‘Verbal abuse’ surfaces at Ocean

Monday, 03 September 2012
Claire Knox and Mom Kunthear
The Phnom Penh Post

“However, the workers were able to tell us what was said in Bengali but didn’t know what it meant – things like ‘you’re a dog’ and even worse things you wouldn’t want to print,” she said, adding Ocean management had not denied verbal abuse was occurring.

An investigation by garment factory monitor Better Factories Cambodia into the alleged sexual harassment of four female employees at Ocean Garment uncovered extensive verbal abuse, according to BFC technical adviser Jill Tucker.

A BFC team visited the Dangkor district site on August 24 after a group of more than 2500 workers rallied behind six women who claimed manager Faruk Ahamed made sexual advances, striking from August 11 until last Friday.

Tucker said that although relations in the Bangladeshi-owned factory were very poor, BFC could not confirm the sexual harassment claims, which are still being dealt with by police and Phnom Penh Municipal Court after the women filed criminal complaints almost two weeks ago.

Human Rights Defender/F​reedom of Expression Alert – Phnom Penh, 31 August 2012

Labour leader summonsed to court

Rong Chhun (C), president of the Cambodian Confederation of Unions, speaks to reporters during a protest by Tai Yang Enterprises workers in Phnom Penh last month. Photograph: Heng Chivoan/Phnom Penh Post

Thursday, 30 August 2012
Mom Kunthear and Shane Worrell
The Phnom Penh Post

Global brands Levi’s and Gap had continued slashing orders at the Tai Yang and Camwell factories in Kandal province, costing the company that owns them about US$6 million, its manager claimed yesterday.

Tai Yang Enterprises manager Wu Minghuor said the brands had reduced their orders from the factories by 80 per cent as a result of the strike over seniority bonuses, which began on June 25.

“We have found we have lost about $6 million in revenue and 80 per cent of orders from [Gap and Levi’s],” he said – less than a week after telling the Post the brands had cut orders by 20 per cent.

The man responsible was Cambodian Confederation of Unions president Rong Chhun, who had “destroyed the company” by inciting workers to protest, Minghuor said.

Cambodia hosts ASEAN garment, textile exhibition

SIEM REAP, Cambodia, Aug. 29 (Xinhua) -- Garment and textile products from Southeast Asian nations were on display here on Wednesday evening, aiming at further promoting business opportunities, Cambodian Minister of Commerce Cham Prasidh said.

Organized by Cambodian Ministry of Commerce in cooperation with the Garment Manufacturers Association of Cambodia, the ASEAN Garment and Textile Fair 2012 will be held until Sept. 1 at the Angkor Coex Exhibition Hall.

"The event is to promote garment and textile businesses between ASEAN nations as well as with other ASEAN dialogue partners," the minister said at the opening ceremony, which was attended by all ASEAN Economic Ministers, and Chinese Minister of Commerce Chen Deming, Japanese Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Yukio Edano as well as South Korean Minister for Trade Bark Taeho.

All the ministers are in Cambodia to attend the 44th ASEAN Economic Ministers Meeting and related meetings.

Summons for Rong Chhun on Tai Nan factory lawsuit

CAMBODIA: Strike continues at Gap supplier factory

Ngo Tuan | 28 August 2012
JustStyle.com

A strike at the Ocean Garment factory in Phnom Penh, which supplies US retailer Gap, has entered its third week, despite a court ordering the 2,500 protestors to return to work.

The unrest began on 11 August after six female employees accused their Bangladeshi manager of sexual harassment.

The Phnom Penh Municipal Court ordered the protestors to return to work on Friday (24 August), even though investigations are still pending, according to the Collective Union of Movement of Workers.

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Free Trade Union of Workers of the Kingdom of Cambodia (FTUWKC)
Social Justice is the Foundation of Peace

Address: House No.16A, Street 360, Sangkat Boeung Keng Kang 3,
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Tel/Fax: +855 0 23 216 870
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Factory strikes lead to cut in orders

Un Saveoun, one of many Tai Yang Enterprises workers who have been on strike since June. Photograph: Vireak Mai/Phnom Penh Post

Friday, 24 August 2012
Mom Kunthear and Shane Worrell
The Phnom Penh Post

Tai Yang needed to “put two and two together” and realise the link between the strike and big brands reducing their orders

Global brands Levi’s and Gap had slashed their orders from the Tai Yang and Camwell garment factories by 20 per cent, the factories’ boss said yesterday, amid the longest strike in the industry’s recent history.

Tai Yang Enterprises manager Wu Minghuor said his company had shuttered its Tai Yang II factory this week in response to the big brands’ decision to buy less – which he blamed on the strikers and their unions – and had relocated staff to its neighbouring factories.

“Our buyers, Gap and the Levi’s company, have reduced orders for our products. That’s the reason we closed the factory,” he said. “We really regret this. If the workers had not gone on strike like this, my factory would not have closed. We definitely can’t accept them back to work now,” he said.

