Life of Cambodian garment factory workers

Life of Cambodian garment factory workers
14 Nov 2006
By Sophorn
Radio Free Asia
Translated from Khmer by Heng Soy



Under the intense heat, several people are going in and out to eat in a food stall set by the roadside, protected by a tarp sheet. It’s dusty inside the stall which is filled with garment factory workers. With lack of nutrition in the food and lack of hygiene in its preparation, the majority of the workers are in poor health.

Naroeun is a worker at the Charmin factory located along the periphery of Phnom Penh. She came from Kompong Cham. Very skinny, she told us, with tears welling up her eyes, that she has urinary tract problem which caused her to have back pain and to be weak. Nevertheless, she still works everyday. She does not have money to take care of her illness because the salary she earns is too low, besides, she also wants to save $10 to $15 per month to send to her mother at her village as well.

Naroeun said that the food she is eating everyday has no nutrition because she doesn’t have enough money to afford proper food. Her base salary is $45 per month, if she works an additional 4 hours per day, she can earn up to $70 per month: “The main problem is that I don’t have enough money. It (salary) is not enough, but I just endure it, each month I barely save at all. I can send home a small amount, $10-$20 only.”

Sophea is a native woman from Svay Rieng province. She works for the Orange New factory. We met her while she was eating rice with a bowl of lotus stems soup that she shares with another worker. She said that this is the kind of food she can afford to eat daily because it is cheap, each meal costs her 1,500 riels ($0.37) only. She shares a rented room with two other workers, the room costs $30 per month for the 3 of them. She said that because of low salary, she had to be thrifty in her spending in order to save some money to send back home to her 5 children who are now living with her mother at her village. She also said that her health condition is not very good.

Sophea said: “The rent is $10 [per month], the food is about $30, what’s left over, I send $10-20 to my children and my mother. If in a month I fall sick, I don’t have money left to send home.”

Related to the lack of money to buy proper food, Dr Thong Lim, director of an international humanitarian doctor organization (Doctor Without Borders?), said that food is very important for the body nutrition. He indicated that the majority of workers have headache, are weak, and have chronic diseases because of lack of proper nutrition and oxygen in the factories, as well as in their small and packed rented rooms. He added that some of these illnesses could be life threatening if they are not taken care of in timely manner.

Thong Lim said: “Normally, we need a space of 25 sq. meters per person to breathe [properly]. Now, they are sharing a room of 4-meter-by-5-meeter (20 sq. meters), I believe that they don’t have enough oxygen to breathe. They are all packed together to breathe in a very small room.”

Chea Mony, President of the Free Trade Union of Workers of the Kingdom of Cambodia, said that he is aware of the workers’ hardships, and their lack of proper nutrition. He is protesting to the Garment Manufacturer Association of Cambodia (GMAC) to ask for a raise for the workers to $55 per month during the first year (of the to-be-agreed new contract), $57 for the second year, and $58 for the third year, as well as bonuses. However, up to now, there is no response from the GMAC yet. He said that he expects to see a major strike if there is no response to the union demand.

Chea Mony said: “In some factories, during national and international holidays, the worker could rest, but some workers are not allowed to take time off [during these holidays] because they are threatened by the bosses who forced them work. If they don’t work [during the holidays], they would be laid off.”

Oum Mean, state-secretary at the Labor and Vocational Training Ministry, said that the ministry had set the base salary at $50 per month for the factory workers, if the factory owners do not respect this minimum wage, the government will impose the rule on them. Oum Mean said that in addition to overtime, the monthly take in by workers ranges between $80 and $100, this should allow them to have a decent living.

Oum Mean said: “In reality, they earn more than that (minimum wage), they earn $70-80, $100 or more, go ask in the factories, there is nobody who earns less than $50 per month at all.”

Chea Sophal, an aid to the International Labor Organization (ILO) in Cambodia, said that, according to his observation, a number of factories are not yet following the government rule (on minimum wage). Fulltime, floating, and by the piece workers must earn the minimum wage. Regarding the workers’ poor health condition, Chea Sophal said that it was due to poverty encountered by the workers. They want to earn more money, so they work overtime without any rest, but sometimes this is also due to factory owners who are forcing the workers to work overtime.

Chea Sophal said: “In Cambodia, the law stated that a height-adjustable chair must be provided to the garment factory workers. In the majority of factories, they only provide a long bench which cannot be adjusted, and these benches have no backseat either. The law requires that height-adjustable chair be provided. Most of the factories do not follow the law. Anotherproblem is the fact that workers remain standing during work. The law requires that the owners provide some chair to the workers to sit and rest for a few minutes if they need to, this is another lack [in the factory].”

Son Chhay, Sam Rainsy Party Member of Parliament from Phnom Penh, said that the factory owners acknowledge the low wage condition, however, they claim that they cannot raise the salary because of high cost of water and electricity, as well as the large amount of bribes money they have to pay under the table [to operate the factories]. Son Chhay said that in comparison to workers’ salary in Vietnam, Cambodian workers earn approximately about the same amount, however, the cost of living in Vietnam is much cheaper, the cost of utilities (electricity and water) and rent are also cheaper in Vietnam as well.

Currently, there are about 300,000 factory workers who are facing hardship due to low wages. Recently, unions have demanded for a salary raise, however no decision has yet been made [on the unions’ demand].