Cambodia: Prime Minister announces sops to help garment industry
Write:
Ierne [2011-05-20]
On the back of rising closures and lay-offs in the once vibrant garment industry, the Prime Minister, Mr Sen announced a 10 percent cut in export fees and also appealed to workers to call off their strikes to tackle the crisis which was snowballing out of control. This cut he said was to reduce the pressure on the garment exporters arising from the meltdown.
This announcement from the Prime Minister came due to a request made by the President of Garment Manufacturers Association of Cambodia, Mr Leng at the 14th Government-Private sector forum. The association had in fact demanded a 30 percent cut.
Mr. Sen appealed to the labour unions to call off all the strikes as this was not the right time to strike but to ensure that their kitchen hearths were kept warm and helped companies tackle the crisis and cautioned them by saying that these strikes would lead to a loss of orders and result in possible closure of units they were working at.
The Chairman of the forums Industrial Relation’s Sub-Committee, Mr Sothy said that till date in the current year there have been 95 instances of strikes, a rise of 48 percent compared to the same period of the previous year.
Unemployment in the garment industry is rising due to frequent strikes and the recessionary trends prevailing in the main global markets due to which new orders have been reduced to a trickle.