Advocacy in Cambodia: Increasing Democratic ... - Pact Cambodia

ights have, in principle if not in practice, been
bestowed on the garment unions.
The existence of hundreds of unions within
the factories and the dozens of demonstrations
that have taken place over the last few years are
manifestations of the rights to free association and
expression. However, in practice the right to free
association is often undermined by government
officials and companies, and therefore cannot be
considered as fully recognized or accepted. Union
leaders continue to be arbitrarily dismissed or paid
to leave their employment in blatant attempts to
foil efforts to build strong unions.
The appointment of company worker liaison
staff would appear to indicate that companies
acknowledge the legitimacy of unions and the need
to maintain regular worker-employer
communication. As this action is the result of a
government directive however, it is difficult to
make any conclusions for the present.
As to the participation of the labor movement
in policy development discussions, if unions are
being allowed to participate at this time, it is solely
due to the influence of international actors who
refuse to proceed without their involvement. The
government continues to attempt to minimize the
role of the unions and the unions are still all too
willing to allow the government to make final
decisions on union issues by negotiating directly
with international actors.
Building Capacity of Civil Society
Union behavior and style tends to vary
widely. For example, some federations want
company compliance with the law - nothing more.
Others bargain to win gains over the minimum
legal standard. Some federation leaders seek
partnerships with managers, following the Thai
‘social harmony’ model of labor relations. Others
exploit the inherent tensions between factory
workers and bosses to their own ends.
In the past five years, the Cambodian
garment trade union movement has made
considerable strides. Like all sectors in the country
however, the labor movement is in need of serious
human resource development. Some
inexperienced labor leaders still work within a
mind frame in which the main goal is enforcing
the law and they are only just beginning to learn
how to bargain with companies. Most employer
agreements with unions are strike reconciliation
agreements, not proper collective bargaining
agreements in which workers and managers
negotiate above the minimum standards provided
in the law. On the other hand, attrition of union
leaders in the factories is occurring at such a rate
as to keep the movement weak.
Despite the efforts of international agencies
to bring trade
unions together,
cooperation and
coordination
between the trade
unions is wanting,
mainly due to
animosity caused
by the politicization
In the past five years, the
Cambodian garment trade union
movement has made
considerable strides. Like all
sectors in the country however,
the labor movement is in need
of serious human resource
development.
of unions. Missed advocacy opportunities,
incidences of infighting, and bad organizing all
point to this effect. Partisanship clearly has a
weakening effect on the solidarity of the garment
labor movement and allegations abound that some
union leaders support factory owners. Assertions
by union leaders in research interviews that most
companies abide by the law and pay the minimum
wage – when in fact ILO monitoring indicates
otherwise – appear to confirm these suspicions.
In order for unions to become powerful, they
must have a large and active membership to gain
financial resources, political clout, and legitimacy
that allows them to pressure companies to
respond to their demands and inhibit government
corruption. Currently there are too many unions
and federations. Their large number may be due
to an intentional strategy by political interests to
weaken the movement. Sadly the large number of
federations means that each one experiences
considerable difficulty in collecting enough dues
to be financially sustainable and to offer benefits
demanded by workers. This results in unions
relying on donor agency grants that assist them
with their operating expenses. In some cases
unions have even been accused of receiving
political money. The expectation is that the
number of federations will decrease in the near
future.
Another area that affects the capacity and
impact of unions is their ability to relate to their
constituencies and work towards objectives that
benefit them. Unions assert that their structures
have an innate accountability mechanism because
if they are not active, workers can simply switch
to another union. However informal interviews
with garment workers during the course of this
survey indicated that this is not always the case. A
number of workers interviewed indicated that they
were paying dues but were not sure exactly what
their union was doing for their benefit. In cases
where federation leaders started off as garment
sewers, the likelihood of their staying aligned with
their constituencies is greater, but for some unions
the union leader was never a factory worker and
this weakens their ability to mobilize members.
There also appears to be a distinction between
unions that are lead by men and those lead by
women. It is interesting to note that women run
Case Studies
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