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Vol. 77/No. 36      October 14, 2013

 
Garment workers press for
higher wages in Cambodia
6,000 face lockout by factory bosses after strike
  
BY EMMA JOHNSON  
Workers at one of Asia’s largest garment factories, in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, are involved in a drawn-out battle with the company over demands for higher wages and against union-busting moves that include use of military police to intimidate workers before they strike and lock them out when they tried to return to work.

Singapore-owned SL Garment Processing, with nearly 6,000 employees, produces for H&M, Gap and Levi’s. Workers went on strike Aug. 12 over eight demands, including raising the minimum wage from $80 to $150 a month, a $3 lunch stipend, removal of military police outside and inside the plant and that the company cut all ties with company advisor and shareholder Meas Sotha, whom workers say brought in plainclothes military police.

On Aug. 27, some 4,000 workers marched through roadblocks and rallied outside the Ministry of Social Affairs, demanding the removal of cops from the factory premises. Three days later workers ended the strike following a meeting between union representatives, the company and the Phnom Penh municipal government.

On Sept. 4 the company fired nearly 700 workers. The following day 4,000 marched to Phnom Penh City Hall to demand government intervention, after which the government ordered SL Garment to reinstate all the workers.

“The company promised to reinstate the workers, but it never happened,” Kong Athit, vice president of the Coalition of Cambodian Apparel Workers Democratic Union, said in a phone interview from Phnom Penh Sept. 29. “Instead the company locked the doors and shut down production.”

The Coalition of Cambodian Apparel Workers Democratic Union is the biggest of three in the plant and has more than 2,500 members, according to Athit.

Worker Ouch Noeun told the Sept. 24 Cambodia Daily that more than 100 military cops stood guard outside the factory and many were inside.

“On Sept. 27 workers marched to the residence of Prime Minister Hun Sen to press for a solution,” Athit said. “But they were stopped by police lines and couldn’t get there. The Apparel Workers Union later met with representatives for the prime minister’s office, but it didn’t resolve anything.”

Company officials paint a different picture to the press. “Because of the union’s endless strike at SL, we are unable to keep the shipment date,” a company representative told the Sept. 20 Phnom Penh Post. Levi’s confirmed to the paper that it currently has no orders with SL Garment.

“If they just removed the cops and got rid of the shareholder who brought them in, we could move towards a solution,” Athit said. “But they don’t do this despite losing a lot of money because they want to bust the union and teach the workers a lesson.”  
 
 
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