Industrial tensions could pose a serious threat to the future of the Cambodian garment sector. But ILO and USAID initiatives offer hope that the situation can be repaired
In October, a weeklong strike by garment workers and unionists outside the Bright Sky garment factory in Cambodia’s capital, Phnom Penh, got out of hand. The management called the police, who allegedly used excessive force, injuring demonstrators including a woman garment worker who was hit in the back by a bullet.
Human rights organisations laid the blame for the incident at the door of the Bright Sky management and the police. But the Garment Manufacturers’ Association in Cambodia has a different story.
Speaking to Ethical Corporation, Van Sou Ieng, chairman of GMAC, insisted that public accounts of what took place are wrong. He says workers had organised a wildcat strike without acknowledging any of their legal obligations and had forced about 1,000 workers from the factory not to work even though they wanted to.
Van says workers attacked the management offices, which had forced the management to call the police, who only fired shots in the air to calm the crowd.
In Cambodia, where on average there are three or four unions per factory, such industrial disputes are common. In recent months, there has been growing confrontation between union activists and garment factory managers, and the situation has become explosive on more than one occasion.
Basic rights
The common issues raised by workers and their representatives during these confrontations are wages, contracting practices, overtime and freedom of association.
In its latest report on working conditions in Cambodia’s garment factories, the International Labour Organisation’s Better Factories programme has confirmed that, despite steady improvement in the working environment, overtime acknowledgement and freedom of association are two areas that need attention.
Foreign buyers that bring in more than $2 billion in annual business for Cambodia’s garment factories are now expressing concerns over escalating industrial tensions.
Despite over 90% of factory owners complying with minimum wage requirements according to the ILO, an increase in the minimum wage, recently raised to $50 a month, has been a common demand from unionists. With prices paid by buyers steadily dropping in the past five years due to shifts in the global garment trade, it is unlikely there will be a significant raise any time soon.
However, some experts say that the current minimum wage is a living wage, especially since actual pay averages about $60-$70 at most factories, when incentives are included.
This compares well with pay in other occupations. And as workers are attracted to move into urban areas where the jobs are, some of their pay flows back to the poorer rural areas from where they came.
One expert told Ethical Corporation: “Teachers in Cambodia [only] earn around $25 monthly.” On the other hand, “Garment workers can send, at least, 20% to 30% of their wages home to the countryside.”
Cultural divide
Training local Cambodian workers is increasingly encouraged in the garment sector. With a good number of factory owners and managers being of east Asian, ethnic Chinese origin, it is believed that this cultural divide causes most frictions between workers and management.
To help resolve these and other issues, a $3.4 million USAID project trains garment workers in good industrial skills and promotes better working practices within factories, with the aim of increasing productivity.
Both the ILO and the USAID projects are aiming to bridge cultural divides. ILO Better Factories, which has restricted itself to a compliance and monitoring role, will now move towards facilitating a remediation process in relation to issues it discovers in its monitoring activities, says Tuomo Poutiainen, chief technical adviser of the programme.
Useful link: www.betterfactories.org
Better Factories Cambodia: a snapshot
ILO Better Factories Cambodia is a programme that involves international buyers, manufacturers and unions from the Cambodian garment industry with a view to improving working conditions at garment factories.
The programme was established in 2001 and is funded by the US Department of Labor, USAID, Agence Francaise de Developpement, the Garment Manufacturers’ Association in Cambodia, the government of Cambodia and foreign buyers.
Under the Better Factories programme, the ILO conducts unannounced visits to factories to check compliance with Cambodian and international labour standards. The ILO checklist consists of 500 items covering wages, child labour, freedom of association, employee contracts, working hours, workplace facilities, noise control, machine safety and other issues.
After the visits, suggestions and observations are made available to factory management and time is given for improvements. If suggestions are not implemented upon, factories are publicly named and shamed in ILO reports. As part of the Better Factories programme, the ILO also runs training modules aimed at improving work practices.
Write to Poulomi Mrinal Saha at Poulomi.Saha@ethicalcorp.com,
or write to the Editor at editor@ethicalcorp.com.
In October, a weeklong strike by garment workers and unionists outside the Bright Sky garment factory in Cambodia’s capital, Phnom Penh, got out of hand. The management called the police, who allegedly used excessive force, injuring demonstrators including a woman garment worker who was hit in the back by a bullet.
