Final Goodbye: Roll Call of Some Who Died in 2012

By BERNARD McGHEE
Associated Press
December 28, 2012 (AP)

Neil Armstrong would always be taking that first step onto the moon, and Dick Clark was forever "the world's oldest teenager." Some of the notables who died in 2012 created images in our minds that remained unchanged over decades.

Sadly, for others an established image was shattered by a fall from grace. Whitney Houston ruled as a queen of pop music, but years of hard living harmed her voice while erratic behavior and a troubled marriage took a toll on her image. And Joe Paterno, Penn State's longtime coach, won more games than anyone in major college football, but was ultimately fired amid a molestation scandal involving an assistant coach that scarred his reputation.

Some whose deaths we noted weren't known by image or even name but by contributions that changed our lives - like Eugene Polley, inventor of the first wireless TV remote control, and Norman Joseph Woodland, co-inventor of the bar code that labels nearly every product in stores. Other scientists who died in 2012 included Lowell Randall, Martin Fleischmann, F. Sherwood Rowland, George Cowan and Bernard Lovell.

Among the political figures who died were George McGovern, Democrat presidential nominee who lost to Richard Nixon in a historic landslide, and ex-Sen. Arlen Specter, the outspoken Pennsylvania centrist. Others from the world of politics: Bill Janklow, Norodom Sihanouk, Charles "Chuck" Colson, Warren B. Rudman, Andrew Breitbart, Robert Bork and Miguel de la Madrid.

CTN Comedy Episodes As Part of Preventing Fainting Campaigns

December 27, 2012

By Chea Sophal

Phnom Penh: Cambodia, Over the past 12 months of 2012, Better Factories Cambodia in collaboration with CTN team have produced a series of CTN Comedy Episode in order to raise awareness among Cambodian public especially the garment workers as part of preventive measures  with regards to fainting incidents in Cambodia.  The campaign is a joint support from the Garment Manufacturers' Association in Cambodia (GMAC), buyers and factories. There is a series of four episodes

CTN Comedy Episode 1: Workers' Nutrition  

This is the first episode covering the theme of Workers' Nutrition published on May 7, 2012.  Poor nutrition and low blood sugar is one of the contributors to workers fainting in garment and footwear factories.  

"Nutrition is all about eating and drinking the right things in the right quantity to keep your body healthy...It's about buying the best ingredients to support you when you're working hard...But it's also about drinking enough so that you stay well hydrated throughout the day"

Nick Wood (2012): Threading the Needle--A Simple Life-Skills Guide for Garment Workers Moving to the City

 

Video Links to Cambodian Gangnam Style and Flash Mob Dance

Cambodian Gangnam Style: Dancing To End Evictions

Flash Mob at Siem Reap International Airport: Marking the 2 Million Passenger

 

Video Links to "I am Precious" Campaign on Garment Design and Song Lyrics Contests

21 December 2012
By Chea Sophal

Phnom Penh: Better Factories Cambodia, a monitoring programme of ILO Projects in Cambodia to monitor the labour compliance in the garment factories, conducted a series of "I am Precious" Worker Campaign to show the talents and expression of garment workers through a dress design and song lyrics competition.  The first "I am Precious" Campaign was organized in collaboration with Ministry of Women's Affairs (MoWA), Garment Manufacturers' Association in Cambodia (GMAC), USAID - Garment Industry Productivity Center (GIPC), United Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), and precious Girl Magazine. The closing event of Garment Workers Campaign took place on Sunday 16th December 2007.

The second edition of "I am Precious" campaign was organized again on Sunday 29 November 2009 at Chaktomouk Conference Hall with the top 20 finalists of Cambodian garment workers who competed in a dress and T-shirt fashion show. This event aimed to promote self-value of garment workers by increasing awareness of their work, abilities and skills and encouraging them to realize their potential.  The following are the video links on "I am Precious" Campaigns.

Video Links to Better Factories Cambodia Programme

December 20, 2012

By Chea Sophal

Phnom Penh: Better Factories Cambodia (BFC) began commencing its activities early 2001 under the former name of Garment Sector Working Conditions Improvement Project (GSP). The Garment Sector Working Conditions Improvement Project (GSP) was changed to Better Factories Cambodia (BFC) in early 2005 to mark and better represent the garment industry.

