Cambodian
Confederation of Unions president Rong Chhun leads a march along
Sisowath Quay on Tuesday demanding 21 detainees be released and higher
wages in the garment industry. Heng Chivoan
Strike strategy shifts
In the wake of a Tuesday court decision to deny bail to 21
detainees arrested at demonstrations supporting a nationwide garment
worker strike, union groups yesterday agreed to reignite the strike, but
to dial back their tactics.
On sheets of drawing board paper, leaders of nine union groups mapped
out their timeline for the strike, which will not begin until the
middle of next month and will call for workers to remain home for the
strike’s duration, rather than participate in demonstrations.
“We will prepare and distribute letters to workers, so that all will
know and understand the purpose of this strategy,” Rong Chhun, president
of the Cambodian Confederation of Unions, said at the meeting.
Labour representatives today today are to begin distributing to
government officials and workers a letter detailing their plan to
boycott overtime work at factories from February 24 to February 28; hold
a public forum on March 8; and finally stage a stay-home strike from
March 12 until March 19. Deputy Prime Minister Keat Chhon, who heads a
committee to investigate minimum wages, is to be an invitee to the
forum.
If government officials do not free the 21 detainees, agree to a $160
minimum wage in the Kingdom’s garment and shoe industries, and comply
with five other demands, the strike will continue indefinitely, Chhun
said.
The timeline both gives the government time to mull over and
negotiate the unions’ seven points and gives the unions time to recruit
workers to participate in the strike, said Ath Thorn, president of the
Coalition of Cambodian Apparel Workers’ Democratic Union (C.CAWDU).
“I think now, we have a month for the government to consider [our
points],” Thorn said in a phone interview after the meeting, adding that
the delayed strike will also provide time for international brands to
apply pressure on the government, if they are willing.
In addition, the lack of public demonstrations will make it difficult
for authorities to quash the strike, as they did early last month, when
military and other personnel beat and opened fire on people at
demonstrations supporting the strike – killing at least four and
injuring dozens – said Moeun Tola, head of the labour program at the
Community Legal Education Center.
“I’m so excited, and so happy that the people are starting to think
of the strategy of noncooperation,” Tola said after the meeting was
dismissed. “It’s very hard for the government, for the troops to crack
down on people just staying in their homes.”
But the minimum wage for 2014 cannot be changed, since the Ministry
of Labour already set it at $100 per month in December, Labour Ministry
spokesman Heng Sour said yesterday.
The monthly wage hike from the current $80 (which includes a $5 health bonus) is scheduled to go into effect later this year.
The ministry has opened the door to unions for future wage
negotiations, but workers may strike, as long as they do not break laws,
Sour said.
“As long as they comply with the law, they can do what they want,” Sour said.
The threat of workers refusing to attend work will likely have no
effect on the attitudes of garment- and shoe-factory owners toward the
minimum wage issue, said Ken Loo, secretary general of the Garment
Manufacturers Association in Cambodia.
“There will be no wage negotiation until the rest of the year,” Loo
said. “If the government installs a new minimum wage, we will comply.”
Businesses needs workers and they need to look after them to sustain and increase productivity. I hope that their suppliers will fine and penalise any businesses that deliver their products/services late...and that the costs of that fine would be the same amount at the employee wage demands of $160 per month which is an extra $80 per month. Having a strike at home is a brillant idea well done to the Unions for creative thinking.
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