Washington Post
Published: June 3, 2013
The protest at the Taiwanese-owned Sabrina (Cambodia) Garment Manufacturing plant in Kompong Speu, just west of Phnom Penh, began May 21 when workers demanded that their salaries be raised to the equivalent of $88 per month from $74. Their net pay is calculated to include overtime and various allowances, and there is a dispute over whether they are receiving the legal minimum wage.
Free Trade Union of Workers of the Kingdom of Cambodia organizer Son
Vanny said its members exchanged barrages of sticks and stones Monday
with members of a rival union opposing the strike, after which riot
police arrived to break up the crowd. He did not identify the other
union, though there are several in Cambodia and those aligned with the
government are less militant.
The strike has seen violence before.
Police allegedly used force when workers blocked the main road outside
the factory on May 27, reportedly causing two pregnant workers to
miscarry. Nike, for whom the factory is a contractor, expressed concern
after that incident. The factory employs more than 3,000 workers, mostly
females.
Heng Sophors, an activist with the local human rights
group Licadho who monitored the strike Monday, said more than 1,000 riot
police with batons and shields were deployed around the factory. He
said some police were the targets of sticks and stones thrown by the
protesters as they moved in to break up the crowd. He added that some
strikers were slightly injured by police.
Son Vanny accused police
of beating and detaining only workers from his union. He said police
alleged the workers had incited violence, a charge he denied.
Son
Vanny and another union official, Thorn Thon, said seven workers were
arrested. Police at the scene and at the Interior Ministry declined to
comment on any arrests or injuries.
The garment industry is
Cambodia’s biggest export earner, employing about 500,000 people in more
than 500 garment and shoe factories. In 2012, the Southeast Asian
country shipped more $4 billion worth of products to the United States
and Europe.
Pay is low and working conditions are usually
uncomfortable at best. Last month, the ceiling of a Cambodian footwear
factory collapsed, killing two people and injuring seven.
Cambodia
hosts a unique program of the International Labor Organization called
“Better Factories Cambodia” that assesses and reports on working
conditions in all the country’s export garment factories. The impetus
for the program was an agreement under which Cambodia pledged to improve
labor conditions in exchange for better trade privileges with the
United States.
Because the industry is Cambodia’s economic
locomotive, garment workers also carry some political clout, a special
concern for Prime Minister Hun Sen’s government because it is an
election year and some unions have long-standing ties with the political
opposition.
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