A number of publications and researches have been produced and conducted both by various scholars and institutions. Below are some of the relevant video links on the programme and garment industry in Cambodia. 

Better Factories Cambodia - At the Factory Gates Episode 1 and 2 Trailer

  

Video Links on OSH and Fire Safety

December 19, 2012
By Chea Sophal

Phnom Penh:


Video Links on the Occupational Safety and Health that have been produced by Better Work.

Raising awareness of occupational safety and health in garment manufacturing (Video 1)

 

Raising awareness of occupational safety and health in garment manufacturing (Video 2) 

Academy on Social Security

By Chea Sophal
05 October 2012

Turin, Italy:  Eighty-four participants around the globe attended a very comprehensive two-week Academy on Social Security at International Training Centre, Turin, Italy from 24 September -5 October 2012.  It is a forum of sharing, exchanging and learning from each other on the experiences schemes put in place in the field of social security as well as social protection. One of the many primary objectives of the academy is to  provide participants like social security managers, labour officials, and representatives from international organization with skills and knowledge on social security, social security schemes, social health protection, challenges faced in the social security systems, and the extension of social security to the informal sector from the ILO social security experts and a combination of resources persons from employers' and workers' organizations, International Monetary Fund (IMF), Institute of Development Studies, International Social Security Association, and University Professors.

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The Academy ended today with the audience applauding the most-scored participants for each elective course (there are 16 elective courses in total) and those who got the top-five scores and followed by certificates giving ceremony to each delegation of the country.   Each participant goes back home with a grand vision of intensively extending the knowledge and skills gained from the Academy with their concerned institution and acts as the ambassor to deliver the messages and to make the voice heard on social security.  We hope can build strong connection among the participants from these countries and we know what to look and seek information for.  Below are photos on the ceremony of giving certificate to each delegation of each country.

 

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Five participants expressed the impressions of the Academy and highlighted key messages to bring back home.

Photos on Trip to Monaco and Nice

I had an opportunity to visit Monaco (Monte Carlo) and Nice on 30 September 2012 while taking part in the two-week academy on social security organized by the International Training Centre of the International Labour Organization in Turin, Italy.  I wish to share some of photos on the view of Monaco, Monte Carlo Casino Square and Nice.  This is part of the Excursion to Nice & Monte Carlo to discover the beauties of Monaco and French Riviera.  There were about 50 participants who joined this trip and each of us paid 50 Euro for this bus trip.

 

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Monaco is very close to Nice of France and about 16km from Italian border.  According to the World Bank data, there are around 35,295 people in this city-state.  This is the second smallest independent state in the world after Vatican City and it is only 1.95 square kilometers in area (read more on Monaco on the Encyclopedia of the Nations).

 

  

View of Monte Carlo (and Monaco) from the East

Bangladesh garment unrest worries global buyers

Wednesday, July 25th 2012
This article was distributed through the NewsCred Smartwire. Original article © Agence France Presse 2012

Bangladesh has assured international buyers that unrest will be settled, after 300 factories were shut down due to employee riots. Workers were demanding higher wages in the wake of rising food and rent prices.

Bangladesh's government has promised top Western buyers of the country's garments that it will address unrest in the textile sector over soaring living costs, it said Wednesday.

Haitian Paint Firm to Begin Operations at Caracol Industrial Park This Year

Source: CJ-Caribbean Journal
July 25, 2012

By the Caribbean Journal staff

Peintures Caraibes, the first Haitian tenant at Haiti’s new Caracol Industrial Park, expects to hire around 160 workers and begin operations there this year.

The paint manufacturer, which will continue operating its factory in Port-au-Prince, was the second tenant to sign on at the park, which is a project financed by the Inter-American Development Bank and the United States government.

Vietnam downwardly revises 2012 garment export target

Source: Fibre2Fashion
August 18, 2012 (Vietnam)
Fibre2fashion News Desk - India

Vietnam Textile and Apparel Association (VITAS) has reduced the garment and textile export-value target for the current year from US$ 19 billion to US$ 17-17.5 billion, mainly due to sluggish export growth and a drop in orders.

Although Vietnam’s garment and textile exports grew at a year-on-year rate of 7.5 percent to reach US$ 9.2 billion during the first seven months of the year, the export growth rate was far below the 30 percent growth achieved during the same period last year.

Garment enterprises face obstacles after relocation from city

Source: Saigon GP Daily
Thursday, Aug 23, 2012
By My Hanh - Translated by Uyen Phuong

While the idea of relocating enterprises causing pollution, or employing a huge work force, outside of Ho Chi Minh City limits seems like a healthy policy, actually transferring them to the suburbs or outlying provinces has many obstacles.

Thailand must show maturity in handling Preah Vihear

By Supalak Ganjanakhundee
The Nation/Asia News Network
Wednesday, Aug 15, 2012

Time is fast running out.

Maybe Parliament has forgotten it has an urgent task to consider the terms of reference (TOR) for Indonesia's observer team in the demilitarisation process at the disputed Preah Vihear temple, in accordance with the International Court of Justice (ICJ)'s injunction.

Vietnam garment sector must explore new markets - Experts

Fibre2Fashion

August 14, 2012 (Vietnam)  

Exploring new markets is the best way to boost the Vietnamese garment industry, said legislators and industry experts while speaking at a seminar held to ponder on the ways to increase the sector’s sales.

The seminar focusing on solutions to access resources and taking the local garment business to the international level was jointly organized by the Vietnam Textile and Apparel Association (VITAS) and Vietinbank, in association with Dun&Bradstreert (D&B) in Ha Noi.

Rising at a steady annual growth rate of seven to eight percent, Vietnam’s textile and garment exports reached US$ 9.3 billion over the past seven months, which is considered to be quite moderate as compared to the 22 percent growth achieved by the economy during the same period.

VITAS Deputy Chairwoman and General Secretary, Dang Phuong Dung, said the US, EU, South Korea and Japan were the key export destinations for Vietnamese apparels during the period. 

She said the country’s exports to South Korea have risen after the inking of a bilateral Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between South Korea and some of the ASEAN countries, including Vietnam.

During 2011, inflation was low and export orders were good, but this year, as the US is grappling against public debt crisis and unemployment problems, consumer demand has reduced, which has impacted Vietnam’s garment exports. In addition, the eurozone crisis has also badly hit Vietnamese garment exports.

In such a situation, exploring new markets would be the best way to boost demand of Vietnamese garments, said Ms. Dung. She said there is a need to enhance trade promotions to enable local apparel producers to better explore and penetrate in new markets.

Speaking at the seminar, Vietinbank’s Nguyen Thi Khanh Phuong said aiming to reduce reliance of garment exporters on foreign currencies, Vietinbank would help them balance their forex demand between garment and textile sectors, while ensuring payment ability and reducing the exchange rate risks.

Fibre2fashion News Desk - India

Thai forces 'kill 38 Cambodian loggers in six months'

AFP
14 August 2012

PHNOM PENH — Thai forces shot dead 38 Cambodians in the first half of this year for illegally crossing the border to log for valuable timber, according to the Cambodian authorities.

A further 10 Cambodians were injured in incidents with Thai border forces and 194 were arrested, though not all of them on suspicion of illegal logging, the Cambodia-Thailand Border Relations Office said in a report dated August 12.

UN chief launches new initiative to back post-2015 development planning

Source: Xinhua, 10 August 2012


UN Secretary-General Ban Ki- moon on Thursday announced the Sustainable Development Solutions Network to support the work of the post-2015 development planning in order to keep the momentum of spurring global development after 2015, the deadline for the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), which represent eight anti-poverty targets.

The new initiative includes the recently-launched High-level Panel of Eminent Persons on the Post-2015 Development Agenda, UN spokesman Martin Nesirky said at a daily news briefing.

Thai exporters seek Vietnamese, Cambodian rice to meet deals

Thai exporters seek Vietnamese, Cambodian rice to meet deals

Garment makers move to right labour wrongs

The Daily Star
Wednesday, August 1, 2012

Share their steps with The Daily Star following international outcry

Against the background of growing concern over labour rights violation in Bangladesh, garment makers yesterday said they had taken the issue seriously and started to improve work environment and maintain compliance in factories.

Rio Summit Should Endorse Sustainable Development Goals: UN Expert

CRI.English.Com14 June 2012

The world should agree on the need for a set of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and initiate the process to start developing them at the upcoming Rio summit, a UN expert told Xinhua in a recent interview.

Janos Pasztor, Executive Secretary of the UN's High-level Panel on Global Sustainability (GSP), said that governments should develop and apply a set of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that can mobilize global action and help monitor progress in global sustainability.

Laos, UN Confirm Common Development Goals

Xinhua
2012-07-05

The UN and Laos government have re-affirmed their commitment to working together to boost development and cooperation by signing the UN Development Assistance Framework (UNDAF) Action Plan for 2012-2015.

The UN Resident Coordinator for Laos Minh Pham and Laos Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Thongloun Sisoulith on Wednesday both signed the Action Plan at an official ceremony here.

The plan signifies the strong commitment of the UN to the Lao people and their government, and to creating a country where all people have equal access to development gains.

Government of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam : Garment and textile industry seeks to boost export

4-traders
07/03/2012

VGP - Vietnam's garment and textile sector has seen fast and sustainable growth over the past years, playing an important role in national socio-economic development.

Vietnam is one of the top 10 countries that have highest export turnover of garment and textile in the world. The sector aims to earn an export turnover of US$15 billion by the end of 2012, US$22.5 billion ny 2015 and US$31 billion by 2020, maintaining its leading position in exports.

Bali’s textiles, garments enter twilight era

The Jakarta Post: Bail Daily
by Rita A.Widiadana on 2012-07-02

We are now enjoying the holiday season and you may feel the need for a total fashion makeover to brighten your old wardrobe, replacing your clothes with fabulous, bright, flowing floral prints and summery dresses.

The University of British Columbia
Media Release | Jun. 20, 2012

UBC research receives $2.9 million to improve nutrition of rural Cambodian women and children

The University of British Columbia and Helen Keller International of Cambodia have received $2.9 million from the Canadian International Food Security Research Fund (CIFSRF) for research to increase and diversify food production and nutrition for small, rural households in Cambodia.

Ghana: Any Link Between MDGs and CSR? U.T. Bank Holds Answers

Allafrica
By Ebenezer T. Hanson, 25 June 2012

The topic above is likely to elicit this question, thus, "What has Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) got to do with Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)?" It arises as a result of not taking time to identify the strangeness in the familiarity of things. But UT Holdings and its subsidiaries such as UT Bank are demonstrating in an indisputable manner that it is possible to employ CSR as an instrument to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

SDGs will replace MDGs in 2015

Daily News:Sri Lanka's National Newspaper
Disna MUDALIGE
28 June 2012

A list of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) would replace the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) from 2015, as agreed by the world representatives at the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20), Environment Ministry Secretary B M U D Basnayake told the Daily News yesterday. He said: "All the representatives agreed to this move and provide their contribution to develop SDGs to be implemented in both developing and developed countries.

PH garments can grow

Malaysia Business Insight
Written by AMADO P. MACASAET
15 June 2012

The local garments industry is picking up, leading export growth in the first four months of the year and helping compensate for the downturn in electronics exports.

Industry leaders said that the Philippine garments industry has bigger chances of growing faster.

RON DERBY: Bring clothing manufacturers closer to SA market

Business Day
RON DERBY
2012/05/25


For a country such as SA, with a stubbornly high unemployment rate, any advantage that could be in duced by boosting labour-intensive industries such as clothing and textile needs to be exploited


WANTED, Cosmopolitan, True Love and GQ magazines, carrying the latest trends from across the globe, may just have a greater use to SA than helping fashion novices like myself dress in a more appropriate manner. Keeping up with the times, or at the very least being not too behind them, may just be the salvation that our labour-intensive local clothing manufacturers need. (Even more than the very short-term gain of a weaker currency.)

ITMAs 2015 Exhibition to Focus on Sustainable Innovation

Apparel.edgl.com
By Jordan Speer, Editor in Chief
18 June 2012

ITMA, the long-running textile and garment machinery exhibition, will spotlight the innovations that promote sustainability for its 17th presentation in Milan in 2015. A trendsetting showcase of exciting innovations since 1951, the theme chosen for the 2015 edition is "Master the Art of Sustainable Innovation."

Stephen R. Combes, president of CEMATEX, which owns the show, said, "The drive towards sustainability is increasingly integrated with enlightened business practices. The keyword here is 'sustainability', and we hope industry members will join us in this responsible mission to promote more eco-friendly solutions and practices for the entire textile and garment value chain."

Garment, textile exports rise by 6%

Viet Nam News
21 June 2012


HA NOI — Viet Nam expected to earn about US$7.5 billion from exports of fibre, textile and garment in the first half of this year, up 6 per cent against the same period last year.

In reality, the quantity of garment products exported increased 12 per cent from the corresponding time because of lower prices on the global market.

"This reflected great efforts by the textile and apparel sector in the face of the global economic crisis," said Le Tien Truong, deputy director-general of the Viet Nam National Textile and Garment Group (Vinatex) in an online conference held by the group in Ha Noi, Da Nang and HCM City.

Violent clashes at Bangladesh garment protests

Source: http://india.nydailynews.com/
Wednesday, June 13th 2012


Nearly 50,000 Bangladeshi garment workers staged violent demonstrations on Wednesday demanding an increase in wages. The workers manufacture clothes for Walmart, H&M and Tesco, putting in 10-16 hours shift, six days a week.

Bangladesh’s garment exports take a dip

Knitting Industry
18th June 2012, Dhaka

According to Bangladesh’s leading newspaper The Daily Star, exports from the country fell for the third straight month in May. The data was released by the state-owned Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) last week.

The newspaper reports that businesses blamed the slowdown in exports on a drop in demand for clothing in the Eurozone, which is now wrestling with a debt crisis. Readymade garments are the prime foreign currency earner for Bangladesh and the EU is the biggest market for its clothing.

Violence shuts 300 Bangladesh garment factories

Reuters
DHAKA, Sat Jun 16, 2012


(Reuters) - The owners of 300 Bangladesh garments factories shut their operations indefinitely on Saturday after days of violent pay protests by workers, threatening the country's biggest export already impacted by the global downturn.

The decision to close all factories at Ashulia, one of the country's biggest industrial zones on the outskirts Dhaka, came as talks between workers and owners had failed to break the deadlock.

Yangon’s Gold Rush

CNBC
By: Kaori Enjoji
Tokyo Bureau Chief
14 June 2012

In a country where reportedly a quarter of the population lives in poverty and 70 percent live without electricity, a bubble sounds like an odd way to describe what is happening in a part of Myanmar. If the ultimate trophies for international investors are the nation’s rich resources, such as natural gas, tungsten and gems, let’s just call it a gold rush.

Promise of jobs spurs development debate in Haiti

Newsobserver.com
By JACQUELINE CHARLES - McClatchy Newspapers
12 June 2012

CARACOL, Haiti -- It's precisely the kind of development that just about everyone has been saying Haiti needs: foreign governments pooling dollars to build housing, create jobs and foster hope.

But a $300 million investment to help create tens of thousands of textile jobs in this rural northern village has reignited debate over whether banking on Haiti's past as a garment assembly capital will bring the kind of social and economic development needed to lift the country out of abject poverty. Some argue the funds are better invested in agricultural projects to feed the country and boost farmers.

Are Western Consumers Willing to Pay More for Apparel?

Source: PBS News Hour 

14 June 2012

The transcript and vidoe are posted on PBS Website. 

Fred de Sam Lazaro reports on the working conditions in Cambodia's garment industry, which exports much its clothing to the United States.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Next, labor unrest in Cambodia's clothing factories. Workers are calling for fewer hours, better conditions and higher wages. That raises a question: Are Western consumers ready to pay more for apparel?

Special correspondent Fred de Sam Lazaro reports.

A version of this story aired recently on the PBS program "Religion & Ethics Newsweekly."

FRED DE SAM LAZARO: Back in the 1990s, Cambodia, impoverished and rebuilding after its genocidal Khmer Rouge years, took steps to give its new garment industry a competitive leg up. It agreed to a system of labor standards, with minimum wages and a limit on working hours, union representation and freedom of expression.

