Carlsberg for Better Beer Promoter Working Conditions in Cambodia

Beer promoter at work (Photo: The Phnom Penh Post)

25 August 2012
ScandAsia.com

Women sales promoters working in bars in Cambodia are occasionally exposed to harassment by customers varying from being coerced into drinking and in some cases, being subjected to sexual abuse.

Cambodia Carlsberg Group and The Danish Confederation of Trade Unions (LO) have joined forces in a unique partnership to improve these promoters' conditions by agreeing to cooperate on several areas.

These areas include:

• Collaboration between management and employees, including the establishment of effective social dialogue between management and trade union representatives.
• Improving labour, health and safety conditions in general for beer promoters in Cambodia.
• The Beer Selling Industry Cambodia (BSIC's) Code of Conduct in relation to the ILO core conventions, OECD guidelines for multinational corporations and the UN Global Compact.
• The right to freedom of association and collective bargaining in the sector and country as a whole.
• Eliminating the negative stigma attached to beer promoters.

Since 2006 Carlsberg Group and its J/V partner Cambrew have been tackling the issues relating to sales promoters along with industry and NGO partners such as Care International Cambodia and by being one of the founding members of BSIC.

This partnership with LO gives Carlsberg Group the opportunity to build further upon its efforts and engage in constructive dialogue together with LO on all levels including business, industry, nationally and internationally.

Commenting on the agreement, Anne-Marie Skov of SVP GroupCommunications and CSR for Carlsberg Group, said that they are pleased with the cooperation agreement with LO that will help in their goal to provide the sales promoters with decent, dignified and safe employment.

"Through our cooperation with LO, we expect be to able to develop a better culture for social dialogue, where trade unions and companies work together with other stakeholders, including the government, to solve inherent labour market issues in order to improve beer promoters working conditions in general," she stated.

"Our long term success depends not only on growing, but growing responsibly," she added.

Always working to strengthen the trade union movement in developing countries, the Confederation of Danish Trade Unions' cooperation with Carlsberg opens up for a new type of partnership.

Confederal Secretary of The Confederation of Danish Trade Unions, Marie-Louise Knuppert stated that The Confederation of Danish Trade Unions has always had a strong focus on social dialogue.

"We see this agreement with Carlsberg Group as a unique opportunity to achieve great results for the Cambodian beer promoters and to show how dialogue and cooperation between private sector and trade unions is key for a well functioning labour market," she stated.

The Confederation of Danish Trade Unions and Carlsberg Group have already started sharing information and establishing working groups as part of this cooperation and expect some concrete results in the future that will improve beer promoters working conditions in Cambodia.