BY ALLEN MYERS
PHNOM PENH A garment worker and a police officer were killed on June 13 during a violent clash outside the Terratex Knitting and Garment International Factory Ltd. A large number of other workers and police were injured.
The clash came on the fifth day of a strike over a list of 16 demands that included the removal of oppressive overseers, respect for Cambodia's labour law, notice of piece-rates before work is performed, three months' paid maternity leave, payment for medical treatment for injuries incurred at work, and clean bathrooms.
The strike began on June 9. According to workers interviewed by the Womyn's Agenda for Change (WAC) NGO, on the morning of June 13 some of the workers, angered by management's refusal to negotiate, began throwing small stones and plastic bags (used to hold sugar cane juice, a popular refreshment) at the factory.
Shortly afterwards, at least 1000 police officers arrived. According to the workers, the police attacked workers with electric batons. The police did not bother to ask workers what had happened or ask them to stand back or stop throwing the plastic bags and stones.
Many workers were beaten with batons, including on their faces and heads. Police officers grabbed the hair of women workers with one hand while beating them with the other.
Workers then defended themselves with table legs taken from roadside vendors' stalls and stopped a passing truck that was carrying stones, which they threw at the police.
The police then fired into the crowd, killing a 30-year-old male worker, Mao Vuthy, also known as Yoeum Ry, and wounding up to 25 others, several seriously.
According to press reports, one police officer suffering from head wounds was taken to hospital and died there. Various news sources reported 15 to 26 police injured.
A fire broke out in the factory during the conflict. The factory owner later accused the workers of starting the fire, but workers deny this. They point out that many workers brought water to help put out the fire and that workers live near the factory and would not want their own houses to burn down.
At the weekly government cabinet meeting, held on the afternoon of June 13, Prime Minister Hun Sen expressed regret over the incident and the loss of life and criticised government officials for allowing a small dispute to escalate in a bloody clash between police and strikers.
Hun Sen ordered the deputy prime minister and co-minister of the interior to convene an urgent meeting of workers' representatives and the factory management. Media reports the next day announced that the dispute had been settled, largely on the workers' terms, but the workers interviewed by WAC said that there are several issues that have still not been settled.
On June 14, the workers showed that they were not intimidated by holding a memorial service for Mao Vuthy and attempting to march from the factory in the suburbs into the city. They were blocked by large numbers of police and barbed wire.
After several hours of confrontation, including some stone-throwing, the demonstration dispersed. Ten people were arrested. Nine were quickly released, apparently because they were street sweepers or others not involved in the demonstration.
In the wake of the strike, leaders of the Cambodian Bar Association say they will move to disbar a Cambodian-American lawyer who has represented Terratex and other garment industry companies. Unions and workers accuse him of aggressively using the courts to attack lawful union activities.
The garment industry, largely owned by overseas investors, produces more than 90% of Cambodia's goods export income. The legal minimum wage in the industry is US$45 a month for a 48-hour week, but employers often find ways to avoid paying the full amount.
The industry has grown up rapidly largely because of a quota system for textile exports to the US, which guarantees Cambodia a certain market that it might not be able to maintain if there were completely open competition.
The quota system is to end on December 31, 2004. The government and some advisers hope that Cambodian garment exports can continue to find a market among socially conscious buyers in the West by establishing a reputation for good labour conditions. But some investors clearly think it is wiser to squeeze out every cent of profit now, before moving on in a year and a half.
Terratex presently supplies GAP and H&M labels.
From Green Left Weekly, June 25, 2003.
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