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.

Garment, textile sector urged to restructure

Vietnam News, 15 May 2012
 
HA NOI — Viet Nam's garment and textile sector faces problems with its structure and production methods, said Nguyen Van Tuan, deputy general secretary of Viet Nam Garment and Textile Association.
Tuan said the country needed 400,000 tonnes of cotton per year, but domestic production could meet a tiny 0.75 per cent of the demand. The industry also supplied only 30 per cent of a yearly demand of 400,000 tonnes of man-made fibre.

He said the sector continues to import 100 per cent of its spare parts and 70 per cent of the materials, which, combined with a low production capacity, makes Viet Nam less competitive than other countries.
He added that one of the biggest challenges was that the sector last year imported 5.2 billion metres of fabric out of a total 6 billion metres needed.

Than Duc Viet, managing director of Garment 10 Company, agreed that garment and textile production had been determined by market.

In most of big markets including the US, Eastern Europe and Japan, retailers accounted for 70 to 90 per cent of the market share while 10 to 30 per cent belonged to commercial businesses and producers under the original brand manufacturer (OBM).

"This means that Vietnamese garment and textile producers do not have direct access to markets but have to operate through middlemen," Viet said.

Last year, the world's garment and textile turnover was US$480 billion. Viet Nam accounted for 3 per cent of that figure with a turnover of $14.5 billion, though it has been listed among the five leading exporters.
In addition, the sector has been lacking capital and mainly dependent on bank loans. Several businesses have not expanded their production or upgraded technologies because of high interest rates.

Pham Van Chat, a representative from the Ministry of Industry and Trade, said garment and textile enterprises have been experiencing a serious capital shortage even though the Government and commercial banks have provided solutions to help them access loans.

Dang Phuong Dung, the association's vice chairwoman cum general secretary, said the sector should focus on building and expanding its distribution system, building Vietnamese trademarks and increasing co-operation. 

Dung asked garment and textile businesses to develop their brand names in neighbouring markets such as Laos, Cambodia and Myanmar.

The association said the industry should develop, reduce imports and increase value for businesses. — VNS

Top exporters get HSBC awards

26 May 2012
The Daily Star,
Staff Correspondent

HSBC Bangladesh yesterday awarded six exporters for their contribution to promoting Bangladeshi products on the international market.

Finance Minister AMA Muhith handed out the prestigious “HSBC Export Excellence Awards, 2011” to the winners at Radisson Hotel in the capital.

The winners were Zaber & Zubair Fabrics, Urmi Group, Qualitex Group, Pran Group, Janata Jute Mills and Bay Footwear.

The third HSBC export excellence awards honoured winners from five categories: readymade garments and textiles exporters (Group-A and Group-B), EPZ enterprises, traditional and emerging sectors, and small and medium enterprises.

Each exporter was given the “Exporter of the Year” trophy for promoting the “Made in Bangladesh” mark throughout the world.

Zaber & Zubair Fabrics, a company manufacturing various home textile products for export mostly to Europe and North America, got the award under RMG and Textile: Group A, for companies with an annual export turnover of over $50 million.

Md Nurul Islam, chairman of Noman Group, the owning company of Zaber & Zubair Fabrics, received the award on behalf of the company.

Urmi Group, a woven garments and fabrics manufacturer, got the award under RMG and Textile: Group-B, for companies with an annual export turnover of less than $50 million.

Director of the group Asif Ashraf received the award.

Qualitex Group, a fully export-oriented towel manufacturing company, won the award under the Exporters in the Export Processing Zones of Bangladesh category.

Qualitex General Manager Altaf Awan received the award on behalf of the company.

Pran Group and Janata Jute Mills were jointly awarded under the Exporters in the Traditional and Emerging Sectors category with an annual export turnover of more than $3 million.

Amjad Khan Chowdhury, chief executive officer of Pran-RFL Group, which produces and reprocesses agricultural products, received the award on behalf of the company while Janata Jute Mills Director Saiduzzaman Khan received the award.

The award under Small and Medium Enterprises category with an annual export turnover of less than $3 million went to Bay Footwear Ltd, a leather footwear manufacturer that exports vulcanised safety shoes and other shoes primarily to Europe & East Asia.

Ziaur Rahman, managing director of Bay Footwear, received the award.

Speaking as the chief guest, the finance minister said Bangladesh had huge prospect to grow further as the country developed the necessary skills to compete in the global market.

He said the Bangladesh economy had witnessed a positive growth due to the presence of three key elements: progressive cultivator, productive industrial workers and vibrant entrepreneurs.

Atiur Rahman, governor of Bangladesh Bank, said, “Our exporters resiliently maintained positive export growth even at the peak of the global financial crisis.”

He said awards like this one acclaiming excellence in export performance were important confidence boosters that inspire exporters to aim for newer heights.

HSBC's Group General Manager and Head of Commercial Banking Asia Pacific Noel P Quinn said the key activity of banking was to make good relationship with customers rather than focusing only on transactions.

He said Bangladesh was in the top 20 markets for HSBC.

Andrew Tilke, chief executive officer of HSBC Bangladesh, said, “I congratulate the winners for their achievements and also for the important role they play in Bangladesh's development and prosperity.”
He said Bangladesh had three key advantages: geographical location between India and China, cost competitiveness, and strong entrepreneurial sprit fuelling economic growth of the county.

Mahbub-ur-Rahman, head of corporate banking of HSBC Bangladesh, said, “With its global presence, international connectivity and world-class trade solutions, HSBC is passionately committed to helping exporters unlock a world of potential.”

“We want to see Bangladesh from a trade deficit country to a trade surplus county within the next 10 years,” he said.

HSBC also paid special tribute to Samson H Chowdhury, the founder chairman of Square Group, who died on January 5 this year.
The Daily Star, Prothom Alo, KPMG and Bangladesh Brand Forum worked as HSBC's strategic partners in the initiative.

Mahfuz Anam, editor and publisher of The Daily Star; Matiur Rahman, editor and publisher of Prothom Alo; and Adeeb H Khan, senior partner of KPMG were also present.

CAMBODIA: Garment workers strike as talks collapse

 Source: Just-Style
Author: Ngo Tuan, 23 May 2012

Talks to try to end an 11-day strike at a Cambodian supplier that makes garments for international brands including Gap, Levi's and H&M broke down yesterday (22 May) after a day of negotiations.
More than 1,500 workers at Singapore-owned garment maker SL Garment Processing (Cambodia) Company have taken action to demand more pay and better working conditions.

Workers from the garment maker's SL1 and SL2 factories marched to the Cambodian Ministry of Social Affairs Ministry in the capital Phnom Pento demand intervention, but eight hours of negotiation failed to net an agreement.

According to Ath Thorn, president of the Coalition of Cambodia Apparel Workers Democratic Union (C.CAWDU), who represented for the workers at the talks, the workers rejected the factory's offer of a combined transport and living allowance of $7 per month.

Instead, they are calling for an allowance of $10 a month, having dropped this from an initial level of $25. They have also lowered their attendance bonus demands from $12 per month to $10, but the factory is offering just $8. Other demands have also been rejected by factory managers.

The strike will continue until an agreement is reached, Ath Thorn added.

SL Garment Processing (Cambodia) Ltd is a subsidy of Singapore-based SL International Holdings Pte Ltd, which was founded in 1998 and has 5,000 workers. The company also supplies clothes to brands such as Zara, Banana Republic and Decathlon.