president of the Coalition of Cambodian Apparel Workers Democratic Unions (CCAWDU). "In the past, I acknowledge that it was fair to choose Chinese as supervisors because at the time we didn't have enough skill. But now, we have enough skill, the same as the Chinese. Today, even when they select Cambodian supervisors, they are still paid less then the Chinese. I think it is racism."
According to the International Labour Organization, the garment industry is one of Cambodia's main revenue sources. It accounts for around 12 percent of Cambodia's gross domestic product (GDP) and makes up almost 80 percent of all Cambodia's exports.
Sixty-five percent of the roughly 270,000-member manufacturing labor force works in the more than 200 garment factories in the country.
The factories, mostly in Phnom Penh and near the port of Sihanoukville, are mainly owned by companies based in China, Hong Kong and Taiwan - although Malaysian and Singaporean firms are also invested in the sector. In 2005, over 71 percent of garment exports were shipped to the United States, and 22 percent to Europe.
"Cambodia can attract garment investments because it had a quota to the US before - but it has no industrial base and the people have limited skills," Wong Swie-Hwa, vice chairwoman of the China Hong Kong and Macau Expatriate and Business Association of Cambodia, told the Post on June 9.
"Cambodians are lazy and their productivity is low, but their quality is rising," she said. [So much for exploiting Khmer workers! Ungrateful woman - KI-Media]
Wong said the US buyers usually place orders with Hong Kong garment trading agencies, then the Hong Kong agents deliver the orders to the factories in Cambodia.
The factory owners employ many Chinese as supervisors and technicians because they are generally inexpensive and have more experience, she said.
"Another important reason for employing Chinese nationals is that they share a common language with owners from Hong Kong and other Chinese-speaking countries," Wong said. "Employers find it hard to communicate with Cambodians because they cannot speak Cantonese or Mandarin."
Chinese supervisors often earn US$500 a month, while Cambodians in the same position receive half that. But in addition to their salary the Chinese may have their living expenses paid for them and get air tickets for trips back home.
'Chinese employees deserve more'
"Chinese employees deserve more because they have to leave their country to work here," Wong said. "The employers also pay their food, lodging and air tickets to home."
CCAWDU's Thun said that based on 2004 figures, Cambodian supervisors were paid only $150 to $200, while Chinese received $400 to $500.
Loo said Chinese nationals play a big role in the Cambodian garment industry.
According to Loo, Cambodian workers can learn from the Chinese nationals "who were experienced in the garment trade." After all, he said, the garment and textile trade has been thriving for many years in China.
"The Chinese mainly differ in the fact that they are more experienced and that they are usually more hard-working," Loo said. "They have left their homeland and ventured overseas to come to Cambodia hoping to earn more money."
Chea Mony, president of the Free Trade Union, estimates that Cambodians represent less than 25 percent of the garment industry's management and mid-management positions. He concedes that Chinese are selected to overhead positions because of their skill, but he blames employers for failing to advance qualified Cambodians. Mony said that since he became involved in garment sector labor unions, he has not seen a single factory train its workers for managerial positions.
"We are very polite: we always respect our duties, but we are not recognized for being able to work in other areas of production," Mony said. "They do not wish to talk to us, so the gap between us is wide."
A range of interviews conducted by the Post in Cantonese and Mandarin with Chinese and Taiwanese factory executives revealed negative attitudes towards Cambodian employees.
"Cambodians cannot work in high positions as we do because they are backward and not educated enough," said Wu Lim-houng, a merchandiser from Shandong, China, who has worked in Phnom Penh since 2002. "They do not know how to supervise." [Unacceptable racist remarks - KI-Media]
'Lower-ranking workers Cambodians'
Wu's factory employs 7,000 to 8,000 workers, and most of them are Cambodians. About 5,000 of them work from 6am to 3pm, while the rest work from 3pm to 11pm. He said garment factories generally require at least 500 employees, and some need as many as 10,000.
"Eighty to ninety percent of all supervisors are Chinese, and the lower-ranking workers are Cambodians," Wu said.
Wu said the Cambodians usually earn $45 a month, with a $5 bonus if they are neither late nor absent. If a Cambodian works overtime, the salary may reach $70 to $80.
"Labour Law in Cambodia limits overtime to two hours a day, but most factories do not follow," Wu said. "Almost every worker works three to four hours more."
An ILO report said the frequency and duration of overtime remain an issue in most factories. More than two thirds of the factories surveyed did not limit overtime to two hours per day.
Merchandisers like Wu can earn as much as $700 a month. When their experience accumulates, it can top $1,000.
"Chinese usually make a better living than Cambodians. Certainly we can earn more than if we stay in China, otherwise we would not choose to stay here," Wu said.
A Chinese quality-assurance supervisor, Amy Yu, agrees that salary is the main incentive to work in Cambodia. Yu was hired in 2003, by her aunt who works as a garment factory manager.
In Yu's department, a Cambodian assistant makes $60 to $70 a month. Yu receives $400.
