PHNOM PENH (AFP) – Cambodia's
strongman Prime Minister Hun Sen on Wednesday warned garment workers
that protests demanding higher wages could push manufacturers to quit
the country.
His appeal came after unions last week said hundreds
of workers had been fired from a factory making sportswear for US giant
Nike after a series of pay protests.
Cambodian workers have
repeatedly demonstrated against low wages and tough conditions in the
multibillion-dollar textile industry, which produces goods for top
western brands.
Currently workers can earn around $110 a month with overtime.
Hun
Sen said repeated protests may imperil the country's lucrative garment
industry by persuading firms to relocate to Myanmar, Laos and India
where labour is cheaper.
"If the investors move out, it will be a big disaster for our country," Hun Sen said in a speech broadcast on national radio.
"It
is easy for garment and footwear factories to flee the country," he
said, warning workers to be "cautious over high pay demands".
The premier said some $480 million was paid to workers across the country each month.
The
textile industry, which employs about 650,000 people and produces
clothes for top western brands, is a key source of foreign income for
the country.
Hundreds of workers on Wednesday briefly blocked the
road outside a factory in the capital Phnom Penh making clothes for
Swedish clothes firm H&M protesting over healthcare payment,
according to an AFP photographer.
The incident comes after 10
workers were injured when police broke up a June 3 demonstration at a
factory in the southern province of Kampong Speu making goods for Nike.
Sixteen
garment workers and union representatives have been charged with
inciting violence and damaging property during the protest, judge Chhim
Rithy, from Kampong Speu provincial court, told AFP.
Eight of the activists are being held in detention, the judge added.
A week earlier riot police allegedly used stun batons against the strikers.
Protesters
said a pregnant woman suffered a miscarriage in that crackdown, and
have accused the security personnel of using excessive force to quell
the rallies.
Unionists rejected Hun Sen's comments.
"He (Hun Sen) does not know the hardship the workers are facing," said Chea Mony, leader of the Free Trade Union.
"Generally, the factory owners do not respect the laws or workers' rights."
1 comment:
Ah kwak is right, these factory will be closing down soon, not because they dont want to open it in Khmer but because other country have better law and regulation and are not abusing human rights.
In Cambodia the factory are facing increasing strikes because Ah Kwak cannot see the inflate of goods and higher price housing affecting the poor people.
How does ah kwak plan on helping the poor when they earns $70 a month, but the food and transport and housing cost over $1 a day?
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