BANGKOK, Jun 16 (IPS) - It is no yarn that Cambodia's women hold in their fingers the fate of that poverty-stricken country's economy -- in particular, the women who labour in some 270 garment factories spread in and around Phnom Penh, the nation's capital.
The clothes produced by the 270,000 factory workers, of whom 90 percent are women, bring in over two billion US dollars annually in foreign earnings to the country's coffers. That amounts to 80 percent of earnings from Cambodia's exports.
Underpinning this feat is a unique programme to uphold high labour standards in each factory -- rather than reduce them to sweatshops --that have won wide acceptance by international clothing buyers in the West, which include such well-known brand names as ‘Gap', ‘Banana Republic' and ‘Polo'.
Currently called "Better Factories Cambodia," this over six-year-old programme led by the International Labour Organisation (ILO), has proved that it can survive even after the multi-fibre agreement (MFA), an international quota system for garments, came to an end at the beginning of 2005.
Reports of the garment sector's achievement, in the first four months of this year, confirm that trend. "Nearly 30,000 new jobs were created," between January and March, the ILO revealed early this month. "Exports to U.S. grew by just over 10 percent and nearly 20 percent in value (in 2005)."
"The project tries to ensure certain labour law standards are maintained and workers are guaranteed their rights," Ken Loo, secretary general of the Garment Manufacturers Association in Cambodia, said in a telephone interview from Phnom Penh. "The work force is free to form a union or join a union of their choice."
Investors who set up shop in Cambodia to produce garments for exports have to conform to the Better Factories programme as a part of their agreement to do business in the country. "All garment export factories have to sign on this project. The coverage is total. And the government has given the ILO complete access to monitor the industry," added Loo.
A 2005 World Bank study also gives high marks for the "sweatshop-free" environment of the Cambodian garment sector. The working conditions in the Phnom Penh-based industry ranked higher than other Asian countries that have a similar industry, such as Bangladesh, Thailand, Vietnam and China. Cambodia outperformed these countries on "union rights," too, according to the Bank.
Ngun Naren, a 22-year-old factory worker, is one such beneficiary of this labour rights-friendly environment. "Thanks to stronger enforcement of labour laws and random factory checks by monitoring bodies, working conditions had greatly improved," she was quoted as saying in an article that appeared in a recent edition of the 'Phonm Penh Post,' an English-language newspaper in Cambodia. "Stronger unions meant workers had more power to negotiate."
This programme grew out of a 1999 trade agreement between Cambodia and the U.S. government, where Washington agreed to reward "good working conditions in the garment industry by reserving a portion of its imports specifically for garments made in Cambodia."
That agreement came four years after Cambodia entered the garment export trade to earn much-needed foreign exchange to help rebuild a country that had been devastated by decades of war and brutality. In 1995, the first year that Cambodian-produced apparel hit the international market, the country earned only 20 million dollars.
"It is a unique programme since no other garment factories in South-east Asia are monitored by the ILO," Ros Harvey, chief technical advisor for the global labour agency-run programme, told IPS. "The ILO's engagement with the industry has created the space for labour issues to be addressed. Many buyers are concerned about these ethical issues."
Besides the right to form or join unions, the predominantly female labour force has also seen improvements on such fronts as receiving the agreed wages, getting overtime pay, enjoying annual leave and also being guaranteed maternity leave, says Harvey. "These concerns were not fixed overnight. We are always working to improve standards."
Not so fortunate are the women working in the estimated 150 to 200 factories that are sub-contractors to the garment trade. None of the nearly 20,000 workers who toil in them are registered with the Better Factories programme and, hence, can be subject to abuse.
The average monthly wage for a garment worker under the labour-friendly system is 45 dollars, although higher output in turning out shirts or trousers can bring her 100 dollars a month. By contrast, the average monthly income for an entire household in the rural areas, from where most of the garment workers come, is 40 dollars, states the Better Factories website.
This female workforce also stands out when set against the country's poverty indicators, where nearly 35 percent of Cambodia's 13.3 million people live below a poverty line of 0.44 US cents per day.
But behind this march towards the capital for "very popular" jobs is a tale of rural economies under stress. "The question here is why are so many women seeking jobs in the factories and the simple answer to that is that small farmer land holdings cannot survive in a climate where agri-business is promoted," Soun Tien of the Phnom Penh-based Womyn's Agenda for Change, a non-governmental group, told IPS. "Women workers have become the conduit to sending money home to sustain the survival of the family day to day." (END/2006)
The clothes produced by the 270,000 factory workers, of whom 90 percent are women, bring in over two billion US dollars annually in foreign earnings to the country's coffers. That amounts to 80 percent of earnings from Cambodia's exports.
Underpinning this feat is a unique programme to uphold high labour standards in each factory -- rather than reduce them to sweatshops --that have won wide acceptance by international clothing buyers in the West, which include such well-known brand names as ‘Gap', ‘Banana Republic' and ‘Polo'.
Currently called "Better Factories Cambodia," this over six-year-old programme led by the International Labour Organisation (ILO), has proved that it can survive even after the multi-fibre agreement (MFA), an international quota system for garments, came to an end at the beginning of 2005.
Reports of the garment sector's achievement, in the first four months of this year, confirm that trend. "Nearly 30,000 new jobs were created," between January and March, the ILO revealed early this month. "Exports to U.S. grew by just over 10 percent and nearly 20 percent in value (in 2005)."