All would be open to international inspection. Today, there are perhaps 400,000 garment workers in more than 300 factories in and near the capital, Phnom Penh, subcontractors to retailers and brands across Europe and North America.

Cambodia takes $430m China loan

The Phnom Penh Post
Thursday, 14 June 2012
By Rann Reuy

Cambodia yesterday signed deals for about US$430 million in loans from China, the latest in a number of high-profile borrowing deals with its northern neighbour.

The bulk of the loans, from Export-Import Bank of China, would go towards two national road projects and a multipurpose dam in Battambang, according to documents obtained by the Post.

An extension on the rehabilitation of National Road 6 alone was set to cost about $250 million.

Better worker food needed: Survey

The Phnom Penh Post
Wednesday, 06 June 2012
Stuart Alan Becker

A new study has determined that cost and space are the biggest constraints to setting up canteens in Cambodia’s garment factories.

The findings were presented on Monday night at a cocktail party attended by Cambodia’s former ambassador to the US, Roland Eng, the Swedish Ambassador Anne Höglund, Garment Manufacturers Association in Cambodia Chairman Van Sou Ieng, Rami Sharaf of RMA Asia and many others.

Sandra D’Amico of HR Inc, who’s company BD link carried out the study, gave the presentation and spoke afterwards to explain the significance of the findings.

“Garment factory owners are very concerned about the nutrition and health of their workers. However they do not feel they should carry the burden of the cost,” D’Amico said. “However, factories lack information and understanding around professional food service providers like Hagar.”

The study was undertaken on behalf of Hagar and financed by Better Work Cambodia, the International Labor Organization (ILO) and D’Amico’s company, HR Inc.

The study covered 35,000 garment factory workers during a three month period this year.

“Nutrition impacts productivity, that’s a fact,” D’Amico said. “Better health, concentration, learning, stamina and strength: all of that is needed to perform.”

She said many factory workers now got their meals from food service stalls outside factory gates where the food was not fresh and hygienic.

“From the perspective of improving health generally for workers, something needs to be done to improve the quality of services.”

D’Amico said one innovative option that was explored by the study was a joint canteen facility, where government, employers, unions and factories would all come together to create facilities and subsidise meals for the workers.

“Such a facility needs to be explored better as to feasibility and willingness to participate,” she said.

D’Amico thinks there’s a misperception in general about how much factory workers genuinely earn.

She said there’s also a problem that many factory workers send more money than they should to their family members in the provinces, often at the expense of their own health.

“I think public information from radio, TV, newspapers that this target group reads needs to give people the information they need to look after themselves effectively. They need to know if they eat bad food what that is going to mean for them in the long run.”

D’Amico said she hoped to see more innovation with snacks so that workers could get vitamins and iron they might not otherwise get.

“The issue of nutrition is serious because it has long-term consequences and the impact is huge from a social security perspective. The whole topic is unbelievably important. I think everybody has a responsibility, government, unions, civil society, the public sector, they have an obligation to talk about these issues, and to promote healthy eating.”

D’Amico said the survey shows that it is necessary to maintain a cost base given that providing canteen services in factories is a massive up-front investment.

“If you increase cost base significantly, it increases cost to buyers, and we are in a very volatile, fragile environment where people don’t understand what the impact is going to be on Cambodia. Factories have genuine and real concerns about maintaining jobs and sustainability of the operations they have,” she said.

D’Amico said she hopes more studies would be done on nutrition and health in the garment sector.

“What we do know from the government health survey is that one in 15 women is too thin,” she said. “We can really benefit from more information on nutrition health on productivity issues.”

The survey found that factory managers believe that nutrition and productivity are linked and feel that employers should not carry the burden of nutrition alone.

Seventy-five per cent of factories provide basic medical care for workers and 33 per cent of factories were providing private medical insurance to workers.

“Most factories do not have canteens and factory managers feel they should be involved in challenges related to nutrition and healthcare, so there is a great need for training linked to productivity in the sector because managers need to understand the issues around nutrition and health.”

The survey found that most factory workers eat outside the factory gate.

