Transforming development requires a transformation of labour practices, particularly for women being paid poverty wages and carrying the burden of economic growth. It will not be possible to eradicate poverty unless fair and just conditions of work, including fair wages are established.

While women’s labour market participation has grown in the region, the conditions and wages that the majority of women workers receive are below subsistence. Women workers comprise the majority in the garment industry, domestic work, service industries and agricultural subsistence farming. The majority of women workers in Asia continue to be employed in ‘vulnerable employment’. In some countries vulnerable employment as a percentage is increasing.

Global economic growth has largely been achieved by increasing the labour burden on women. Increasing participation rates and increasing ‘productivity’ demands (or profit and out-put derived from labour) have resulted in the lowering or stagnation of real wages with increasing out-put and cheaper products for consumers globally.

We are starting this campaign to call for a decent work and living wage for all, especially for the most vulnerable workers in global industries where corporations are using race-to-the-bottom economics to bring their costs down while maximising profits.

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Social media actions

Making social media actions to put pressure on the Cambodian government and global brands manufacturers to raise the minimum wage to $160

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Change your profile pic to support the global actions

Event page:
https://www.facebook.com
/events/712507662107438/

Twitter: Tweet your support and add the hashtags #righttolivingwage, #developmentjustice, #160isafairwage, #rightsKH, #protestsKH

Cambodian garment workers protesting for a rise in wages faced a violent police crackdown on January 2, 2014. Subsequent arrests and violence at an industrial park mark an escalation of repression on workers simply asking for a fair living wage. Asia Pacific Forum on Women, Law and Development joined organisations from round the world in calling on international civil society to hold a Global Week of Action starting Friday, 10 January 2014. Ongoing protests are being held against state repression of workers, protection for workers’ right to freedom of assembly, and right to a living wage.

Violent crackdowns were instigated by Cambodian military on 2 January when workers of the Yak Jin factory held a protest asking for a salary increase from the current starvation wage of 80 USD to 160 USD. Soldiers threatened protesters with “metal pipes, knives, AK47 rifles, slingshots and batons” and arrested 10 people including monks and members of civil society organizations.

On 3rd January, protesters rallied at the Canadia industrial park and were met with live ammunition, teargas and grenades, leading to a violent clash that ended in 4 dead and 21 wounded. In all, 23 people have been arrested, their location unknown.

Cambodia’s garment industry comprises 500,000 workers, a majority of whom are women from the rural areas. It provides products for western brands such as H&M, Adidas, GAP, and Walmart. Some of the factories are Korean-owned.

Actions at Cambodian embassies worldwide:

Letter to UN Mandate Holders

Solidarity messages by APWLD staff and friends in Chiang Mai, Thailand

Our actions in the news:

No results in protest shooting investigations
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/no-results-in-protest-shooting-investigations-51325/ 

Global week of action in Korean news

Civil society groups ramp up pressure on Cambodian govt.
http://asiancorrespondent.com/118129/civil-society-groups-ramp-up-pressure-on-cambodian-govt/