"The project tries to ensure certain labour law standards are maintained and workers are guaranteed their rights," Ken Loo, secretary general of the Garment Manufacturers Association in Cambodia, said in a telephone interview from Phnom Penh. "The work force is free to form a union or join a union of their choice."
Investors who set up shop in Cambodia to produce garments for exports have to conform to the Better Factories programme as a part of their agreement to do business in the country. "All garment export factories have to sign on this project. The coverage is total. And the government has given the ILO complete access to monitor the industry," added Loo.
A 2005 World Bank study also gives high marks for the "sweatshop-free" environment of the Cambodian garment sector. The working conditions in the Phnom Penh-based industry ranked higher than other Asian countries that have a similar industry, such as Bangladesh, Thailand, Vietnam and China. Cambodia outperformed these countries on "union rights," too, according to the Bank.
Ngun Naren, a 22-year-old factory worker, is one such beneficiary of this labour rights-friendly environment. "Thanks to stronger enforcement of labour laws and random factory checks by monitoring bodies, working conditions had greatly improved," she was quoted as saying in an article that appeared in a recent edition of the 'Phonm Penh Post,' an English-language newspaper in Cambodia. "Stronger unions meant workers had more power to negotiate."
This programme grew out of a 1999 trade agreement between Cambodia and the U.S. government, where Washington agreed to reward "good working conditions in the garment industry by reserving a portion of its imports specifically for garments made in Cambodia."
That agreement came four years after Cambodia entered the garment export trade to earn much-needed foreign exchange to help rebuild a country that had been devastated by decades of war and brutality. In 1995, the first year that Cambodian-produced apparel hit the international market, the country earned only 20 million dollars.
"It is a unique programme since no other garment factories in South-east Asia are monitored by the ILO," Ros Harvey, chief technical advisor for the global labour agency-run programme, told IPS. "The ILO's engagement with the industry has created the space for labour issues to be addressed. Many buyers are concerned about these ethical issues."
Besides the right to form or join unions, the predominantly female labour force has also seen improvements on such fronts as receiving the agreed wages, getting overtime pay, enjoying annual leave and also being guaranteed maternity leave, says Harvey. "These concerns were not fixed overnight. We are always working to improve standards."
Not so fortunate are the women working in the estimated 150 to 200 factories that are sub-contractors to the garment trade. None of the nearly 20,000 workers who toil in them are registered with the Better Factories programme and, hence, can be subject to abuse.
The average monthly wage for a garment worker under the labour-friendly system is 45 dollars, although higher output in turning out shirts or trousers can bring her 100 dollars a month. By contrast, the average monthly income for an entire household in the rural areas, from where most of the garment workers come, is 40 dollars, states the Better Factories website.
This female workforce also stands out when set against the country's poverty indicators, where nearly 35 percent of Cambodia's 13.3 million people live below a poverty line of 0.44 US cents per day.
But behind this march towards the capital for "very popular" jobs is a tale of rural economies under stress. "The question here is why are so many women seeking jobs in the factories and the simple answer to that is that small farmer land holdings cannot survive in a climate where agri-business is promoted," Soun Tien of the Phnom Penh-based Womyn's Agenda for Change, a non-governmental group, told IPS. "Women workers have become the conduit to sending money home to sustain the survival of the family day to day." (END/2006)
3 comments:
s"The clothes produced by the 270,000 factory workers, of whom 90 percent are women, bring in over two billion US dollars annually in foreign earnings to the country's coffers. That amounts to 80 percent of earnings from Cambodia's exports." Base on the following statement and the Chinese factory owners look down on Cambodian people as being lazy workers? "nearly 35 percent of Cambodia's 13.3 million people live below a poverty line of 0.44 US cents per day."
I like to ask all these Chinese factories garment owners how would to like to live on 0.44 US cent per day and yet they still have the strength to work! These female Cambodian garment workers bring home about $40 to $45 dollars a month! This is so fucken sad, I guess the Chinese garment factories owners like to pay their workers to fuck up and with these kind of wage how could any Cambodian people escape poverty? These poor Cambodian people are being turn into economic animal and they are being look down upon!
Sometime I wonder where is humanity in all of this! The practicing of the theory of evolution by Charles Darwins is everywhere in the world! Just look at Cambodia, Poor Cambodian people being step on and exploited and look down upon! God bless Cambodian people! I pray to God that Cambodia will turn into a terrorist country someday! Otherwise these Cambodian will not get the fucken respect as human being!
Terrorist country your ass, Cambodian will find other way!
First we need skill than we should ask the west to invest in our skilfull labor. No terroristfool like you red ball!
to 4:17
ahahah! What other way is that? Cambodia to produce skill labors? What the fuck are you talking about? For more than 30years since AH HUN SEN in power and he will stay for another 30 years! I don't see any skill labors being produce except the garment skilled workers!
Good luck man!
Right now Cambodian are so dirt poor to the point that I can pay these Cambodian people for $50.00 to blow your ass away! Now this is what I called the real terrorist act! When Cambodian people are so poor anybody from the outside world can corrupt these Cambodian to do anything!
How do you explain when thousand and thousand of Cambodian women enter the sex trade just to put food the table and knowing what they do will kill them anyway! This is what you don't understand fool! Cambodian people are willing to die just to put food on the table for their children! So there you have it!
Whether you like it or not, if Cambodian people continue to be poor like this and Cambodia will turn into a mafia state or a terrorist state!
My ball ain't red but a pink one! Fuck you for guessing the color of my ball incorrectly!
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