Sixty per cent of factories believed that workers spent from 1,000 to 2,000 riels for every meal, with breakfast and lunch being the cheapest and dinner the most expensive.

“There should be cleaner facilities or public sector interventions, to increase cleanliness and hygiene,” she said.

D’Amico said 56 per cent of factories said they would be interested to provide one meal, but they needed to be shown a positive change in productivity.

“We asked factory managers if they were interested in joint canteen facilities, and servicing a bigger number of workers. In summary, we can say that factory managers are very concerned about health and nutrition issue. The feasibility of canteens is less given concerns of space, and there is a real need for factories to have information on cost and productivity if they were to be interested in providing meals,” D’Amico said.

“If government unions and employers would come together to support joint facilities, they could do cost sharing of infrastructure and a subsidy of the meals is worth further investigation,” she said.

“We also need to get more information to factory managers and we need public sector intervention in improving food services outside the factory gates.”

Third party canteens favoured by GMAC

The Phnom Penh Post
Wednesday, 06 June 2012
Stuart Alan Becker

The Chairman of the Garment Manufacturers Association of Cambodia, Van Sou Ieng, said that even if nutrition is an important factor in productivity, it should not the sole responsibility of the factory owner.

“The deduction that the nutrition will automatically improve productivity is not necessarily true. When people are healthy it is better. You can be very healthy and still be lazy,” he said.

Speaking after a Monday night cocktail party at Hagar Catering & Facilities Management to celebrate the launch of the Canteen Nutritional Study, Van Sou Ieng said unions would be less likely to raise such issues against factories if the catering facilities were operated by third parties.

“The best out of this study is that we have an independent provider of food. Hopefully, we will have more standardised, qualified food suppliers that provide proper nutrition and it is not the responsibility of the employers to pay for it.”

Van Sou Ieng said it was for better factories not to get involved in food production.

“If we get involved in food production and food quality, this is not our profession and it will be criticised and it can be abused. That’s why we are reluctant, but we are happy to have third-party independent suppliers.”

Van Sou Ieng said there were 2,600 trade unions in Cambodia for only 500 factories.

“Each trade union is an entrepreneur. We don’t want to fight the unions. We want to work with unions that respect the law. There is a confederation of unions in Cambodia who we work with very well and they comply and respect the law,” Van Sou Ieng said.

“There are only a few that are funded internationally that create problems. Others are abusing the system to make money. We are not here to work against the trade union. We are looking for a responsible trade union that obeys the law, complies with the law and represents the workers demands.”

Van Sou Ieng said he hoped more factories would use the services of third-party canteen suppliers.

“The benefit of today is that for factories wishing to engage and help their workers, we have an independent source of nutrition that they will not be subject to abuse by the trade unions to criticise the employers. I hope more employers will use these services.”

Also at the event was French catering specialist Thibault Paul Favre who has been hired by Hagar Catering & Facilities Management to develop the firm’s catering business, which already produces 7,000 meals per day, 3,000 of which are in the garment factory sector.

“No need to have one kitchen in the city and then to travel,” Favre said.

“It is useless to carry water and food. Our vision is to develop canteens on site. We are not only operating the canteen, but we now have 18 customers and among those, 12 have a kitchen on site.”

Focusing mainly on breakfast and lunch, the meals cost about 3,000 riels and contain 2,000 calories.

“We advise the kitchen; we know the quality of usage, and we can advise properly. We want to solve these problems and let them concentrate on their work.”

One of the customers is the factory that produces goods for the Marks & Spencer brand name, he added.

CTN Comedies Aim At Combating Fainting in Factories

31 May 2012

By Chea Sophal

Cambodia Television Network (CTN) with financial support from ILO Better Factories Cambodia conducted four CTN comedies with messages focusing on combating fainting in factories.  The four main themes include nutrition (poor nutrition and low blood sugar is one of the contributors to workers faintings in garment footwear factories), recommended 6-step fainting response, workers' welfare (Hygiene and basic care and welfare also contribute to fainting), and worker-management relations (poor communication between workers and managers has led to situations where fainting has occurred). 

To prevent fainting, ILO Better Factories Cambodia has undertaken campaign in 2012 with the support of GMAC, buyers and factories.  One of the campaign's activities is CTN Comedy.

