Cambodia to cut pay for garment workers

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia

Cambodian lawmakers Friday approved reducing the nighttime pay rate for garment workers in a labor law amendment the government called necessary to boost jobs in the industry.

Currently dayshift garment workers earn about $50 a month, and those working the nightshift earn about $100 a month. The amendment sets pay for nightshift workers at only 30 percent more than dayshift workers, or about $65.

Eighty-two lawmakers from Prime Minister Hun Sen's ruling coalition voted in favor of the amendment. Seven lawmakers from Cambodia's main opposition Sam Rainsy Party abstained from voting in protest.

"The amendment will contribute to creating more jobs for young people, whose number grows every year," Labor Minister Vong Soth said during the session of the National Assembly, Cambodia's lower house of parliament.

He said that up to 200,000 new garment factory jobs would be created by the amendment. The country currently has 300 garment factories that employ 355,000 workers.

Son Chhay, an opposition party lawmaker, said the amendment was unacceptable because, "it pleases only the factory owners and disregards difficult circumstances facing the workers."

Chea Mony, president of Cambodia's Free Trade Union which claims to have 74,000 members, condemned the amendment.

"I am very unhappy after hearing this unfortunate news ... It seems like, in approving it, those lawmakers are killing the workers by poking a knife into their throats," he said.

Workers from his union could protest at their respective factories, he said.

Ken Loo, secretary-general of the Garment Manufacturers Association in Cambodia, said last month only about 10 factories run night shifts because of the costs associated with high nighttime pay.

Last year's garment exports from Cambodia were worth about $2.8 billion, with 70 percent of the shipments going to retailers in the U.S. market, he said.

The amendment will come into force after it is approved by the upper house of parliament, the Senate, and signed by King Norodom Sihamoni.