Retailers Alliance Promotes Kampuchea Garment Workers' Wages

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The Xiaobian net introduces the retailers alliance to promote the wages of Kampuchea garment workers.

H&M issued a statement on the official website in September 19th, announcing that it has formed an alliance with apparel retailers such as C&A, INDITEX, NEXT, PRIMARK and so on, sending a letter to the Kampuchea garment manufacturers association and vice premier Keat Chhon, hoping to hold multi-party talks so as to raise the workers' work in the textile and garment industry of the country.

In the open letter submitted by the 8 retailers' Union, it is clearly stated that "as a responsible enterprise, we will pay fair wages, which will be reflected in our FOB (FOB) price".

This means that consumers will soon face the fact that the prices of these brand products are rising.

H&M said in its statement that the brand has been working to raise the minimum wage of workers in the textile industry in Kampuchea, hoping that workers, employers and government representatives can sit together to participate in the negotiations.

At the same time, they also mentioned the hope that the Kampuchea authorities and local associations could establish a monitoring mechanism to ensure that all garment workers' incomes could reach the newly agreed minimum wage standards.

Earlier, the poor clothing industry of Southeast Asian countries suffered from the bad treatment and tears. The clothing workers in Kampuchea, Bangladesh, Vietnam and other countries face not only the life danger caused by the fire and the collapse of the factory buildings, but also the limited rights and interests achieved through strikes and protests.

In September 17th, thousands of workers in Kampuchea again launched mass strikes, hoping to raise the minimum wage from $100 to $170.

The government, local associations and trade unions plan to hold talks in September 26th and are expected to finalize new wage standards in early October.

On the 17 day, Kampuchea trade union leaders and hundreds of garment factory workers took part in the rally of Phnom Penh street and asked the management to raise their basic salary by 77 US dollars per month, adjusted to 177 US dollars.

Clothing has become a pillar industry in Kampuchea. However, in recent years, Kampuchea garment workers have launched parade and rally activities in order to improve their own treatment.

Trade union leaders in Kampuchea and some 500 garment and shoemaking workers took part in a rally near an industrial park near Phnom Penh.

The workers wore an orange T-shirt with the "177 dollar" logo, asking the management to raise their monthly basic salary to $177.

"According to current wages, garment workers can not live a decent life," said Arton, chairman of the Democratic Alliance of garment workers in Kampuchea.

After the end of the rally, the Trade Union sent representatives to the foreign embassies in Cambodia and the Ministry of labour and vocational training in Kampuchea.

The clothing brands named by Kampuchea workers asking for a raise include GAP, Levi's, H&M, Puma and ZARA.

At present, there are 960 garment and shoe factories in Kampuchea, creating 620 thousand jobs.

The clothing and footwear industry pays about $1 billion a year for workers, and about 2 million people benefit indirectly.

This industry is the main source of foreign exchange in Kampuchea. The textile industry accounts for 90% of Kampuchea's total exports and is the leading pillar industry in the country.

In 2013, Kampuchea's clothing exports amounted to about $5 billion 500 million.

However, the labor conflicts often arise in Kampuchea's garment industry due to wage, safety and work environment problems, and sometimes disputes can also turn into violent incidents.

In January 2014, demonstrators in garment factories killed 4 people.

According to the statistics released recently by the Ministry of Commerce of Kampuchea, Kampuchea apparel and clothing in the first quarter of 2014

Total exports amounted to US $1 billion 560 million, an increase of 16.41% over the same period last year.

Although the footwear industry in Kampuchea is still on the rise, the Cambodian footwear industry has been seriously affected by the strike of workers.

The representative of the Kampuchea Garment Manufacturers Association once said that the export data obtained by the shoe making and garment industry in 2014 were not acquired this year, but the order providers of 2013 ordered them.

This year, because of the strike problem, the orders for shoe making and garment factories have been greatly reduced. It is estimated that the export data of the shoe making and garment factories will decline at the end of this year or next year.