Ms. Theary C. Seng: Better Nutrition, Safety, Benefits and a Living Wage for Garment Workers

Theary, this Sunday morning at home before meeting with Free Trade Union representatives, some 80 members representing about 40 factories across Cambodia, in Phnom Penh, 14 July 2013, as the FTUWKC's newly appointed Senior Advisor.

Over 600,000 garment workers in Cambodia, most are young women, still teenagers--uneducated, living in one room with 10-15 other similarly situated women in the city from their remote villages, working from morning to night at least 6 days a week, only to survive for that day, as daily food and rent eat into their paltry $80/mo.

I will advocate more and more in my capacity as Free Trade Union's Senior Advisor as well as the Founding President of CIVICUS: Center for Cambodian Civic Education for their education, health and safety, and a living wage of least $150 plus benefits:

(1) one Saturday per month of education on factory time, conducted by NGOs (e.g. CIVICUS Cambodia) and other educational institutions;

(2) factory provides an orange or a banana for each worker each morning, to supplement their non-nutritious food they can now only afford,

(3) the safety accord similar to one recently adopted for Bangladesh (see below), among others.

- Theary, Phnom Penh, 16 July 2013

MY RECOMMENDATION:

The Accord on Fire and Building Safety

in Cambodia

(modeled after the one enacted for Bangladesh), inter alia:

1. The companies would agree that they would take responsibility and immediate action wherever serious safety problems are found. They would pledge “to insure that sufficient funds are available to pay for renovations and other safety improvements.”

2. The accord would allow labor groups to take clothing brands that refuse to live up to their commitments to arbitration or, failing that, to court in the companies’ home countries. This would give unions a crucial tool to help ensure that industry keeps its word;

3. LEGAL LIABILITY (accord legally binding, not voluntary; companies subject to lawsuits in their respective country, arbitration failing);

4. Accord would give labor unions a role in overseeing its implementation;

5. A FOUNDATION underwritten by clothing companies will send inspectors to identify hazards and propose safety measures at factories that make clothes for brands like H&M, Zara and Tommy Hilfiger.

6. The cost of repairing factories and paying workers who are temporarily furloughed would be covered by the companies, loans from international financial institutions, and Cambodia and foreign government funds.

7. Retailers would commit to keep buying from factories that agree to make repairs and would stop buying from any that refuse.

8. The foundation would be run by clothing companies and global and local labor groups.

Theary Seng, FTUWKC's Senior Advisor, with factory workers, one at Tack Fat before it was closed.  I remember demonstrating in front of Tack Fat beginning in 1997, being water-hosed and chased down by security forces (Phnom Penh, 14 July 2013)

Seen and heard on Ms. Theary C. Seng's BLOG...