Cambodians fight for higher pay amid inflation crisis - Al Jazeera

A union movement in Cambodia is growing as workers step up protests, demanding higher pay to cope with rising inflation.

Last month the government raised the minimum wage for employees in the garment industry, which accounts for a massive portion of the country's exports, but many workers say the salary increase is not enough to meet the skyrocketing costs of food and housing rents.

Due to a recent plunge in consumer demand from abroad, thousands of people have lost their jobs.

Aela Callan reports from Phnom Penh, Cambodia's capital, on how many are struggling to survive amid the rising costs.

Cambodians fight for higher pay

Thursday, August 12, 2010
Al Jazeera

A union movement in Cambodia is growing as workers step up protests, demanding higher pay to cope with rising inflation.

Last month the government raised the minimum wage for employees in the garment industry, which accounts for a massive portion of the country's exports, but many workers say the salary increase is not enough to meet the skyrocketing costs of food and housing rents.

Due to a recent plunge in consumer demand from abroad, thousands of people have also lost their jobs.

Aela Callan reports from Phnom Penh, Cambodia's capital, on how many are struggling to survive amid the soaring living costs.

Anti-inflation Protest: A Moral Victory for Sam Rainsy And Democracy

“Price rises can be contained if the right and effective measures are applied. Salary increases can be achieved if Hun Sen has the political will to get tough with corruption. Money to fund the pay rises can be found through the elimination of corruption.”

Monday, April 7, 2008
Editorial by Khmerization

However small in size and not able to march in a grand scale, the anti-inflation protest on Sunday was a moral victory, not just for the Sam Rainsy Party (SRP), but for the democratic process as a whole. To a degree, it was seen as a victory of democracy over dictatorship.

Sam Rainsy has not only killed two birds with one stone, he has killed three birds with only one stone. The protest had produced three vital outcomes. First, by being able to obtain a permission to protest is a victory in itself. It is a victory over Hun Sen’s draconian rules which had long banned public demonstration. By persistently pushing for a permission to hold that protest, Sam Rainsy had opened a gate and set a precedent for more protests of this sorts, while at the same time succeeded in sending Hun Sen’s anti-demonstration draconian rule to its eventual death. Secondly, the protest, if anything at all, has succeeded in drawing national and international attention to the plight of the poor, the high costs of living and the lower wages of the Cambodian workers- public servants in particular. Thirdly, as it is election time, the protest itself and Rainsy’s demand for a pay rise to hundreds of thousands of public servants can be seen as a huge electoral drawcard and a shrewd political manoeuvrings which can possibly translate into an election victory in the July election, if the election is free and fair. With these three factors looming in Hun Sen’s head, he cannot ignore the reality. First, Hun Sen cannot ban public demonstrations anymore because he has given permission to Sam Rainsy to hold one. Secondly, to make an electoral impact, Hun Sen cannot ignore low wages and the skyrocketing of commodities prices. He has to raise public servants’ salary in commensuration with the high costs of living. He must also take actions to bring down the prices of other commodities as he had done with the prices of rice.

On another note, I wish to opine on the decry of the Human Right Party (HRP) over Sam Rainsy’s success in obtaining the permission to hold this protest. While I do sympathise with the fact that their request for the permission to hold a protest against the skyrocketing of fuel prices was not granted, I do not sympathise with their decry over the permission granted to the SRP. If the HRP was fair dinkum, to use an Australian phrase, in their concerns for the welfare of the people, they would have called on their supporters to join in with the SRP supporters in order to maximise an ability to mobilise and motivate the affected general population to participate in large numbers. This sort of decry can only come out of jealousy, and with the two parties having the same goal- and that is to defeat Hun Sen at the election- this sort of decry against one another is not helpful to their cause. It can only play into Mr. Hun Sen’s hands. Therefore, I call on these two parties to support each other in future actions.

On a last note, I wish the authority, and in particular Mr. Hun Sen, to open up to the reality by solving these crises sooner rather than later. Price rises can be contained if the right and effective measures are applied. Salary increases can be achieved if Hun Sen has the political will to get tough with corruption. Money to fund the pay rises can be found through the elimination of corruption. And this, I mean, the incomes from illegal logging, Angkor Wat concessions and the proceeds from the sales and concessions of public lands and properties etc., must be deposited into the state treasury accounts, instead of allowing them to flow into the pockets of corrupt officials.

