Workers bemoan wage rise

A garment worker hangs laundry outside her $16-per-month room, which is set to rise to $18 monthly in December. (Photo by: Sovan Philong)

Tuesday, 09 November 2010
Mom Kunthear
The Phnom Penh Post

GARMENT factory workers in Phnom Penh have claimed that a recent minimum wage increase has effectively made them poorer as landlords and transport providers have responded by raising their prices.

Moeun Tola, head of the labour programme at the Community Legal Education Centre, said yesterday that he had heard numerous reports from workers who claimed to be worse off since the new minimum wage came into effect on October 1.

“Most of the information I got from the workers, they all said their rent and also [the price of] their trucks [to work] also increased,” he said. “I think they did not reduce their poverty, they became poorer.”

He acknowledged that it was “hard to control” the rising cost of living, but said this was “one of the reasons unions said at the start [of negotiations] that a US$5 increase is not enough”.

The minimum wage – which was previously set at $50 plus a mandatory $6 cost-of-living allowance – was increased to a total of $61 per month.

Kong Kunthea, a 22-year-old garment worker living in Meanchey district, said her landlord had immediately raised her rent and had also begun charging more for water and electricity.

“The cost of renting [my] house before was $35, but from October it rose to $40 per month,” she said. “The landlords increased the prices because they know that the government increased the wage.”

She said she had needed to budget more carefully since the new minimum wage was introduced.

“I have to be more stingy than before with buying food and other things, even though I get more wages.”

Hort Synoun, a 30-year-old garment factory worker living in Russey Keo district, said she had received her first payment under the new minimum wage about a week ago and that it was not enough to cover her newly increased living costs.

“I am very happy to get the new wage, but I have to spend more than before I got it because the price of rent, food and other merchandise was raised,” she said. “I expected that my new wage will help me and my family to get more money … but it is so different from what I thought.”

Landlords and industry representatives, however, said rising living costs have not just affected garment workers.

One landlord, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said he had been forced by his own rising living costs to raise the rent of the 10 rooms he rents to factory workers in Russey Keo district.

“I know they work hard and get a little wage, but I have no choice and I heard that other landowners also raised their renting costs,” he said.

Ken Loo, secretary general of the Garment Manufacturers Association in Cambodia, said rent and transport prices were controlled by market forces, and that it was the prerogative of landowners and transport providers to set their prices.

“We know there is a rising cost of living, and that is why the minimum wage needed to be increased,” he said.

He noted, however, that the government had made an appeal to land owners and transport providers, asking that they not “overcharge” garment factory workers after the new minimum wage came into effect.

ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY BROOKE LEWIS

Cambodian gov't holds meeting to help solve garment workers' strike

September 27, 2010
Xinhua

A committee will be set up to help solve the dispute between stakeholders and garment workers, a Cambodian official said on Monday.

after a meeting with about 60 stakeholders, Ith Samheng, minister of social welfares, veterans and youth rehabilitation said that it has been agreed that a committee will be set up to help end the dispute over wages and allowance for garment workers.

The Cambodian government held the meeting with representatives from garment factories and labor unions to seeking way to resolve garment workers' strikes that had happened on Sept. 13-16.

The government also urged the two confronting parties to put an end to any strikes.

At Thon, president of the Coalition of Cambodian Apparel Workers Democratic Union claimed that about 210,000 workers from 95 factories had joined the strikes, demanding their proper salary from the current offer of 61 U.S. dollars to 93 U.S. dollars per month.

However, the Garment Manufacturers Association in Cambodia ( GMAC) acknowledged that 30 factories in the garment and footwear industry suffered during the four days of strikes and demonstration which were joined by about 20,000 workers.

Days after the strikes temporarily put off, Cambodia's garment association claimed a total loss of about 15 million U.S. dollars.

The four-day strikes ended after the government had pledged to organize a meeting on Sept. 27 between union leaders, representatives of garment workers and their employers.

