Officials liken Cambodian strikes to "HIV" of garment industry

Aug 5, 2008, 3:46 GMT

Phnom Penh - Persistent industrial action and strikes by Cambodian unions were a deadly virus threatening the country's garment industry with the potential to kill it, a senior official said Tuesday.

'Strikes are the garment industry's HIV, we are very worried about this,' Van Sou Ieng, president of the Garment Manufacturers Association of Cambodia, was quoted as saying by the English-language Mekong Times.

'We know that some factories are about to close due to strikes and demonstrations and some factories are considering limiting output,' Ieng, speaking at a training workshop, said.

Chea Mony, head of the country's largest garment factory union, the Free Trade Union of Workers of the Kingdom of Cambodia, said the claims were exaggerated. This year only 30 industrial actions were reported, far less than previously.

'It is true that HIV/AIDS destroys health, but the virus happens to those who don't protect themselves,' he said in a phone interview.

There was a system in place for mediation, he said, and if bosses respected workers' rights, the system worked.

'HIV is therefore the bosses' fault,' he added.

The garment industry is Cambodia's largest export industry and employs around 330,000 people.

The Mekong Times said an estimated 10 of 400 factories nationwide had closed due to industrial action this year, but did give a source for this figure.