Unions Tell Garment Workers to Suspend Strike

8 January 2014
The Cambodia Daily
Civil society / Economic policy and administration / Economy and commerce / Garments and textiles / Government / Human rights / Industries / Investment / Labor / Labor arbitration / Labor policy and administration / Ministries and other national bodies / Ministry of Labour and Vocational Training / Social development / Trade / Unions
Cambodian Confederation of Unions / Coalition of Cambodian Apparel Workers Democratic Union / Council of Ministers / Garment Manufacturers Association in Cambodia / GMAC / Ith Sam Heng / Ken Loo / Ministry of Labor / National Independent Federation of Textile Unions in Cambodia / NIFTUC / Phnom Penh Municipal Court / Rong Chhun

Unions behind last week’s garment factory strikes said their members had largely gone back to work this week, although they have not ruled out resuming protests for a higher minimum wage later this month. Tens of thousands of workers went on strike starting on December 24 to demand a doubling of the industry’s monthly minimum wage to $160, forcing several of the country’s 500-plus factories to shut down and many more to scale back production. The strike turned deadly when military police opened fire directly into crowds of stone and petrol bomb-throwing demonstrators outside a Phnom Penh factory on Friday, killing at least five and wounding more than 40. But as of Monday, some 80 percent of garment workers in Phnom Penh and more than half the workers in the provinces were back at their factories, said Chheng Lang, vice president of the National Independent Federation of Textile Unions in Cambodia (NIFTUC), one of the six unions behind the strikes. … On December 30, the Council of Ministers sent Labor Minister Ith Sam Heng a letter recommending that the unions behind the strikes have their licenses revoked and that their leaders be prosecuted by the law if they did not stop the protests. The Phnom Penh Municipal Court has since summoned Rong Chhun, president of the Cambodian Confederation of Unions, to answer for the violence that broke out at some of the protests. … Ken Loo, secretary-general of the Garment Manufacturers Association in Cambodia (GMAC), said that between 50 and 60 percent of the garment workers were back on the job Monday and that the strike had effectively come to an end. “As far as we’re concerned the strikes are over,” he said. As for whether the workers who went on strike ought to be paid for the time they were off the job, Mr. Loo said GMAC’s position—based on the country’s Labor Law—was the same as ever. “Our basic principle is very, very clear,” he said. “No work, no pay.” …

 Aun Pheap
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/unions-tell-garment-workers-to-suspend-strike-50299/