"Cambodians are very hard to manage - they are not responsible and lazy," said Yu, who said she tells Cambodians everything she knows. "The standard of Cambodians is low, and their thinking is old-fashioned."
Chinese citizen Li Zu-mei was attracted by better pay in Cambodia. She got her job as a quality-controller from a longtime friend.
"My employers pay my lodging and food," Li said. "They also buy me round-trip air tickets back home. That's why I've been here from Jiangsu in China for three years."
Li said most quality controllers are Chinese. Some of them work for more than one factory, and she works for two now in order to make more money.
"I save money for home, and I can save more in Cambodia because my bosses pay my living expenses and work visa," Li said. "I almost don't have any expenses."
Cambodian workers are not so fortunate. According to ILO research, most garment workers are poor, young women from the provinces with little education. Many live in overcrowded lodging, have little money for food, and send a large portion of their salaries home to their families each month.
"We make only $50 a month, but we have to spend $47 on living expenses," Mony said. "It is very hard and life is no good."
According to Alonzo Suson, country forum director for the American Center for International Labor Solidarity, the Chinese management style has yet to warm to labor unions.
"It's about cultural values and treatment. They don't know how to deal with unions," Suson said. "They come from a country where the workforce is controlled. They come here and say 'Wait a second - these workers have rights?'"
Suson urged factory owners to train more Cambodian supervisors.
"The Chinese factory owners bring in their own people, that has been identified as a problem," he said. "They don't employ local managers. Putting that practice into place here can seem disrespectful."
"If I were in union shoes, I'd be calling for an upgrading of skills."
3 comments:
I am sick and disgusted at these pure-bred racist closeminded Chinks who benefits from the Cambodian workers' sweat and blood. How dare these pure-bred slit-eyed Chinks to bash the Cambodian workers! This is outrageous, people. This is unacceptable. I thought the culture of the Chinks is to create a harmony with the environment and to reward hard-working individuals. So what the f*ck is this! The slit-eyed Chinks' comments are outrageously closeminded and crudely uncivilized. It is no wonder the Chinks are hated everywhere in their host countries. F*ck you, you pure-bred Chink management. Take your culture and mental shit and shove it in your holes, you CHINKS! The Khmer people don't ever welcome a back-stabbing insulting, closeminded yellow-stained-alien-looking people like you, you Chinks piece of shit!
Man I use to think favorablly of them Chinese world wide. In fact I even felt their pain when the Chinese got abused mistreated and killed in their host countries. Now when I realize that the Chinks are just a bunch of sumpremacists with shitty hardcore racist cultural values, I have no respect for ANY of them anymore. Their bad treatment and lowly degrading views of the Cambodians simply plant a hatred seed in my bone and heart. I am shocked and disgusted at these Chinks. Who would have guessed that the Chinks HATE Cambodians. Now the truth is out! Thank PP Post for article.
These Chinese supervisors should thank United States for opening their market to Cambodia! Without the opening of the U.S. these Chinese supervisors would be cooking noodle!
These Chinese need to understand that after the genocide and over 10years of civil war and this is what happen to Cambodia!
This only a fraction of the work force in Cambodia working in the garment industry which earn Cambodia in export over $1 billion dollar! Out of 13 million Cambodian
there are only about 250-300 thousand Cambodian people that is working! To me this is very incredible achievement for Cambodian workers!
If the Chinese don't like Cambodian people then these Chinese have the right to move their fucken clothing factories to Africa! Nobody is stopping these Chinese! Go and get the hell out!
I just want to laugh when the Chinese behave like this. I had read some history of how the Japanese and the European power treated the Chinese like animal during the colonial. I remembered the European and the Japanese power called the Chinese as the dinosaur and they were carving China territories among themselves for domination!
There are over 1 billion Chinese in the world. The statement still remain true if the Chinese people were to stack on top of each other and they would reach the moon. These days wherever people look and they will see Chinese people everywhere in the world! So it is natural to think that all Chinese are successful! This kind of mindset is very dangerous consider not all Chinese are successful people.
I do agree with 3:48PM. If the Chinese Supervisors don't like Cambodian people to work for them and they can move their factories to Africa.
These poor Cambodian people just came out the genocide and many decades of civil war. The essence of Cambodian culture and society were destroy completely and everything in Cambodia is being rebuilt from nothing.
Many of the job in the garment industry in Cambodia are meant for Cambodian people in the first place. These jobs are low paying job and if any Cambodian willing to work for a dollar aday and they will guarantee a job! So the Chinese Supervisor have no right to say anything bad about Cambodian people. These Chinese Supervisors should stay in China and stop worrying about their bottom line and stop exploiting Cambodian people like animal for economic profit. The Chinese should be a little more sensitive about their own history beause the Chinese people were once treated like animal! There is a saying that you should never look down on another human being because they have the capability to change. Am I surprise to know that the Chinese now know how to build ATOMIC BOMB? Of course not!
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