File spoon-archives/marxism-international.archive/marxism-international_1996/96-12-27.212, message 41


Date: Thu, 26 Dec 1996 16:26:39 +0100 (MET)
From: malecki-AT-algonet.se (Robert Malecki)
Subject: M-I: Workers on the move in Cambodia, Thailand!


Forwarding this to the list.

Bob Malecki
>
>From: ia728-AT-primenet.com (M. Everett)
>Subject: Workers on the move in Cambodia, Thailand!
>Date: Thu, 26 Dec 1996 05:04:15 GMT
>
>I'm forwarding the following two Reuters stories because I think
>they're significant and they're not getting much attention in the
>States.
>
>>  	  				
>>	 BANGKOK, Dec 19 (Reuter) - Foreign investor confidence in 
>>Thailand could be shaken by two incidents of worker unrest over
>>year-end bonuses this week, analysts said on Thursday.
>>	 On Tuesday, employees of Sanyo Universal Electric Plc 
>>ransacked and set fire to the company's warehouse after about
>>2,000 of the company's workers protested at the site in eastern
>>Bangkok.
>>	 The next day, another 2,000 employees of state-owned Krung 
>>Thai Bank staged protests in front of the bank's Bangkok
>>headquarters, demanding higher year-end bonuses and refusing to
>>disperse until government officials agreed to supplement the
>>company's bonus offer.
>>	 In the Krung Thai Bank protest, one protester shouted 
>>``Sanyo, Sanyo'' while holding up a cigarette lighter.
>>	 Employee unrest is rare in Thailand and the strong worker 
>>responses in the two bonus disputes caught many by surprise,
>>foreign investors and analysts said.
>>	 They even prompted Thai Prime Minister Chavalit 
>>Yongchaiyudh, who visited the scene of the Sanyo fire, to issue
>>a warning against worker violence, saying it would scare away
>>foreign investors.
>>	 ``This kind of violence should be prohibited and the 
>>government should take measures to prevent a recurrence of this
>>kind of incident,'' Yoshiyasu Nao, president of the Thai branch
>>of the Japan External Trade Organisation (JETRO), told Reuters.
>>	 ``I am afraid the violence will discourage Japanese investors 
>>and also undermine our efforts to invite investors to Thailand,''
>>he said. ``One act of violence can undermine one thousand efforts
>>to invite investors to Thailand.''
>>	 Sanyo Universal Electric, which makes refrigerators and 
>>other household appliances, is 30-percent owned by Sanyo
>>Electric of Japan.
>>	 The Japanese Chamber of Commerce in Thailand said its 
>>directors would meet on Monday to review the Sanyo violence.
>>	 Analysts said this week's unrest could embolden other 
>>workers to stage bonus-related protests.
>>	 In the Krung Thai incident, workers demanded bonuses equal 
>>to more than five months' pay, higher than what management was
>>offering, while Sanyo workers were upset that their bonuses were
>>to be cut from last year's levels.
>>	 The Krung Thai protesters dispersed only after government 
>>ministers came to the scene, mediated and agreed to meet their
>>demands.
>>	 George Morgan, country manager for HG Asia, said it was 
>>worrying to see that a cut in bonus payments would be viewed by
>>workers as a pay cut.
>>	 ``The payments have come to be regarded as part of fixed 
>>salaries so a cut in bonuses has come to be seen as a pay cut
>>which is not really fair.''
>>	 ``Managements have stored up problems for themselves ... the 
>>bank sector has seen the bonus culture drifting in from the
>>securities sector,'' he added.
>>	 The Federation of Thai Industries said the government should 
>>enforce laws strictly to give foreign investors greater
>>confidence in the country.
>>  	   =09
>>  	  				
>>	 PHNOM PENH, Dec 20 (Reuter) - Cambodia's Interior Ministry 
>>on Friday told garment workers it did not recognise their newly
>>formed union and warned them this week's protest march was
>>illegal.
>>	 ``If there is another case like this, and it affects 
>>security and public order, or there is danger to a
>>demonstrator's life, the demonstration leader will have to
>>respond in front of the law,'' the Interior Ministry said in a
>>statement read out on local radio.
>>	 More than 3,000 workers were locked out of Cambodia's 
>>largest garment factory, Cambodia Garments Ltd, on Thursday when
>>they demanded better working conditions, sparking the third
>>labour protest in a week.
>>	 Human rights workers said the demonstration, including a 10 
>>km (six mile) march, was the largest in Cambodia since December
>>1991, when student protests were violently suppressed.
>>	 Despite the stern government response, representatives of 
>>the 10-day-old garment union, the Free Trade Union of Khmer
>>Workers, said they succeeded in meeting King Norodom Sihanouk
>>for more than two hours on Friday. No details were immediately
>>available.
>>	 Opposition leader Sam Rainsy, who helped form the new union, 
>>said factory owners had agreed to modest concessions, including
>>a pay rise from $35 to $37 per month, an eight-hour work day and
>>more pay for overtime work.
>>	 ``It's a beginning. We must be realistic that we can't 
>>achieve everything immediately,'' he told a news conference.
>>	 But Kong Yee Cheng, executive director of Cambodia Garments, 
>>told Reuters no final decisions had been made, only noting that
>>workers had returned to their jobs on Friday.
>>	 He was scheduled to meet the Minister of Industry and the 
>>Minister of Labour later on Friday.
>>	 Sam Raisy, who heads the Khmer Nation Party, dismissed the 
>>Interior Ministry statement as ``rubbish.''
>>	 ``There is a fear (among government officials) that this 
>>(the union) will spread through Cambodia,'' he said.
>>	 A delegation of Hong Kong garment manufacturers who were 
>>scheduled to visit the factory left Cambodia on Friday with some
>>reservations about the unrest.
>>	 ``I believe some companies are interested in investing 
>>here...but they may be more cautious than they were before,''
>>said Michael Kong, director of the Hong Kong Trade Development
>>Council for Indochina.
>>	 Cambodia has 34 garment factories employing more than 16,000 
>>workers, according to the Ministry of Industry. Garment
>>manufacturing is one of the country's fastest growing sectors.
>>  	   =09
>
>
>
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