At present, garment industry employs about 300,000 Cambodians, mostly women, in more than 300 factories around the country.

GMAC is representing all exporting garment factories in Cambodia.

Despite pressure from brands, no deal yet in garment dispute talks

Sep 27, 2010
DPA

Phnom Penh - Cambodian garment unions failed to agree a remuneration deal with manufacturers on Monday, but said they would meet later in the week to continue talks.

The lack of a deal came despite a letter from major international clothing manufacturers, such as the Adidas Group, pushing for an equitable solution.

Monday's meeting followed a four-day strike a fortnight ago that cost the industry an estimated 15 million dollars. Unions had complained that a July deal to increase the monthly minimum wage by five dollars to 61 dollars was insufficient.

Speaking to the German Press Agency dpa on Monday, union leader Ath Thorn said representatives from unions, the government and the Garment Manufacturers' Association of Cambodia (GMAC) would meet again on Wednesday.

Ath Thorn said the government had pressured manufacturers to drop a slew of legal cases filed against dozens of unionists and workers over the strike.

And he said unions would push for improved benefits rather than a higher minimum wage.

'Sixty-one dollars is not enough, but we don't have a choice because this (agreement) is binding so I stop with that,' he said. 'In general we are not happy with the minimum wage at 61 dollars, but we will continue to try with other benefits.'

A representative from GMAC was unavailable for comment.

The meeting was preceded by a letter from five international clothing companies: the Adidas Group, Levi Strauss and Co, Gap Inc, H&M Hennes & Mauritz, and the Walt Disney Company.

In their letter, which was addressed to Cambodia's minister of commerce, the unions and GMAC, the brand owners said they were watching the direction of events 'with great concern.'

They urged the parties to find a solution that was 'inclusive of all parties' concerns and provides longer term stability for the industry.'

'As buyers in Cambodia it is important that we can see mature industrial relations taking place, and that the process respects and includes all parties and stakeholders,' they said. The garment manufacturing industry is Cambodia's largest foreign exchange earner, with the bulk of exports sent to the United States and the European Union. The global economic crisis hammered the industry, which accounted for 15 percent of gross domestic product in 2008 and two-thirds of exports.

The Ministry of Labour said 93 factories closed last year with the loss of almost 70,000 jobs and dramatic cuts in overtime in other factories.

Cambodian garment workers struggle to stitch together living

By Michelle Fitzpatrick

PHNOM PENH, Monday 27 September 2010 (AFP) - It's mid-morning in the Cambodian capital and Pat La is one of dozens of workers breaking for lunch at the Pine Great Garments plant, which makes clothes for US retailers like Gap and Walmart.

The 30-year-old mother was among the tens of thousands of textile workers who took part in a four-day mass strike earlier this month to demand higher wages -- the latest bout of worker unrest in Asia.

She says she joined the stoppage because she cannot get by on the 50 dollars a month she earns making T-shirts.

"I am working to survive," the softly-spoken woman, who left her home province of Prey Veng east of Phnom Penh to eke out a living in the capital, tells AFP as she scans nearby stalls for a bite to eat after the early shift.

Half her wages are spent on rent, she explains, and after paying for food, bills and baby formula for her four-month-old daughter, "there is nothing left".

By putting in overtime beyond the basic eight-hour day and working six days a week, Pat La can push her monthly income up to 60 or 70 dollars.

It is more than many people earn in Cambodia, where gross national income per capita stood at 640 dollars in 2008, or roughly 53 dollars a month, according to the World Bank.

The country has a big rich-poor gap, with about 30 percent of the population living below the poverty line in 2007, according to the Bank's data.

Pat La's colleague Chhom Saroth, 22, who also took part in the walkout, says working at the plant "is a good job".

"But if we don't do overtime, we cannot survive on our basic salary," she adds.

The mass strike from September 13 to September 16 came after the government and industry set the minimum wage for garment and footwear staff at 61 dollars a month.

