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 > > > -------------------------------------------------------- http://www.kmf.org/malecki/ Read the book! Ha Ha Ha McNamara, Vietnam-My Bellybutton is my Crystalball! COCKROACH, a zine for poor and workingclass people NOW ON LINE -------------------------------------------------------- --- from list marxism-international-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu ---
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