Published 29 May 2012
AAP
Workers at a large Cambodian garment factory
that makes clothes for Levi's, Gap and other well-known international
brands are striking for more pay and better working conditions.
More than 5,000 workers from the
Singaporean-owned SL Garment Processing (Cambodia) Ltd have so far
failed to reach an agreement with their employers to end an 11-day
strike.
Ath Thon, director of the Coalition of
Cambodian Apparel Workers, said workers are demanding an increase in
their base pay of $US61 ($A62.44) a month for eight-hour days, six days a
week.
He said they want a $US5 ($A5.12) salary hike and an extra $US25 ($A25.59) a month for transportation and housing.
SL Garment's website says it makes clothes for
more than two dozen international labels that include J Crew, Old Navy,
Banana Republic, H&M and Levi's, whose website in turn lists the
company as a supplier.
Cambodia's garment industry is the main
foreign exchange earner for the poor Southeast Asian country. Its
garment exports in 2011 were worth about $US4.3 billion ($A4.40
billion).
"We will not stop our strike until our
problems are solved," said Teng Ry, 24, one of thousands picketing the
factory on the outskirts of Phnom Penh.
He said workers were regularly required to
work on their one day off a week or denied sick days and ordered to work
up to 16-hour shifts.
Long shifts are compensated with overtime pay,
but factory owners are not respecting Cambodian labor law by requiring
employees to work against their will, he said.
Eah Chip Eang, the personnel manager for SL
Garment Processing, said he regretted that a bargaining session with
worker representatives, union officials and social affairs ministry
officials failed to reach an agreement.
He accused the union representative of
refusing to negotiate, and said the workers' demands were too much for
the company to accept, even though the demand for $US25 ($A25.59) for
transportation and housing had been reduced to $10.
He also denied that his company forces workers
to work against their will and up to 16 hours per day, while
acknowledging that some do work overtime.
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