Former Khmer Rouge Leaders Indicted For War Crimes

Posted by: Laura Smith-Gary

From 1975 to 1979, Khmer Rouge forces under dictator Pol Pot held Cambodia in a death grip. Cham Muslims and ethnic Vietnamese were slaughtered, and anyone who appeared to be educated, too urban, or influenced by Western “free-market” thinking was killed. Even wearing glasses, which the government saw as suggesting literacy and therefore contamination by outside influences, could mean a death sentence. Torture and mass executions were widespread and systematic, with victims often being killed by pickaxe to save the price of bullets. The brutal regime attempted to break family ties and encouraged children to inform on their parents, outlawed Western medicine, depopulated cities, and forced urban dwellers onto communal farms and labor camps where they were worked ruthlessly.

Workers Who Make Our Clothes and Shoes—Far, Far Away—Halt Mass Strike

Sunday, September 19, 2010
David Wallechinsky, Noel Brinkerhoff

Cambodian garment workers strike against PCCS (photo: Pha Lina, Phnom Penh Post)

More than half of the garment workers in Cambodia, where retail goods are manufactured for the West, temporarily ended their mass strike this week after industry officials agreed to more talks with union representatives.

On July 27, police in the Cambodian capital of Phnom Penh used electric shock batons to break up a protest by about 3,000 employees of PCCS Garments, a Malaysian-owned company that produces goods for The Gap, Old Navy, Carter’s, Puma, Champion, Cross Creek and Nike, among others.

Garment workers, along with athletic-shoe makers, totaling more than 200,000, have been upset for months, since the minimum wage was increased only by $6 a month, from $55 to $61. A living wage is said to be $91 a month. The new wage, set to take effect in October, would be frozen until 2014.

$US14 million lost from strikes

MONDAY, 20 SEPTEMBER 2010 00:17
NGUON SOVAN
THE PHNOMPENHPOST

Photo by: Uy Nousereimony Garment workers rally together during a work stoppage at the Grantex factory last week.

GARMENT worker strikes cost the industry US$14 million last week due to production halts and shipment delays, but lasting damage may have been done to the sector’s reputation, according to the Garment Manufacturers Association in Cambodia.

Losses resulted from the suspension of production, discounts granted to buyers due to delays, expedited shipments by air, as well as damage by strikers, Garment Manufacturers Association in Cambodia (GMAC) secretary general Ken Loo said yesterday.

Estimating the industry lost $14 million during the strike, he said it had also sent the wrong messages to potential investors and buyers.

“There are future consequences from the strike – it may spoil the reputation of garment manufacturing in Cambodia and buyers may stop orders,” he warned.

“Kheat-kor Chheam Trachak” a Poem in Khmer by Hin Sithan

Sacrava’s Political Cartoon: Men In Black

Cartoon by Sacrava (on the web at http://sacrava.blogspot.com)

Cambodian garment workers injured in police clash: unions

Source: AFP

Cambodian workers walk to their garment factory during a strike in Phnom Penh on September 15

PHNOM PENH — Five Cambodian garment workers were injured in a clash with police on Saturday, unions said, as tension between staff and bosses continued despite the end of mass strikes.

Violence erupted when police tried to break up a rally of about 3,000 factory employees who had gathered to protest a ban on 26 activists from returning to work after last week’s huge stoppage, Ath Thun told AFP.

“The military police sent to crack down on the strike injured five strikers and the clash lasted for half an hour,” the president of the Cambodian Labour Confederation said.

Global brands face growing labour militancy in Asia

By Cat Barton (AFP)

In Cambodia last week, tens of thousands of workers went on strike

DHAKA — Global retailers fleeing China’s rising labour costs now find themselves facing growing pressure for higher wages in countries from Bangladesh to Cambodia, Vietnam, India and Indonesia.

The latest sign that workers are becoming more militant in their demands for a larger share of the region’s economic success came in Cambodia last week, when tens of thousands of workers went on strike.

Bangladesh's 4,500 garment factories employ 2.5 million workers or around 40 percent of the industrial workforce

The mass protest rejecting a proposed 20 percent pay increase crippled Cambodia’s export-orientated garment industry, which produces items for renowned brands including Gap, Benetton, Adidas and Puma.

The strike followed a deal between the government and industry that set the minimum wage for garment and footwear staff at 61 dollars a month. Unions want a base salary of 93 dollars.

Cambodia garment workers protest low pay

Encouraged by labor agitation in the region, tens of thousands of workers stage a walkout. It nets only a government proposal to discuss benefits in the future, but organizers call the strike a success.

Cambodian workers attend a rally during a strike last week at the Chinese-owned Pine Great Cambodia Garment Co. in Phnom Penh. (Chor Sokunthea, Reuters / September 12, 2010)

By Brendan Brady, Special to the Los Angeles Times
September 19, 2010
Reporting from Phnom Penh, Cambodia

Tens of thousands of garment workers staged a walkout in the Cambodian capital in recent days, encouraged by agitation across the region for improved pay and benefits in the low-paying apparel industry.

In Bangladesh, an 80% increase in the monthly minimum wage to $43, still the lowest in the region, didn’t stop riots last month by workers who said the raise was not enough.

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Cambodia’s work stoppage was relatively peaceful, with participants from the industry’s overwhelmingly female workforce chanting slogans and occasionally pumping their fists. Work stoppages ended in the middle of last week with a government proposal to discuss workers’ benefits at a later date.

Six-year-old boy raises money for Cambodian orphans

Updated: Sat Sep. 18 2010 17:28:06
ctvcalgary.ca

Samuel Seehawer got a hero's welcome from firefighters at his neighbourhood fire hall.

A little boy has a big goal: to help children just like him. Samuel Seehawer has no hands and only one leg.

“I decided to help those people in need,” said Samuel Seehawer.

On Saturday, many in his neighbourhood came out to watch him pedal his bicycle alongside a police escort. He’s riding to raise hope and money for kids just like him.

“I feel totally blessed with all these people here to support Samuel,” said his mother, Charlotte Seehawer.

His mom says Samuel’s life didn’t begin with such fanfare, in fact just the opposite.