Hun Sen tries to avoid a strike by garment workers at all cost by imposing a $6 minimum salary raise

Garment workers salary demand: Hun Sen presents himself as the savior of the workers

01 April 2008
By Nhim Sophal
Cambodge Soir Hebdo
Translated from French by Luc Sâr

While the negotiations between the factory owners and garment workers about a raise on the minimum salary seems to be on a deadlock, Hun Sen decided to resolve the situation by imposing a raise of $6 instead.

On Monday 31 March, in Phnom Penh, the committee in charge of salary raise was not able to reach on an agreement on this issue. While the worker unions asked for a raise on the minimum salary by $5, $12 or $15, the Garment Manufacturer Association of Cambodia (GMAC) which defended the interest of the factory owners, did not want to hear anything more than $4 of raise. On Monday also, Hun Sen made the decision. On his return from a diplomatic trip to Laos, he made his decision known through Ith Sam Heng, the minister of Social Affairs. “Hun Sen has decided to ask the owners to give an additional $6 to the minimum salary, and that this measure is effective starting April,” Ith Sam Heng announced. The current minimum salary is $50 per month, and the raise seems very low in comparison to the price increase of basic goods such as rice and gasoline during the last few months and days. Another committee session is planned for 04 April and it should be debating of the labor code. “So, the workers and the union leaders must remain calm and they should return back to their work, for everybody’s sake,” Ith Sam Heng concluded.

No second rice helping for the garment workers [-Garment workers do not have enough to eat]

Garment workers during their meal break. Between their low salary and the increasing price of food, most of them never get to eat their fill and fall prey to illnesses. (Photo: Cambodge Soir Hebdo)

31 March 2008
By Kang Kallyann and Marie Giffard
Cambodge Soir Hebdo
Translated from French by Luc Sâr

Friday 28 March, noontime at the new Tuol Sangker market, it is break time for the young women garment workers. A tumultuous noise can be heard under the corrugated roof, along with a whiff of rice and fish smell … as well as protest. The women workers talked about their experience … their hunger.

20-year-old Any from Prey Veng province cannot take it anymore: “I earn a fix salary of $50 (per month), this is not enough to cover my expenses, I must put in extra hours to get $80 …. just to feed myself.” Here, a meal costs 1,000 riels ($0.25), however, with 4 meals per day, the income disappears very quickly. Furthermore, with the increasing price of rice, the sellers had to reduce the quantity in order to keep the price the same. Between the increase of rent, electricity, water, and food, of course, the workers have no other choice but to put in overtime paid at 500 riels ($0.13) per hour(?).

Channa, the food seller, is energetic and very affectionate with her “little girls,” she takes in the money given to her by the workers in blue blouse. She understands the predicament of the workers but she also needs to run her business: “The workers earn less, the cost of meals is limited, in general between 1,000 and 2,000 riels ($0.25 to $0.50). I was forced to reduce the portion because of the increasing price of food.”

17-year-old Nhean Malai, small and fail looking, works in the factory for about one year. Her thinness is proof of the workers condition during this hard time: “The meal is no longer sufficient for me. I’m still hungry when I get out, but I must drink water to make it up.” Even Channa, the food seller, noticed this: “The girls asked for more rice, but they are not ready to pay for it.” 22-year-old Tha just arrived from Kampot. Her eyes are sunk in, she said that she worked for a shoe factory for the past year, and the salary was too low for her work. “There’s social discrimination against the factory workers, we are not recognized, but everybody needs money to survive.” The young woman tries to make ends meet in spite of her exhaustion: “I am telling myself that I am not hungry, I am persuading myself that I am not, and then it makes me think of the meals I took with my family where I ate my fill…”

With the reduction of the rice portion, the girls became sick most of the time. Healthcare is now a luxury that these women cannot afford. “The hardest part is when I am sick. I cannot see a doctor, and I wouldn’t have money to buy medicine anyway. I am afraid that they will not let me work if I am very ill,” Nhean Malai confided.

22-year-old Siem Horng is from Kampong Cham. She knows that the fate of the workers is in the hands of the union leaders: “Yesterday I heard that the garment workers union, the FTUWKC, announced to the workers in Phnom Penh a general salary raise by $5. I doubt the factory owners will accept it.”

While the small plastic bags filled with meat is starting to be depleted, the workers rinse their plastic rice bowls, they pull water from the buckets, and they take off with their stomach still half empty. In a few hours, they will come back to eat again, and most likely than not, they will still be hungry.

On Monday 31 March, a meeting will be held between the factory owners and the garment unions in Phnom Penh. A committee will be in charge of discussing a potential $5 salary raise to the $50 minimum monthly salary, and also to discuss about the lowering of the price of foods sold on the kingdom’s markets.