That is more that a textile worker would take home in Bangladesh, where thousands of garment workers also took to the streets of the capital in August to demand higher wages.

But Cambodia's unions say it is not enough to cover living expenses and want a base salary of 93 dollars.

The industrial action only ended when the government stepped in and arranged talks between the two sides that started on Monday.

Pat La has low expectations for the negotiations and says she is willing to settle for less than unions are demanding.

"Maybe from 80 dollars a month -- that would do," she says.

Union leaders say that at the height of the strike, some 200,000 garment workers across the country failed to show up for work.

But secretary general Ken Loo of the Garment Manufacturers' Association in Cambodia (GMAC) estimates that 45,000 people missed work during the stoppages, of which about 20,000 picketed outside factories.

Ahead of Monday's talks, manufacturers warned that increasing the minimum wage was out of the question, "but there is always room for negotiation with respect to other allowances or bonuses", says Ken Loo.

Union leader Ath Thun, head of the Cambodian Labour Confederation, accepts that the employers are unlikely to budge on the wage issue, and says the unions will instead seek other concessions, such as daily food allowances.

Cambodia's garment industry -- which also produces items for brands such as Benetton, Adidas and Puma -- is a key source of foreign income for the country and employs about 345,000 workers, mainly women.

"I believe working conditions are generally good for the garment workers," says Tun Sophorn, a national coordinator at the International Labour Organisation, who has visited dozens of Cambodian factories.

"Labour inspections have intensified" and there are "strong unions" in the workplace, he explains.

The industry was hit hard last year when the global economic crisis saw exports drop to 2.7 billion dollars, from 3.1 billion dollars in 2008.

However, during the first seven months of this year, exports increased 13.4 percent to 1.6 billion dollars, according to the Ministry of Commerce.

GMAC says the strike cost the sector 15 million dollars and harmed its reputation abroad.

"We know that a few factories have had their orders cancelled" as buyers worry about possible damage to their brand image, Ken Loo says, declining to name the plants or customers involved.

But Pat La, who doesn't know the retailers she is sewing for, has more pressing concerns on her mind.

Taking part in the walkout cost her four days' pay so she expects to take home just 40 dollars this month -- not enough to make ends meet -- and going on strike again would be a luxury she cannot afford.

"I am broke now," she says with a shy smile.

Global brands face growing labour militancy in Asia

Sunday, September 19, 2010
By Cat Barton (AFP)

DHAKA — Global retailers fleeing China's rising labour costs now find themselves facing growing pressure for higher wages in countries from Bangladesh to Cambodia, Vietnam, India and Indonesia.

The latest sign that workers are becoming more militant in their demands for a larger share of the region's economic success came in Cambodia last week, when tens of thousands of workers went on strike.

The mass protest rejecting a proposed 20 percent pay increase crippled Cambodia's export-orientated garment industry, which produces items for renowned brands including Gap, Benetton, Adidas and Puma.

The strike followed a deal between the government and industry that set the minimum wage for garment and footwear staff at 61 dollars a month. Unions want a base salary of 93 dollars.

"Workers are having difficulties surviving on their low wages," Kong Athit, secretary general of the Cambodian Labour Confederation, told AFP.

The Cambodian action came just weeks after Bangladesh's three million garment workers, who make Western clothes for the world's lowest industrial wages, spurned an 80 percent pay hike, attacking factories and burning cars.

Tens of thousands of workers who sew clothes for brands such as H&M and Tesco went on the rampage over the 3,000 taka (43 dollars) monthly minimum wage offer then staged wildcat strikes protesting a four-month delay in implementation.

"It is not a living wage," said Shahidul Islam Sabug of the Garment Workers Unity Forum, which wanted 5,000 taka a month to help workers cope with sharp increases in the cost of living, including near double-digit food inflation.

Earlier this month, Bangladesh said exports leapt more than 25 percent year on year in July, with manufacturers linking the jump to a shift in orders from China to the low-cost South Asian country.