1st Episode: Worker's Nutrition 

                    CTN Comedy on Workers' Nutrition_Part 1_28-04-2012

2nd Episode:  Workers' Welfare 

                   CTN comedy on workers' well-being_part II_05-05-2012.mp4

3rd Episode:  Worker-Management Relations

                 CTN comedy on workers-management relations_part III_19-05-2012.mp4

4th Episode: 6-Step Fainting Response will be shown on Saturday June 9, 2012 at 7pm.

Cambodia garment union blames violence on company

UPI, May 29, 2012
 
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia, May 29 (UPI) -- A union leader in Cambodia has blamed clothing maker SL Garment for violence that broke out at a factory.

The union official said the company was trying to provoke violence as part of a campaign to smear the union.

"This is the company's trick, to be willing to provoke … severe violence and put all mistakes entirely on the workers," said Ath Thorn, president of the Coalition of Cambodian Apparel Workers' Democratic Union.
The Phnom Penh Post reported Tuesday about 5,000 union workers went back to work after a two-week strike at two Phnom Penh factories believing a document signed by the union, the government and the Garment Manufacturers Association in Cambodia Friday was a binding deal.

But the company backed away from the agreement after the workers returned to their jobs, the newspaper reported.

The agreement included pay for missing work during the strike and $7 per month for approved rent and travel expenses.

"In my years doing this sort of work, I've never come across a document which is thumb printed by all parties, the bona fide seal in Cambodia, and endorsed by a government representative, which refers to itself as an agreement within the document, but which after the fact is claimed to be no such thing," said Dave Welsh, country director of the American Center for International Labor Solidarity.

"The company said one thing and when implementing did the other -- this caused the workers to be angry and they continued their strike," union worker Rith Sineourn said.

The Post reported rocks were thrown at one factory and that one woman was hit in the head.

Remembering Drowning as a Cause of Child Mortality

SOC Children's Village 24 May 2012   24/05/2012 – Both the United Nations Children’s Fund and The Alliance for Safe Children are urging the international community to recognize this “hidden killer” as a factor in child mortality.

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) Innocenti Research Centre and water safety expert organization, The Alliance for Safe Children (TASC), are working together to curb accidental death by drowning among children in Asia.

The two groups brought awareness to the issue with the launch of a new report, entitled, Child Drowning: Evidence for a Newly Recognized Cause of Child Mortality in Low and Middle-income Countries in Asia. The report presents a number of interesting findings about the extent to which accidental death contributes to child mortality in several Asian countries.

In Bangladesh, Cambodia, Thailand, Viet Nam and parts of China, drowning is a leading cause of death in childhood—accounting for one fourth of all childhood deaths after infancy. In rural Bangladesh in particular, drowning rates are up to 50 per cent higher than in Australia.  In Asia generally, other research has shown, child mortality from drowning is also about 30 times higher than it is in the United States.
UNICEF’s research director, Gordon Alexander, called drowning a “hidden killer.”

“Over the past three decades countries have made strong, continuous progress on infectious disease reduction . . . And yet drowning is off the political radar,” he said.

According to the two groups’ report, most instances of child drowning are preventable. Children are most likely to fall victim to local hazards and drown within 20 metres of their homes, usually when they are unsupervised.

Yet, interventions to save lives are not altogether unaffordable. One study showed that putting children in crèches (nurseries or early childhood education centres) can cut drowning deaths by fourth-fifths. Even better results can be achieved by teaching kids about swimming and water safety. Enrolling children in SwimSafe programmes cut deaths by 90 per cent.

“There is no difference whether a child dies from measles, diarrhea, pneumonia or drowning; it is equally tragic,” said Pete Peterson, President of TASC in a news release. “Like these other causes, child drowning is a leading cause of death in children and now that we know it is equally preventable, it is time to act.”

The report notes among its recommendations that raising awareness about the issue of drowning and child fatalities can help achieve the fourth Millennium Development Goal (MDG) on child mortality. The MDGs are a set of eight benchmarks for achieving meaningful progress in global development. Goal #4 calls for a two-thirds reduction in the number of child deaths since 1990 by the year 2015.