November 25, 2011
Agence France-Presse
Cambodian garment workers on Thursday cautiously welcomed the announcement of a $5 monthly pay increase following a spate of mass faintings in textile factories.
The current minimum wage for the country's garment employees is $61 a month, but with overtime most manage to take home around $90 to $100, according to the International Labour Organization (ILO), a United Nations agency.
The raise, to be paid by employers in return for the government delaying a planned tax on factory profits, will come into effect after January, Prime Minister Hun Sen said, adding that the extra money could be used to keep workers healthy.
"We are very happy. It will help improve our livelihoods," worker Keo Rany said.
There have been around a dozen incidents of mass faintings in the garment industry this year involving hundreds of workers, including some at plants producing items for well-known brands such as Puma and H&M.
The incidents have mostly been blamed on workers' poor health, bad ventilation in the workplace or expo-sure to dangerous chemicals.
Observers say many employees work long hours and skip meals in order to support their families in the impoverished nation.
"Many industry challenges remain," said Jill Tucker, chief technical adviser of the ILO's Better Factories Cambodia.
But the government and factory owners "are to be commended for this enlightened move which will contribute to the livelihoods of 400,000 workers and help to sustain up to 1.7 million Cambodians," she said.
Free Trade Union leader Chea Mony said the increase would help cover workers' health-care costs.
"The $5 increase is still small, but it is better than getting nothing," he said.
The garment industry is a key source of foreign income for Cambodia.
1 comment:
So for all those years before the $5 dollar raise, Hun San knew all along that they were not living a healthy life and yet did nothing about it until now! WTF?!How can a $5 raise keep the workers healthy? That's not even enough to buy a hamburger meal. Even Hun San's dog gets pay more than that. Stupid blind logic comes from a blind man.
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