Garment
workers rally in front of Kingmaker’s factory in Svay Rieng province to
ask for a higher minimum wage for garment workers yesterday. PHOTO
SUPPLIED
Keep striking for $160, Rainsy urges
Ahead
of today’s Ministry of Labour announcement of a minimum wage increase
for Cambodia’s apparel sector, opposition leader Sam Rainsy yesterday
urged striking workers in Svay Rieng province to hold out until their
monthly salary is raised to $160.
“[Garment] workers should not
return to work until the government raises their minimum wage to $160,”
Rainsy said in Bavet town to thousands of workers from Svay Rieng’s
Manhattan and Tay Seng special economic zones. “We have to be together, I
support all of you until you reach success, and I’ll be with you and
protect you all.”
Rainsy’s address to workers including Nuth
Sakhorn, who was shot by former Bavet governor Chhouk Bandith in the
same precinct last year, came after a lap of the factories that at one
point included breaking down a razor-wire barricade.
Ministry officials
are expected to decide whether to approach the goal by raising minimum
salaries by $16 each year, upping pay annually for five years based on
variables such as the economy and inflation or immediately hiking the
minimum wage to $160 next year.
One day after the working group
reported its conclusions last week, GMAC sent a letter to Minister of
Labour Ith Sam Heng saying it would agree to raise minimum wages by $10
each year for the next five, reaching $130 by 2018.
Anticipating
the Labour Ministry’s announcement today, some union leaders called for
immediate strikes if the ministry opts for anything other than the
immediate hike, while others favoured a more nuanced approach.
Yang
Sophorn, president of Cambodian Alliance Trade Union (CATU), yesterday
joined Rainsy in encouraging workers who began striking there last week
to return only when the government meets their minimum salary demand.
“Workers will protest until they get $160,” Saphorn said.
Only
three or four of the approximately 40 factories across the two Svay
Rieng economic zones are now operational, since about 30,000 workers
walked off the job last week demanding the immediate hike, said Has
Bunthy, director of Svay Rieng provincial Labour Department.
Bunthy added that the number of strikers has fluctuated, spiking yesterday with Rainsy’s appearance.
Taking
a less definitive stance, Kong Athit, vice-president of the Coalition
of Cambodian Apparel Workers’ Democratic Union (C.CAWDU), said if the
Labour Ministry does not announce a wage hike for next year, his union
will try to meet with ministry officials to make their case before the
year’s end. If they are not heard, Athit said, C.CAWDU will begin
campaigning to demand the raise in January.
Rong Chhun, president
of the Cambodian Confederation of Unions (CCU), yesterday said his
coalition of about 90,000 people across seven unions will lead unions
across the country in a mass strike today unless the Labour Ministry
announces the immediate wage boost.
“As soon as possible, we will
begin printing thousands of letters to distribute to the workers, asking
them to join the mass protest with us,” Chhun said. “I do this for the
benefit of the [apparel] workers, not for myself.”
After hearing
of Chhun’s demand, Sat Samoth, undersecretary of state at the Labour
Ministry, said he agreed that apparel workers should earn a minimum of
$160 per month, but Chhun should take his demands up with GMAC.
“The
decision does not depend on me or the ministry,” Samoth said. “We
really want the workers to get a higher wage, but the money is not with
us; the money is in the employers’ pockets.”
GMAC secretary
general Ken Loo yesterday recognised the money ultimately comes out of
the factories, but noted that the minimum wage decision is in the
government’s hands.
“[The government] needs to take the lead on
minimum wages . . . it is something mandated by the law and guaranteed
by the government,” he said.
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