Cambodian garment workers call off strike after talks agreed

Sep 16, 2010, 12:42 GMT

Phnom Penh - Cambodian garment workers agreed Thursday to return to work after unions secured a meeting with the main manufacturers body to discuss a dispute over wages.

Union leader Ath Thorn said 200,000 workers - more than half the industry's workforce - had joined the strike, which began Monday.

He hailed the decision by the Garment Manufacturers Association of Cambodia, the main industry body, to meet on September 27.

'This is a good result,' he said. 'We don't want to strike. It is the last choice for us, so when the government and the company say they will negotiate, we feel happy.'

'We propose a living wage as well as seniority and attendance bonuses, meals and overtime,' Ath Thorn said of the unions' demands.

A representative from the association was not available to comment.

Moeun Tola, who heads the labour programme at the Community Legal Education Centre, a local non-governmental organization, said the government had brokered the agreement and asked unions to call off the strike.

'The unions considered that is positive progress and decided to stop the strike for a while and see the results of the meeting,' Moeun Tola said.

Earlier in the week, Ath Thorn had said the strike would continue until manufacturers agreed to pay workers 93 dollars a month.

The strike began after a group of unions condemned a deal reached in July between other unions and the Garment Manufacturers Association to boost the monthly minimum wage by 5 dollars to 61 dollars.

The garment manufacturing industry is Cambodia's largest foreign exchange earner with the bulk of exports sent to the United States and the European Union. The global economic crisis hammered the industry, which accounted for 15 per cent of Cambodia's gross domestic product in 2008 and two-thirds of its exports.

The Ministry of Labour said 93 factories closed last year with the loss of almost 70,000 jobs and overtime cut dramatically.