H&M under fire for low Cambodia wages

H&M workers in Cambodia are only paid 3 kronor ($0.45) an hour, forcing many into debt to feed their families, according to a report on the TV4 documentary Kalla Fakta (The Cold Facts).

24 Oct 12

The Local (Sweden)

“The constant worry is making me sick, I don’t know where I’ll get money from,“ says Cambodian textile worker Deuar Sophon on the show, which will air on TV4 on Wednesday night at 9.30pm.

Sophon, a mother of three, works some 70 hours a week at a Cambodia textile factory, which manufactures clothes for among others the Swedish textile giant H&M. Her monthly salary amounts to around 500 kronor [KI-Media Note: ~$75], a sum not sufficient to feed and house a family on.

Many textile workers therefore borrow money for food, leading to considerable debts with high interest, according to the programme.

At the factory where Sophon works, 250 workers fainted during two days last year. In an H&M report, cited by Kalla Fakta, the company says it was overtime and lack of food that made them collapse.

The show also revealed that the low wages lead to many being forced to take risks with their personal safety by packing themselves onto overfilled trucks in order to get to and from work, sometimes sharing space with some 60 other workers to one truck.

Many other international companies active in the region have tried to solve this problem by introducing a so-called “living salary” in their own code of conduct.

According to H&M, however, the situation would have been much worse had the company not be present in the country.

“There are unions in Cambodia and collective agreements that actually work. Of course it could be better. But it is a question of the country’s ability to compete on an international market and the best thing for them is if we continue to buy from the country,” said H&M CEO Karl-Johan Persson to Kalla Fakta.