Groups Demand Mandatory Minimum Wage, Threaten Protest
About 100 people, including 20 monks, held a ceremony in Phnom Penh on Friday in memory of the five people killed a week beforehand when military police opened fire on protesting garment workers, and demanded that the government introduce a mandatory, sector-wide standard minimum wage. In Sen Sok district’s Toek Thla commune, representatives from seven advocacy groups and unions said they stood in solidarity with the garment workers, who are calling for an increase in the minimum wage to $160 per month, but said such a sum should be introduced in other sectors too. … Friday’s ceremonies also coincided with what has been called a Global Week of Action—organized by the Thailand-based Asia Pacific Forum on Women, Law and Development—against Mr. Hun Sen’s CPP government for its deadly suppression of the garment protests. The Korean Confederation of Trade Unions held a demonstration in Seoul on Friday outside the country’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and a rally was also held at the Cambodian Embassy in Bangkok. In Hong Kong, a video posted to YouTube showed trade unionists and labor rights activists outside the Cambodian Consulate confronting a representative of the Consul-General, Chheang Thyra. According to news reports, Malaysian NGO and union representatives on Friday handed a petition to Cambodian Embassy officials in Kuala Lumpur, which called for the release of the 23 prisoners, and condemned the “extreme” use of force against striking garment workers. In Jakarta, pictures circulated online showed protesters holding up signs, one of which read: “Don’t kill our comrades in Cambodia.” Council of Ministers spokesman Phay Siphan said the international demonstrators needed to get their facts straight about the killed and wounded. …
Khy Sovuthy and Lauren Crothers
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/groups-demand-a-mandatory-minimum-wage-threaten-to-protest-50428/
