Tep Nimol and Shane Worrell
Monday, 30 April 2012
Phnom Penh Post
Prime Minister Hun Sen has called on unions, employers and the Ministry
of Labour to take a collaborative approach to stamping out violent
protests in the garment industry, a unionist said yesterday.
During a Saturday conference involving 4,000 people from more than 60
union groups, Hun Sen said each group must work to “improve the
atmosphere in the garment sector”, according to Som Aun, president of
the Cambodian
Labour Union Federation.
The call came just days after the Cambodia Chamber of Commerce and the Garment
Manufacturers Association in Cambodia asked the prime minister to
help them combat violent strikes that it said were being spearheaded by
unions using “mafia-type tactics”.
Rong Chhun, president of the Cambodian Confederation
of Unions, however, said yesterday that strikes were occurring only
because employers weren’t respecting the labour law or Arbitration
Council rulings and were discriminating against union leaders.
“Strike
and demonstrations are last resorts,” he said. “They reflect that
officials haven’t dealt with the problems.”
GMAC
secretary-general Ken Loo said Hun Sen had responded indirectly to the
association and the Chamber of Commerce’s request, but more needed to be
done.
“However, nobody but the unions can decide whether or not
to follow the law,” Loo said.
“We just ask for police to maintain
public order. We do not need people to be arrested, but we want to see
that factory gates are not blocked.”
Loo disputed claims made by
Coalition of Cambodian Apparel Workers’ Democratic Union (C.CAWDU) president Ath
Thorn in the Post last week that his union had conducted only one
strike this year.
“[C.CAWDU] has conducted strikes at four other
factories,” he said. “We have evidence they have conducted strikes in
factories where they have a CBA [collective bargaining agreement].”
Ath
Thorn could not be reached for comment.
About 5,000 workers
intend to use International Labour Day tomorrow to march a petition to
the National Assembly, government and general-secretariat of ASEAN to
lobby for better working conditions.
The Ministry of Labour and
Phnom Penh city hall have agreed to allow the demonstration, provided
that political parties and violence are not involved.
Meanwhile,
the International Labour
Organization and the Ministry
of Labour and Vocational Training will hold an event today in Preah
Sihanouk province to promote workplace safety.
Work-related
accidents kill more than 1,500 people a year, while about 3,000 contract
work-related diseases, the ILO says.
To contact the reporters on this story: Tep Nimol at nimol.tep@phnompenhpost.com
Shane
Worrell at shane.worrell@phnompenhpost.com
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