Around 20,000 Cambodian garment workers have joined a strike to demand a $50 dollar for shunning walkouts over the last three months. Workers at around 30 factories in two special economic zones near the Vietnamese border want the bonus after a union said that two factories had rewarded employees for not participating in the strikes, which routinely cripple the industry.
However the Garment Manufacturers Association of Cambodia (GMAC) has denied factories had promised to pay workers for not striking and warned their action could snowball. GMAC has called on authorities to prevent illegal activities that could lead to violence, accusing some of the striking workers of hurling stones at factories.
Garment workers have been at the forefront of labor protests for higher wages and have faced several crackdowns by Cambodian authorities. About 6,50,000 workers provide the backbone of Cambodia’s multi-billion dollar garment industry. The kingdom’s lucrative garment sector has been rattled by a series of labor disputes.
Trade unions and workers plan to mark May 1 (International Labor Day) by marching in the capital Phnom Penh to demand higher wages, better working conditions and the release of activists and workers arrested in the violent January protests.
www.gmac-cambodia.org/