Cambodia's trade with U.S. reaches 1.39 bln USD in H1, up 4.5 pct

PHNOM PENH, Aug. 22 (Xinhua) -- Bilateral trade volume between Cambodia and the United States had jumped to 1.39 billion U.S. dollars in the first six months of this year, a 4.5 percent rise compared with 1.33 billion U.S. dollars at the same period last year, according to the statistics of the U.S. Department of Commerce obtained on Wednesday.

From January to June this year, Cambodia's exports to the U.S. were 1.27 billion U.S. dollars, up 1.6 percent if compared with the same period last year, while the country's imports from the U. S. were 120 million U.S. dollars, up 47.6 percent.

‘Sexually harassed’ workers stick to their guns

Police confront striking workers employed by Ocean Garment Co Ltd during a protest in Phnom Penh on Monday. Photograph: Vireak Mai/Phnom Penh Post

Wednesday, 22 August 2012
Claire Knox and Mom Kunthear
The Phnom Penh Post

But Ken Loo, secretary-general of the Garment Manufacturers’ Association of Cambodia, said sexual harassment was not endemic in the industry, and that it was rather a case of “friendly behaviour being misconstrued as sexual advances”.

Ocean Garment yesterday refused to meet the sole demand of thousands of striking workers to have their manager, accused of sexual harassment, sacked.

An inter-governmental ministerial committee met with union and employer representatives, but Bangladeshi-owned Ocean Garment – which supplies retail titan Gap – refused to terminate the manager accused by workers of misconduct.

More than 2,500 of the Phnom Penh factory’s 4,000-strong work force have been on strike since August 11, and the allegedly abused women yesterday announced they would be pressing criminal charges.

Worker representative Keo Kim Heang said workers were left feeling thwarted, having expected a positive outcome.

Cambodia issues licenses for 40 new garment units

August 16, 2012 (Cambodia)
Fibre2fashion News Desk - India

The Government of the Southeast Asian nation of Cambodia issued operating licenses to 51 new garment and footwear factories involving a total investment of US$ 327 million, during the first half of the current year, according to a report issued by the Council for the Development of Cambodia.

As per the report, the 51 factories include 40 garment factories, 2 sock producers, 8 shoe makers and 1 textile factory.

With 16 factories, China turned out to be the biggest investor in the Cambodian garment sector during the period, followed by South Korea and Taiwan with 12 and 11 projects, respectively.

Cambodia: Is Adidas exploiting workers?

Dene-Hern Chen | GlobalPost.com | Aug 01, 2012

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia — Am Phalla sits outside the factory gates of apparel maker Shen Zhou (Cambodia) Co. Ltd., sharing a lunch of rice, vegetables and fried fish with coworkers.

She has been sewing clothes at Shen Zhou for a little less than a year, but is unaware that the company, which produces Olympic merchandise for sportswear giant Adidas, is currently under investigation over allegations that it short changes its workers in places like Cambodia.

The London Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games (Locog) is conducting the investigation in response to a July 14 Daily Mail article, claiming Adidas is in violation of an agreement with Locog that merchandisers must pay workers a sustainable living wage. Full of quotes from Cambodian workers, the article contrasts their seemingly meager earnings with the relatively high cost of a single Adidas Olympic garment.

But Phalla, 33, doesn't fit the profile in the Daily Mail article. She says she's happy with the working conditions at Shen Zhou — a rare statement for Cambodia’s garment industry, where long hours and low pay are the norm.

US big brand boycott called for by workers

Tuesday, 24 July 2012 
Mom Kunthear
The Phnom Penh Post

Some 100 workers, along with the president of the Cambodian Confederation of Unions, delivered a letter yesterday to the US Embassy in Phnom Penh asking Americans to boycott clothing made by Tai Yang Enterprises.

Surrounded by protesters, CCU President Rong Chhun said that the group was left with no other choice after authorities failed to find a suitable solution for the employees of the Levi’s and Gap supplier.

“We appeal to all American people to stop buying or using the products or clothes from this factory … [The US government] will not keep quiet, and they will put pressure to this factory,” said Chhun.

Tai Yang workers have been on strike since June 25 over allegations that a change in the company’s name had stripped them of seniority benefits.

Workplace injury rate rises

Garment factory workers cram into the back of a transport truck at the end of a day’s work in Phnom Penh’s Meanchey district last month. Photograph: Will Baxter/Phnom Penh Post

Tuesday, 24 July 2012
Sen David and Shane Worrell
The Phnom Penh Post

A spike in factory faintings contributed to a 65 per cent increase in the number of workplace injuries reported in 2011, a Ministry of Labour official said yesterday.

Leng Tong, director of the occupational health and safety department, said the ministry plans to introduce specialist safety committees in response to the 47 deaths and the more than 12,000 injuries that occurred in workplaces last year.

