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Garment/Textile Wages Discussed (Date: 08 Feb 10)
Head of leading trade union meet today with Garment Manufacturing Association of Cambodia (GMAC) and government official in the procedure of Labor Advisory Committee today (Feb 08, 2010) to discuss as minimum wages raising for 358,000 workers of Cambodia.
The minimum wages discussion is holding at the Ministry of Labor and Vocational Training joined together with more than 100 sector representatives for wages increase from the current wage of USD50 to USD90 per month.
According to the researches have done by the two groups of trade union and the National Institute of Statistic. USD93 has been determined to be the minimum wage necessary for garment workers to afford food, housing and work-related travel expenses.
President of GMAC, Van Sou Ieng does not agree with an increase and said that he would need more time for GMAC to do its own research into the issue before considering the wage rise and explained that GMAC only discuss the issue, not agreeing to an increase to USD93. Van Sou Ieng also told the government-organized conference that he was "very surprised" that a meeting had been organized to talk about the wages and said that he has only seven days to prepare for discussions. He claimed that if GMAC agrees to an increase then he will automatically agree too.
But president of Cambodia Labor Union Federation(CLUF)and chairman of the Living Worker Wage Committee Som Aun, said that he sent the study proposing the living wage increase in both Khmer and English to GMAC in February 2009.
Minister of Labor Vong Soth also disappointed that GMAC had been taken by surprise the issue and he added that at the meeting that it is and important subject to discuss in order to find a good result for both parties.
John Ritchotte, an industrial relations specialist at the International Labor Organization in Bangkok, Thailand that he welcomes this meeting as it an important development. He comments that a wage increase would be the first in just under two years.
According to a report by the ILO's better factories for Cambodia initiative and talks with industry experts, in April 2008 it was agreed that garment workers would be paid an additional $6-a month allowance by the government in a bid to boost wages.
This followed 2006 negotiations between GMAC and a council of unions, which resulted in the minimum wage being increased from $45 to $50 in early 2007.
Any increase would provide respite for workers who have been hit hard by the economic crisis.
Last year, according to Ministry of Labor statistics, 93 garment factories closed and 60 suspended work, leaving 68,190 workers without employment.
In December last year, Cambodia had an estimated 358,660 garment workers but some outside source say the impact of the global economic crisis may prove a stumbling block to improve payment in the sector.
President of Free Trade Union Chea Mony said that the increase of $93 is not possible. It is so much money to consider when the economic crisis has affected the sector and said that he had not invited to this wage increase meeting to further discussion at the Ministry.
Vong Soth said that he intends to call another meeting to discuss the wage rise but could not provide any details about when the meeting might take place.
Go to Top Cambodian garment industry needs to survive crisis (Date: 04 Sep 09)
PHNOM PENH, Jan. 9 (Xinhua) -- Garment, the foremost pillar industry of Cambodia, has an urgency to survive its crisis in the upcoming days, amid the ongoing global financial crisis and the recession of traditional demand from the U.S. market.
LESS EXPORT IN 2008
At an annual meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations' Federation of Textiles and Apparel (AFTEX) which was held here on Thursday, Cambodian Commerce Minister Cham Prasidh said that the garment industry saw a 2 percent decrease in its export in 2008 over 2007.
"This is better than my own expectation. I thought that it would have been down 5 to 7 percent," said Van Sou Ieng, chairman of the Garment Manufacturers Association in Cambodia (GMAC).
Previous local reports have attributed it to the withering demand of traditional client countries.
Around 70 percent of Cambodia's garment products were sold to the United States, 4 percent to Canada and the rest mainly to European countries.
The export volume of the garment industry used to account for over 70 percent of the country's total annual export volume.
In 2007, garment export earned 2.93 billion U.S. dollars for Cambodia, according to official figures.
CRISIS AHEAD
The garment industry of the kingdom will face a 6- to 9-month-long crisis in 2009, due to lack of profitable orders, Van Sou Ieng said at the AFTEX meeting.
"I think that we will have a crisis 6 to 9 months long this year," he said.
Due to the global financial crisis, especially the U.S. economic recession, most garment factories could not secure new worthy orders and the current orders could only sustain them until March, he said.
"The crisis has propelled some buyers to give prices too low to be acceptable for the producers, so they have no choice but shut down their factories," he said.
Over 20 or even more out of the 400-strong garment factories of the kingdom have closed, leading to the unemployment of some 25,000 workers, he added.
Meanwhile, suspension of bank credit also spilled oil over the troubled water of the manufacturers, he said.
ALTERNATIVE MARKET
Japan might become the alternative market for the garment producers of Cambodia, as the demand of traditional purchasers has sharply sagged, said the chairman, adding "currently, Japanese orders are few, because their quality demand is so high that we can hardly meet it."
Fortunately, Japanese buyers have already listed some suggestions which could help Cambodia improve product quality, he said.
"Two directors, rather than one, supervise the operation of every 10 workers. This is the open sesame that they give us," he said.
The United States, as the largest buyer of Cambodian garment products, may need 2 to 3 years to cope with its economic recession, so it has become ever more urgent for Cambodian garment producers to find new markets, he added.
The garment factories of Cambodia used to employ some 300,000 people and have been the largest foreign currency contributor for the kingdom.
Garment, as a labor-intensive industry, is well-rooted in Asian countries, which still encompasses China, Vietnam and Indonesia.
Go to Top United Nations Welcomes Reinvestigation of Murder of Trade Union Leader (Date: 20 Aug 09)
Click to download file
 On August 18, 2009 - International Labor Organization and Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights issues a Joint Statement to welcome the reinvestigation of murder of three trade union leaders, Chea Vichea, Ros Sovannareth and Hy Vuthy of Free Trade Union of Workers of the Kingdom of Cambodia.
Please click Download File for the Joint Statement.Go to Top |
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