In China itself, workers scored major victories this year at companies such as Japanese automakers Honda and Toyota and Taiwanese IT giant Foxconn, which were all forced to hike pay in the so-called "workshop of the world".

In an effort to ease worker concerns, most Chinese provinces, regions and municipalities have raised official minimum wages this year, with Shanghai atop the list, offering monthly pay of at least 1,120 yuan (166 dollars).

"Costs are going up in places like China, so you are getting a move to Vietnam, Cambodia, Bangladesh and this is good for these countries," Robert Broadfoot of the Hong Kong-based Political and Economic Risk Consultancy told AFP.

And even if manufacturers are now facing wage pressures in the new manufacturing centres, they are on a different scale.

"China is getting more expensive. To be sure, less developed countries are too, but the gap between per capita incomes in places like Bangladesh, Cambodia and Vietnam and those in China will continue to widen going forward," Broadfoot said.

"Wages of workers in these countries are unlikely to go up in absolute terms step for step with China?s wages,"

In Cambodia, union leaders called off the strike last Thursday after the government stepped in and arranged talks with both manufacturers and unions for later this month.

Cambodia's garment industry is a key source of foreign income for the country and employs about 345,000 workers.

Social Affairs Minister It Samheng warned that further stoppages could "affect benefits for the workers, employers, and our nation that is facing the impact of the global financial crisis."

Bangladesh's protests, which raged for days until a massive police crackdown restored calm, were the most violent of a string of recent strikes in Asian countries.

In Vietnam, where independent trade unions are banned and inflation is running at some 8.75 percent there have been 139 strikes in the first five months of 2010, according to the Vietnam Confederation of Labour.

The bulk of the protests concern low pay and poor conditions, with many of them hitting foreign-owned factories. Tens of thousands of workers at a Taiwanese-owned shoe factory in southern Vietnam went on strike in April.

In Indonesia, where three powerful trade unions represent the vast majority of the country's 3.4 million unionised workers, there is also mounting pressure to raise the minimum wage.

Garment factories in particular, including some that are foreign-owned, have been hit by strikes and disputes over long hours and low wages.

The minimum wage is not set in Jakarta and varies from district to district. In 2008 the highest minimum wage was 123 dollars a month in Papua province and the lowest 60 dollars in East Java, according to the manpower ministry.

Tens of thousands of workers protested for minimum wage levels to be raised during May Day demonstrations in Jakarta this year, until riot police stepped in to quell the unrest.

India, which has a highly vocal workers' movement, has also seen recent disputes over pay and conditions at companies such as mobile handset manufacturer Nokia, car maker Hyundai and the technology and services group Bosch.

Workers March in May Day Demonstration

By Heng Reaksmey, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
01 May 2009

Thousands of garment factory workers took to the streets in Phnom Penh Friday, marking May Day with a set of demands for better pay and conditions for the government.

Hundreds of police were deployed to maintain security, as workers marched with placards demanding higher wages, the establishment of a labor court and a halt to discrimination against free trade.

Chea Mony, president of the Free Trade Union, said the goal of the march was to encourage the National Assembly to accept a petition with suggestions from improving conditions for laborers.

“I hope the Cambodian government will receive our petition of workers and consider our demands, because the garment sector is important in helping Cambodia’s economy,” he said.

Garment exports are one of Cambodia’s main earners, but the sector has been hit hard by the global financial crisis, as orders for goods from the US and other markets have slowed.

Tens of thousands of workers have been laid off since the onset of the crisis in September 2008, with some factories closing their doors or reducing their staff.

Art Thun, president of the Cambodian Laborer Confederation, said Friday the country needs to improve the conditions for workers, who are usually abused by garment factory owners.

Workers on Friday urged the government to “very quickly” put in place an arbitration court to handle labor conflicts. They also want the government to force garment factories to keep a deposit in the bank to prevent bankruptcy.