By Ek Madra
REUTERS
PHNOM PENH – A growing number of wildcat strikes and politicised, unruly unions are threatening Cambodia's garment sector, an industry that accounts for 80 percent of the country's exports, its top representative said on Friday.
The government and International Labor Organization (ILO) must step in to curb the 'illegal practices' that are now happening more than three times a week, Van Sou Ieng of the Cambodian Garment Manufacturers Association said.
'It is a big threat not only to the garment industry, but also to the whole of Cambodia's industrial activities,' said Van Sou Ieng, whose group represents 300 foreign-owned factories in the war-scarred southeast Asian nation.
'About 20 to 30 workers become unhappy and then block the doors to prevent 500 or 1,000 other workers getting in,' he told Reuters. Most disputes relate to unpaid and low wages or unfair dismissal.
Cambodia exported clothes worth $2.6 billion last year, a 17 percent rise from 2005. Nearly 75 percent of the clothes go to the United States, and the rest to Canada and Europe.
The sector employs more than 300,000 people, most of them women, and even though average wages are around $50 a month, it has been credited as one of the few engines of growth in one of Asia's poorest countries.
However, the boom has been accompanied by an explosion in the number of labor unions, and more than 1,000 are thought to be operating in some form or another.
Van Sou Ien said the vast majority were vehicles for rabble-rousing politicians rather than legitimate unions.
In response, the ILO, which has been monitoring factory working conditions for years, has modified its role to training workers and management in the art of dispute resolution, although it concedes that much remains to be done.
'Striking is not the way to solve problems. It's a last resort,' said assistant programme manager Conor Boyle. 'If you can solve problems internally, within your factories, you come up with the much better solutions for all concerned.'
Despite the problems, the writing is not yet on the wall as many big-name U.S. brands such as Adidas, Nike or Gap continue to see Cambodia as a safe place from which to source goods due mainly to the ILO oversight.
Foreign investment quadrupled in 2006 from the previous year to nearly $4 billion, with most of the increase due to the garment sector despite fears of increased competition stemming from Cambodia's 2004 accession to the World Trade Organization.
However, Van Sou Ieng said in a highly competitive industry, no country could not afford to have labor disputes tarnish its image and ward off investors.
A year ago, neighbouring Vietnam responded to a series of wildcat strikes at dozens of foreign-owned factories in the southern commercial hub, Ho Chi Minh City, with a 40 percent hike in the minimum wage to between $45-55 a month.
The government and International Labor Organization (ILO) must step in to curb the 'illegal practices' that are now happening more than three times a week, Van Sou Ieng of the Cambodian Garment Manufacturers Association said.
'It is a big threat not only to the garment industry, but also to the whole of Cambodia's industrial activities,' said Van Sou Ieng, whose group represents 300 foreign-owned factories in the war-scarred southeast Asian nation.
'About 20 to 30 workers become unhappy and then block the doors to prevent 500 or 1,000 other workers getting in,' he told Reuters. Most disputes relate to unpaid and low wages or unfair dismissal.
Cambodia exported clothes worth $2.6 billion last year, a 17 percent rise from 2005. Nearly 75 percent of the clothes go to the United States, and the rest to Canada and Europe.
The sector employs more than 300,000 people, most of them women, and even though average wages are around $50 a month, it has been credited as one of the few engines of growth in one of Asia's poorest countries.
However, the boom has been accompanied by an explosion in the number of labor unions, and more than 1,000 are thought to be operating in some form or another.
Van Sou Ien said the vast majority were vehicles for rabble-rousing politicians rather than legitimate unions.
In response, the ILO, which has been monitoring factory working conditions for years, has modified its role to training workers and management in the art of dispute resolution, although it concedes that much remains to be done.
'Striking is not the way to solve problems. It's a last resort,' said assistant programme manager Conor Boyle. 'If you can solve problems internally, within your factories, you come up with the much better solutions for all concerned.'
Despite the problems, the writing is not yet on the wall as many big-name U.S. brands such as Adidas, Nike or Gap continue to see Cambodia as a safe place from which to source goods due mainly to the ILO oversight.
Foreign investment quadrupled in 2006 from the previous year to nearly $4 billion, with most of the increase due to the garment sector despite fears of increased competition stemming from Cambodia's 2004 accession to the World Trade Organization.
However, Van Sou Ieng said in a highly competitive industry, no country could not afford to have labor disputes tarnish its image and ward off investors.
A year ago, neighbouring Vietnam responded to a series of wildcat strikes at dozens of foreign-owned factories in the southern commercial hub, Ho Chi Minh City, with a 40 percent hike in the minimum wage to between $45-55 a month.
2 comments:
Just fire them (fools) and put
the jobless in their place before
we lose anymore jobs, period.
hey you again. i thought you are a fool. why you did not understand? i told you with your reasoning to work at any price is an equivalence to exploitation. with 300,000 of new workforce every year and only 30,000 jobs open will not drive up the salary unless government intervene to set a fair minimum wage and respectable labor laws. if the government does not do that the people will be poor and poorer even they are working, ok fool? and at the same time they will resort the act of social evils such as corrupting like your government do now, stealing, prostitution etc... to supplement their income to just survive, understand fool? now sit down, think about it, ask yourself, does this really make sense? think! don't just defy. it is bad for you!
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