Cambodia’s GMAC says factory closures continue due to ongoing strikes
The Garment Manufacturers Association in Cambodia (GMAC) said Thursday most of its 559 factories would continue to be closed due to security concerns after six pro-opposition trade unions led striking workers to destroy factories’ properties and forced workers to join their protests. “Because of the current unrest and danger in the garment sector, the GMAC has requested the Labor Ministry to suspend the productions in these factories indefinitely,”GMAC’s Secretary General Ken Loo wrote in a request to Labor Minister Ith Samheng. In another letter to Finance Minister Aun Porn Moniroth, Ken Loo asked the minister to allow factories to re-export garment materials and equipment to their production bases in other countries so that they could meet buyers’ orders. ... The Southeast Asian nation has about 900 garment and shoe factories employing about 600,000 workers, according to Labor Ministry spokesman Heng Sour. The industry, the kingdom’s largest foreign exchange earner, generated 5 billion US dollars in revenues a year. On Thursday morning, about 500 factories have reopened and some 80 percent of the workers have returned to work, he said. ...
NZ Week News Staff
http://www.nzweek.com/world/cambodias-gmac-says-factory-closures-continue-due-to-ongoing-strikes-107149/
