CAMBODIA: Union threatens new mass strike

Garment workers on previous strikes in Phnom Penh.

By: Ngo Tuan

1 November 2010
Just-style.com

A prominant workers' union in Cambodia has threatened further strikes unless their suspended unionists are reinstated and a current minimum wage dispute is resolved.

The Coalition of Cambodian Apparel Workers Democratic Union (CCAWDU), who led mass garment strikes last month, is ready for another nationwide stoppage.

The Cambodian Ministry of Social Affairs has asked the union not to start new strikes and give them more time to resolve the dispute.

Ek Sopheakdey, secretary general of CCAWDU, said further strikes could start by the end of this month though.

“We will do the strikes in front of stores and clothing shops, and we will announce to the world that garment factories in Cambodia abuse workers’ rights,” he said.

Up to now, 94 unionists and 683 workers remain suspended and dismissed because of their participation in last month's strikes. The Garment Manufacturers Association in Cambodia (GMAC) says the numbers are smaller though - at 67 unionist and 358 workers.

The GMAC has warned that the new stoppages will threaten the future of the garment industry and that foreign buyers and investors could leave the country.

In the first nine months of 2010, Cambodia's textile and garment exports reached US$2.27bn, representing a year-on year increase of 17%.

“The impacts of the strike will only be seen in the October data or later," Ken Loo, secretary general of the GMAC added.