Cambodia
Submitted by amrc on Fri, 09/28/2007 - 06:01.
Portent of things to come?
Several Asian countries built a textile and garment sector under a regime of quotas for exports to the US, EU, and Canada that began in 1974. The quota system ended on 31 December (see ALU 52). Many garment workers now fear for their future.
Orders stopped coming in to the Ho Hing clothing factory in Phnom Penh, which closed in November, leaving 600 unemployed workers.
100 of these women demonstrated at Prime Minister Hun Sen’s home on 24 December. After refusing riot police demands for an end to the demonstration, riot police waded into the protestors, kicking some of the women, until they dispersed.
The sector rapidly developed after Cambodia’s violent military actions finally ended in the early 1990s, now employing around 220,000 workers who earn about $1.5 per day.
One of the protest organisers said that about 200 workers were not awarded severance pay, and wanted the prime minister to intervene.
Textiles and garments are Cambodia’s biggest money maker, bringing 80 percent of Cambodia’s $1.4 billion of exports annually. Workers are worried that more factories will suffer the same fate as Ho Hing, but Hun Sen seems to be doing nothing to help them.
Local sources