Cambodia: Workers in the garment industry are unprotected

(Phnom Penh) – The Cambodian government fails to protect garment workers producing clothing for well-known brands from labor abuses, Human Rights Watch said in a new report released today. Workers, the majority of whom are women, are often forced to work overtime, experience pregnancy discrimination, and are subjected to anti-union practices without these issues being adequately addressed by the government or by major clothing brands.

The 140-page report, “'Work Faster or Get Out': Labor Rights Abuses in Cambodia's Garment Industry,” documents that the government enforces labor laws lax and that clothing brands hamper supervision and enforcement. In recent years, wage protests, cases of garment workers fainting during the workday, and cumbersome union registration procedures have shed light on the plight of garment factory workers in Cambodia.

“The Cambodian government should take urgent steps to reverse poor labor law enforcement and protect workers from abuse,” said Aruna Kashyap, senior women's rights researcher at Human Rights Watch. “These are widely known global clothing brands. They have a privileged position and can and should do more to ensure that their contracts with garment factories do not contribute to labor rights violations.”

Human Rights Watch found that many factories repeatedly entered into illegal short-term contracts to avoid paying maternity and other benefits to employees, and to intimidate and control them. It is more common for small factories that are subcontractors of larger export factories to hire workers informally, which hampers the ability of workers to claim their rights, as they are easily fired. The clothing brands have not taken adequate measures to end illegal short-term contracts in the factories of their suppliers, even when the latter's codes of conduct contain clauses that restrict the use of this type of contracting.

The garment industry in Cambodia, dominated by foreign investment from Hong Kong, Taiwan, China, Singapore, Malaysia and South Korea, is crucial to the country's economy and women's livelihoods. According to data from the Ministry of Industry and Manufacturing, women represent 90 percent of the more than 700,000 garment workers who work in the 1,200 companies in the industry in the country.

Human Rights Watch's report was drawn from interviews with more than 340 people, including 270 workers at 73 factories in Phnom Penh and surrounding provinces, union leaders, government representatives, labor rights advocates, the Garment Manufacturers Association of Cambodia (Garment Manufacturers Association of Cambodia) and representatives of international clothing brands. Of the nearly 200 apparel brands that contract to make garments in Cambodia, Human Rights Watch has contacted Adidas, Armani, Gap, H&M, Joe Fresh, and Marks and Spencer.

Although Cambodian labor law requires that overtime work be voluntary, workers in 48 factories that supply international brands told Human Rights Watch that overtime was enforced. In 25 percent of these factories, retaliation included firings, wage deductions, and punitive transfers. In February 2015, the Ministry of Labor again demanded that overtime regulations in factories be complied with.

Individual workers in 35 factories reported anti-union practices, such as the firing and intimidation of newly elected union leaders, and shorter contracts for male workers, in order to discourage them from forming or joining unions. Many workers told Human Rights Watch that factory supervisors pressured them to meet production targets in ways that limited their ability to take breaks, use the bathrooms, drink water, or eat lunch. In some cases, the pressure to meet production targets intensified after the increase in the minimum wage in 2013 and 2014.

Women workers in 30 factories referred to specific abuses, such as the refusal to hire, renew short-term contracts or provide reasonable conditions to pregnant women, which made it difficult for them to work in factories. Workers in some factories found it difficult to obtain sick leave medical clearances. Human Rights Watch also documented examples of illegal child labor in 11 of the factories assessed. The worst abuses were reported in smaller subcontracting factories, producing for larger factories with export licences.

According to data from the Ministry of Labor, between 2009 and 2013, the authorities applied fines to only 10 factories and initiated legal actions against 7, and in all cases these are measures corresponding to 2011. Although the number of fines amounted to 25 in the first 11 months of 2014, remains an extremely low percentage when compared to the total number of factories and persistent patterns of labor rights violations. In 2014, the Ministry of Labor launched an integrated labor inspection mechanism and measures to improve training. However, profound reforms are required to build credibility in the face of allegations of corruption and to improve the performance of inspection authorities, Human Rights Watch said.

Since protests by workers demanding an increase in the minimum wage in December 2013, the Ministry of Labor has established cumbersome registration procedures for unions, making it difficult for them to obtain licences.

Better Factories Cambodia (BFC) is an external monitor whose mission is to inspect all factories with export licenses, and issues reports on individual factories. However, Human Rights Watch found that some smaller factories that are subcontractors and do not have export licenses are not covered by inspections, but indirectly supply products to blue-chip brands through larger factories. It is in these smaller factories that some of the most precarious working conditions persist. In 2014, BFC launched a transparency database, identifying 10 poorly compliant factories. However, the transparency database does not include information regarding brands' commitment to BFCs or the measures they take to facilitate compliance with labor laws by supplier factories.

Following the recent wage surge, which the Cambodian Apparel Manufacturers Association expressed concern would displace apparel brands towards “less expensive markets”, the International Labor Organization urged apparel brands to “ do their part” and partially absorb the higher costs that this generates for the factories. Human Rights Watch found that many garment factories resorted to various cost-cutting practices at the expense of workers' rights protected by Cambodian law.

“These international clothing brands must contribute to compliance with labor regulations by publicly disclosing the names and addresses of their factories on a regular basis,” Kashyap stressed. "Global apparel companies can and should monitor and remedy poor working conditions in supplier and subcontractor factories."

Of the six brands with which Human Rights Watch was in contact, Adidas, Gap, and H&M had serious discussions about the actions they are taking to address the identified issues. Adidas and H&M also publicly disclose the names of their suppliers and regularly update their lists. Marks and Spencer has committed to publicizing its list of suppliers in 2016. Only Adidas has established a procedure so that workers can request protection if they report wrongdoing.

Independent union leaders from the Coalition of Cambodian Apparel Workers Democratic Union (CCAWDU), the Cambodian Alliance of Trade Unions (CATU), the National Independent Federation of Trade Unions National Independent Federation of Textile Unions in Cambodia (NIFTUC), the Collective Union of Movement of Workers (CUMW), and other labor activists from the Community Legal Education Center (CLEC) ) and the Workers Information Center (WIC) have spearheaded efforts to expose the lack of protection of labor rights in factories and help workers claim their rights.

Human Rights Watch urged the government to reformulate its labor inspections and systematically call factories to account for their abuses. Clothing brands should adopt more effective measures to prevent and remedy labor rights abuses in the factories that produce for them.

“Apparel brands that are committed to their workers should encourage more effective monitoring and protection by publicly disclosing who their suppliers are,” Kashyap said. "All brands should compute in their contracts the cost of complying with labor, health and safety standards, to ensure as effectively as possible that these rights are respected in the factories."