Human rights organisations laid the blame for the incident at the door of the Bright Sky management and the police. But the Garment Manufacturers’ Association in Cambodia has a different story.
Speaking to Ethical Corporation, Van Sou Ieng, chairman of GMAC, insisted that public accounts of what took place are wrong. He says workers had organised a wildcat strike without acknowledging any of their legal obligations and had forced about 1,000 workers from the factory not to work even though they wanted to.
Van says workers attacked the management offices, which had forced the management to call the police, who only fired shots in the air to calm the crowd.
In Cambodia, where on average there are three or four unions per factory, such industrial disputes are common. In recent months, there has been growing confrontation between union activists and garment factory managers, and the situation has become explosive on more than one occasion.
Basic rights
The common issues raised by workers and their representatives during these confrontations are wages, contracting practices, overtime and freedom of association.
In its latest report on working conditions in Cambodia’s garment factories, the International Labour Organisation’s Better Factories programme has confirmed that, despite steady improvement in the working environment, overtime acknowledgement and freedom of association are two areas that need attention.
Foreign buyers that bring in more than $2 billion in annual business for Cambodia’s garment factories are now expressing concerns over escalating industrial tensions.
Despite over 90% of factory owners complying with minimum wage requirements according to the ILO, an increase in the minimum wage, recently raised to $50 a month, has been a common demand from unionists. With prices paid by buyers steadily dropping in the past five years due to shifts in the global garment trade, it is unlikely there will be a significant raise any time soon.
However, some experts say that the current minimum wage is a living wage, especially since actual pay averages about $60-$70 at most factories, when incentives are included.
This compares well with pay in other occupations. And as workers are attracted to move into urban areas where the jobs are, some of their pay flows back to the poorer rural areas from where they came.
One expert told Ethical Corporation: “Teachers in Cambodia [only] earn around $25 monthly.” On the other hand, “Garment workers can send, at least, 20% to 30% of their wages home to the countryside.”
Cultural divide
Training local Cambodian workers is increasingly encouraged in the garment sector. With a good number of factory owners and managers being of east Asian, ethnic Chinese origin, it is believed that this cultural divide causes most frictions between workers and management.
To help resolve these and other issues, a $3.4 million USAID project trains garment workers in good industrial skills and promotes better working practices within factories, with the aim of increasing productivity.
Both the ILO and the USAID projects are aiming to bridge cultural divides. ILO Better Factories, which has restricted itself to a compliance and monitoring role, will now move towards facilitating a remediation process in relation to issues it discovers in its monitoring activities, says Tuomo Poutiainen, chief technical adviser of the programme.
Useful link: www.betterfactories.org
Better Factories Cambodia: a snapshot
ILO Better Factories Cambodia is a programme that involves international buyers, manufacturers and unions from the Cambodian garment industry with a view to improving working conditions at garment factories.
The programme was established in 2001 and is funded by the US Department of Labor, USAID, Agence Francaise de Developpement, the Garment Manufacturers’ Association in Cambodia, the government of Cambodia and foreign buyers.
Under the Better Factories programme, the ILO conducts unannounced visits to factories to check compliance with Cambodian and international labour standards. The ILO checklist consists of 500 items covering wages, child labour, freedom of association, employee contracts, working hours, workplace facilities, noise control, machine safety and other issues.
After the visits, suggestions and observations are made available to factory management and time is given for improvements. If suggestions are not implemented upon, factories are publicly named and shamed in ILO reports. As part of the Better Factories programme, the ILO also runs training modules aimed at improving work practices.
Write to Poulomi Mrinal Saha at Poulomi.Saha@ethicalcorp.com,
or write to the Editor at editor@ethicalcorp.com.
1 comment:
From now on Cambodian people are being shape for only two things!!!!
Cambodia will become the consumer and the worker and that is it under AH HUN SEN Vietcong slave government system!!
What AH HUN SEN Vietcong didn't know that it takes more than a consumer and worker to move Cambodia into a civilize country!!!Cambodia needs more business people or entrepreneur! Cambodia needs Cambodian investors because they are the one that live and breath the country! Cambodia needs more professionals to answer the need of Cambodia society!!!!
Why AH HUN SEN Vietcong slave limits Cambodian people ambition???
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