Garment Strike in Phnom Penh Reaches Critical Mass [on Truthout]
I wrote a piece for Truthout about ten days ago, in the heady moments following the end of a massive garment strike in Cambodia. While the exact number of walkouts remain contested, it also seems that this particular strike has elicited more retribution from factory owners than any in recent memory, little of which has been covered in even the few press outlets that picked up the story of the strike. The Guardian, in fact, ran coverage of this strike four days after my article appeared on Truthout but failed to acknowledge the follow-up actions taken by managers: 26 workers were “banned” from the factories—effectively fired, although technically firing union members for engaging in union activities puts Cambodian factories at risk of being labelled “sweatshops”—which started further riots, in which five were injured the day after my article was published.
So, this story continues to unfold. Certainly more news will emerge next week.
On Monday, following a wave of strikes across Asia, around 60,000 textile workers in Phnom Penh walked off factory lines, protesting pay that stands at around half the living wage. By Wednesday, according to Kong Athit, Secretary General of the Cambodian Labour Confederation, the number of strikers had swelled to over three times that. By some estimates, around two thirds of the 297,000 garment workers and 48,000 athletic-shoe makers refused to work in protest of low wages. (The Garment Manufacturers Association in Cambodia (GMAC), the organization that sets the minimum wage, has also seen an increase in protesters, but suggests a smaller number.) As protests hit a flashpoint Thursday, unions and government quickly agreed to renegotiate wages. A meeting will take place September 27.
(Read the rest here.)