Although Tong could not provide a detailed breakdown of prevalent workplace injuries, he said faintings and traffic accidents involving commuting workers were widespread.

Cambodia's Garment Export Reaches US$2.1 Billion In H1, Up 9 Per Cent

PHNOM PENH, July 23 (Bernama) -- Cambodia had exported garment and textile products worth US$2.1 billion in the first six months of 2012, up 9 percent from US$1.93 billion in the same period last year, a report from the Commerce Ministry showed on Monday.

According to China's Xinhua news agency, the United States and European countries are the main buyers, other clients include Canada, Japan, South Korea, China and some other Asian countries.

During the same period, the country had imported garment and textile raw materials in equivalent to US$1.5 billion, a 23 percent rise from US$1.22 billion in the same period last year, said the report.

Adidas faces demos over worker fees

Jul 14 2012
IC Solihull.co.uk

Some people working in third-world countries for Olympic sponsor Adidas - which produced the official Team GB outfit - are paid less than 68p an hour, the sports giant has admitted.

Countering allegations made at a protest in central London that these workers were paid as little as 34p an hour, the firm insisted the wage rate was "almost double" that figure.

An Adidas spokesman said: "Adidas takes all allegations about working conditions extremely seriously and is fully committed to protecting worker rights."

Anti-poverty campaigners targeted Adidas stores across the country over claims relating to workers in some of its contracted factories.

Protesters attempted to attach labels branded with "34p - Exploitation" to items of clothing, which they say is the hourly wage rate for workers in Indonesia making the brand's goods.

Cambodia's garment manufacturers, union leaders reach agreement on wage hike

PHNOM PENH, July 11 (Xinhua) -- Cambodia's garment and footwear manufacturers on Wednesday agreed to add 10 U.S. dollars to the monthly wage of the workers in the country's garment and footwear industries.

The agreement between the manufacturers and union leaders was reached under the negotiation of Minister of Labor Vong Sauth.

According to the deal, the manufacturers agreed to provide 7 U. S. dollars a month for house rent or transport fee and another 3 U. S. dollars as attendance bonus for garment and footwear workers.

The wage hike negotiation was made after the unions warned late last month that they would stage a large-scale protest in August to demand salaries hike.

Factories still skimping: ILO

Garment workers cram into the back of an open-air truck before being transported home at the end of a day’s work in Phnom Penh. Photograph: Will Baxter/Phnom Penh Post

Thursday, 21 June 2012
Shane Worrell and Mom Kunthear
The Phnom Penh Post

Cambodia's garment exports exceeded US$1 billion during the first quarter of 2012, yet many factories are failing to pay workers proper maternity leave benefits or address issues of fainting, a labour report says.

The International Labour Or­ganization-Better Factories Cam­bodia’s Twenty Eighth Syn­­­thesis Report on Working Conditions in Cambodia’s Garment Sector, released yesterday, profiles 136 of the 320 factories registered with Better Factories in the six months to April 30.

It found only 54 per cent of garment factories were paying women some or all of their maternity benefits – an 11 per cent drop from the previous six-month period and a 20 per cent fall in just a year.

Nearly all of Cambodia’s garment workers are women with an average age of 24, ILO-Better Factories chief technical adviser Jill Tucker said.

“The deterioration of compliance in this area is worrisome and must be addressed.”

CATU's letter to Tai Yang factory administrators about upcoming stike

Are Western Consumers Willing to Pay More for Apparel?

Watch Are Western Consumers Willing to Pay More for Apparel? on PBS. See more from PBS NewsHour.

June 14, 2012
PBS Newshour (US Public Broadcasting System)

SUMMARY:

Fred de Sam Lazaro reports on the working conditions in Cambodia's garment industry, which exports much its clothing to the United States.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Next, labor unrest in Cambodia's clothing factories. Workers are calling for fewer hours, better conditions and higher wages. That raises a question: Are Western consumers ready to pay more for apparel?

FRED DE SAM LAZARO: Back in the 1990s, Cambodia, impoverished and rebuilding after its genocidal Khmer Rouge years, took steps to give its new garment industry a competitive leg up. It agreed to a system of labor standards, with minimum wages and a limit on working hours, union representation and freedom of expression.

All would be open to international inspection. Today, there are perhaps 400,000 garment workers in more than 300 factories in and near the capital, Phnom Penh, subcontractors to retailers and brands across Europe and North America.

Beginning from scratch less than two decades ago, Cambodia's garment industry has grown into the largest export earner for this country. Three out of four dollars that come into Cambodia come from the garment factories.

The key question is how much all this has benefited workers, almost all of whom are female, or, if you listen to the unions, whether it has benefited them at all.

Many factories have been plagued by labor unrest. Occasionally, it has been violent. There have been frequent reports of workers fainting on the factory floors.

Union leader Chea Mony blames unhealthy conditions and workers weak from malnourishment.