[PHNOM PENH POST]
The biggest names in the apparel industry, including Nike, Puma and Gap,
would meet today with officials from the Ministry of Labour to discuss
issues plaguing the Cambod-ian garment manufacturing industry, such as
mass fainting and contractual disputes, labour activists said yesterday.
Dave Welsh, country director for the American Centre for
International Labour Solidarity, said unions, the International Labour
Organisat-ion, buyers and rights groups would discuss serious issues
such as occupational health and safety, nutrition and exploitative
contracts.
“Every major garment brand in the world that you can imagine is going to be here,” Welsh said.
Unions
had been preparing all week and would push hard against the practice
whereby factories repeatedly placed garment workers on fixed- duration
contracts, even if they had been long-term employees, he said.
“Fixed-duration
contracts basically mean you’re an apprentice. You can work for six or
seven months, and that’s fine, except you can end up doing it for eight
years.”
At a separate meeting that was closed to the press
yesterday, footwear companies gathered with key stakeholders to discuss
similar issues within Cambodia’s shoe manufacturing factories.
Outbreaks
of mass fainting have been repeatedly reported in Cambodian garment and
shoe factories this year drawing criticism from rights groups and in
one case, an independent investigation commissioned by Puma into one of
its suppliers.
Helen Ford, a representative of Pentland group,
which licenses Speedo and other brands, said on the sidelines of
yesterday’s meeting that her organisation took occupat-ional health and
safety issues in Cambodia very seriously.
“I think collaboration
in a forum to improve factory conditions for workers is extremely
important. It’s a very difficult area to collaborate in because of the
many parties that are involved, so an initiative like Better Factories
Cambodia is ground-breaking,” she said.
Exploratory-level talks
had been held into the possibility of setting up a regulatory
representative body for shoe manufacturing companies in the Kingdom
performing a similar role as the Garment Manufacturer’s Association in
Cambodia.
Officials at the Ministry of Labour could not be reached for comment yesterday.
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