P&P students discuss exploitation in the garment industry with Cambodian trade unionists
Emily Weisfeld of Birmingham Uni People & Planet reports:
Representatives of the Free Trade Union of the Kingdom of Cambodia visiting a garment factory
One World Action, ‘Decent Work?’ report
On Wednesday 17th October, two People & Planet activists and I joined others in the offices of One World Action for a discussion about the problems faced by Cambodian trade unionists in the fight for garment workers’ rights.
It was not like any other campaign meeting I have attended recently - Chea Mony, the president of the Free Trade Union of workers of Cambodia (FTU), the largest trade union in Cambodia, was there in person, with two other representatives, to speak on the subject. It was extremely inspiring and also directly related to People & Planet’s new Redress Fashion campaign.
Chea Mony gave an introduction to the situation in Cambodia. It is one of the world’s poorest countries and out of a population of 13 million people, approximately 10.3 million live on less that 2 dollars a day. 85 % of the 300,000 workers in the garment industry are women, many coming from rural areas in search of work to support their struggling families. It is estimated that 50% of earnings in the garment industry are sent to support families in rural areas.
Cambodian garment factory
One World Action, ‘Decent Work?’ report
Many workers in Cambodia in face extreme exploitation. They lack job security because factory owners refuse to offer the permanent contracts that they are supposed to after 2 months of employment. A factory will shut down and leave with no warning and no lay-off pay, maybe still owing many months pay to some workers.
Forced, unpaid overtime, poverty wages, kidney infections due to being denied toilet access, respiratory problems due to lack of ventilation, fainting due to heat, risk of being sacked for taking sick or maternity leave and fear of rape or assault while returning from work late at the night are just a few of the problems faced by Cambodian workers in sweatshops.
Being a member of a trade union in Cambodia can be a risky business. Chea Mony’s brother Chea Vichea was assassinated in 2004 and two other high profile trade unionists have also been assassinated in recent years. Although Cambodia has signed up to two of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) conventions which states that workers have the right to organise and the right to assembly, neither of these conventions are adhered to. Workers face intimidation or job loss when they join trade unions.
Workers in a Cambodian garment factory
One World Action, ‘Decent Work?’ report
The relationship between state and foreign investors, mainly from other countries in South East Asia, is extremely tight. The government charges high fees for the investors to operate in Cambodia and in turn allows the investors to exploit the country’s workers. High levels of government corruption help fuel this cycle and the opinion of the trade unionists given during the discussion was that the biggest problem lies with the Cambodian government.
Another big problem is sub-contracting in factories. Even companies that are said to be monitoring factory conditions in their production lines are still facing the problem of factories taking on many more orders than they can fulfil and then sub-contracting them to smaller factories which treat their workers abysmally.
Some of these problems are particular to Cambodia as they are interlinked with the country’s current political and economic situation. However, many of the underlying issues are problems that can be seen in lots of countries, especially in South East Asia.
The trade unionists from the FTU said we should support them in their fight by urging our government to put pressure on their government, and demanding that retailers take responsibility for working conditions at all stages in the supply chain and use their power to pressure the Cambodian government as well. As with the Redress Fashion campaign, their emphasis was not on boycotts. The trade unionists suggested that boycotts could lead to even more people being laid off without pay or warning and would not address the heart of the problem.
If we can highlight these issues in our action for the Redress Fashion campaign, then this is the start of getting retailers to hold themselves accountable for the labour behind their labels.
- Take action to Redress Fashion!
- Read One World Action’s report Decent Work? on the garment industry in Cambodia
- Watch “The Plastic Killers”- a documentary which investigates the 2004 assassination of Cambodian union leader Chea Vichea.