Report Shows Rise in Garment Labor Disputes

Increasing discrimination by factories against unions and continued poor wages in Cambodia’s garment sector have resulted in a rise in the number of worker protests, according to a report released yesterday by the International Labor Organization (ILO). According to its periodic synthesis report on working conditions in Cambodia’s garment sector, 36,053 workers participated in 27 strikes from November to April, twice as many as during the same period the year before. “Common reasons for the strikes were calls for increased wages and benefits and allegations of union discrimination,” the report states. The report added that the expiration of a memorandum of understanding between the Garment Manufacturers Association in Cambodia (GMAC) and unions in September regulating strike action had contributed to the rise in protests.”The sector thus lacks the moderating influence of the MOU which, among other provisions, called for binding arbitration in cases of rights and no strikes prior to arbitration.” The report, which was conducted by ILO’s Better Factories Cambodia program, comes after a series  of recent factory protests, including Tuesday’s protest at M&V Textile factory in Kompong Chhnang province, where 4,000 workers switched off the factory lights and held a strike demanding a raise. Last month, more than 4,000 workers of SL Garment Processing (Cambodia) Co. Ltd., in Phnom Penh engaged in a violent protest, throwing rocks at the factory windows, before the company resolved to meet their demands for a pay raise clays later.