Losing Your Shirt: Cambodia’s Garment Industry

 A move by the International Labour Organisation to name and shame garment producers in Cambodia that flout workers’ rights and safety standards could damage the industry’s reputation and result in a drastic reduction in orders from buyers abroad, according to a senior manufacturing official. A senior official at the Garment Manufacturers Association in Cambodia (GMAC), Cheat Khemara told the Khmer Service of Radio Free Asia last week that the ILO should reconsider its decision to release its findings to buyers and instead seek to resolve factory issues by first informing the government. “The (relevant) government ministry will take measures against any factories found in violation if they refuse to improve their standards,” he is reported as saying. “We don’t want the ILO to immediately inform the buyers.” Beginning January 2014, the ILO is committed to publicly disclosing some of its findings based on the monitoring of over 450 factories under its Better Factories Cambodia (BFC) programme. The BFC would begin disclosing assessment information of individual factories’ compliance with Cambodian labour law and international labour standards, making it the only programme in SE Asia to use greater transparency to accelerate improvements across the garment sector. Read More: