Tens of thousands of Southeast Asian knitting factories strike! "Protest" wave after wave!
Tens of thousands of Southeast Asian knitting factories strike! "Protest" wave after wave!
Core Tip: Recently, the Southeast Asian countries, which have attracted a lot of attention in knitting circles, have another major event! No matter where you run your business, there are always unsolvable problems and problems. Chinese knitters come to Southeast Asia to invest. Due to cultural differences and other factors, the problems are more prominent. The challenges they face are self-evident.
Recently, the Southeast Asian countries, which have attracted much attention in the knitting circle, have another big event! No matter where you run your business, there are always unsolvable problems and problems. Chinese textile people come to Southeast Asia to invest. Due to cultural differences and other factors, the problems are more prominent. The challenges they face are self-evident.
1. More than 1,000 workers in Cambodia Knitting Factory strike
From 7 am to 10:30 am on January 15th, a major strike took place at a shoe factory located in the Bayu Special Economic Zone in Chaizhen, Cambodia. About 2180 workers went on strike to protest that the factory owner was unable to compensate half of the wages due to the shutdown.
Earlier, a factory in Phnom Penh, Cambodia had more than 1,000 workers in a factory strike. The purpose was to ask the boss for subsidies, otherwise they would not work.
Some people say that many of them have been working here for 3 to 5 years, some even more than 10 years, but the factory owner has not paid them a subsidy, so they collectively carried out strike protests. At present, relevant officials of the Ministry of Labor are mediating the matter.
About half a month ago, there was a strike of nearly 2,000 people at a factory in Phnom Penh, Phnom Penh. It is reported that more than 200 of these men have been on strike for 3 consecutive days in order to ask the employer for wages of seniority.
According to reports, many workers were sitting on the roadside, while others stood outside the factory to protest. According to the pictures on the scene, some people even sat on the floor holding the heads of Prime Minister Hun Sen and his wife. The scene was very spectacular. Some people said that if the matter is not resolved, they will make the matter to Prime Minister Hun Sen.
According to the workers, they went on strike in order to require the employer to pay them 5% of seniority wages for each person between 2016 and 2018, and to maintain the original wage level and other benefits.
Some workers said that according to the latest Labor Law issued by the government this year, the factory must pay workers a certain length of service wages every six months. After many consultations with the factory, the workers have never received satisfactory results. "We hope The factory pays us all the seniority wages. "
After the incident, the authorities intervened on the matter and cooperated with both parties to find a solution. After consultation, the factory agreed to pay 5% of the seniority salary of the workers from January 10, 2019. The strike continued until about 2 pm.
2. Workers of Bangladesh Knitting Factory strike on many occasions
10,000 workers strike!
January 9, 2019: Bangladesh, the world's second-largest apparel exporter, has once again exploded with industrial worker strikes in an effort to increase minimum wages. According to police and trade union sources, a worker died in the protest and dozens of others including the police were injured.
In September last year, Bangladesh stated that in 2019, the minimum monthly salary of clothing workers was raised to 8,000 taka, which is about $ 95, but this move dissatisfied the industry. Industrial workers hope to increase the minimum monthly salary to 16,000 taka, which is about 191 US dollars.
At the beginning of the new year, workers at a knitting factory in Dhaka, Bangladesh, went on strike and went to the highway in the suburban industrial town of Savar on Wednesday, causing traffic to be paralyzed for several hours. Then the police dispatched high-pressure water guns and tear gas to disperse about 10,000 Striker.
50000 garment workers strike!
After the Bangladesh general election, a workers' strike broke out, and about 50,000 Bangladeshi knitting factory workers took to the streets to protest and demand wage increases. At least 1 dead and 50 wounded in the conflict.
These strikers all come from factories that produce apparel for retailers such as H & M, Wal-Mart, Tesco, and Aldi. More than 4,500 textile and apparel factories have been affected by the strike. These factories had a garment output value of up to 270 last year. More than 100 million euros.
It is reported that the Bangladeshi police fired rubber bullets and tear gas at about 5,000 protesters in Dhaka, killing one of the striker garment workers and injuring 50 people.
On the fourth day of the strike, the Bangladesh police also used high-pressure water guns to disperse 10,000 strikers who blocked a major road in the town of Savar.
3. The Vietnamese workers strike too quickly, and the factory has no time to respond!
Vietnam has significant geographical advantages in the construction of the "Belt and Road". As the only country in Southeast Asia that is connected to China by land and sea, in addition to its superior geographical environment, Vietnam has an abundant and relatively low labor force, flexible labor regulations, similar China ’s political system and traditional culture constitute favorable conditions for Chinese companies to invest in Vietnam.
According to the data of the Foreign Investment Bureau of the Ministry of Planning and Investment of Vietnam, the direct investment in Vietnam in 2017 was US $ 2.17 billion (agreement amount), 284 new investment projects, 83 post-investment projects, and 817 capital injection or share purchase projects. In the ranking of Vietnam ’s foreign source countries or regions, China has risen to fourth place, and China is accelerating its investment in Vietnam.
However, when knocking on the door of overseas investment, it is not always smooth to welcome Chinese enterprises. In the process of “going out”, the issue of enterprises being constrained by the host country ’s employment environment and employment policies has become increasingly prominent, and worker strikes have occurred frequently.
Trade unions in Vietnam are relatively strong. Trade unions have strong organizational and operational capabilities and a large space for independent action. At the same time, they also have a strong sense of labor rights. If employees are slightly dissatisfied, they may organize collective strikes, resulting in more frequent worker strikes. Vietnam is also a member of the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP). According to the requirements of the TPP, Vietnam allows strikes and organizes independent labor unions. For example, the famous footwear giant Baocheng ’s factory in Vietnam has encountered numerous large-scale strikes.
Invest and build factories in Southeast Asia
How hard is it?
1. The worker's basic salary rises to $ 182, which will be officially implemented from January 1, 2019
In October 18, Cambodia ended the tripartite negotiations. The Ministry of Labor officially announced that the salary at the end of 2019 will be $ 177. Prime Minister Hun Sen has increased this by $ 5. In 2019, the worker's basic salary will officially rise to $ 182.
During his condolences to the workers, Prime Minister Hun Sen emphasized that workers can get a minimum wage of about US $ 182 immediately, but this still cannot meet the needs of workers.
Earlier, Prime Minister Hun Sen also said that the minimum wage of workers will be increased every year, and is expected to increase to at least 250 US dollars by 2023.
2. From January 1st, the factory owner must pay wages twice a month
Prime Minister Hun Sen previously announced that when meeting 15,000 workers in the "drainage channel 5" in the Mianzhi District, the government will implement a half-month salary system from January 2019, and factories across the country must pay workers every two weeks.
Some people said: "The implementation of a half-month salary system will cause workers to easily run out of money." Some apparel and shoe factories call on the government to simplify the payroll system every two weeks to reduce the administrative burden on manufacturers. The manufacturer said that the implementation of the half-month salary system will inevitably increase the administrative workload and also burden the manufacturer's cash flow.
3. Facing the threat of the EU withdrawing tariffs
The European Union announced on October 5 this year that it will start the process of canceling the preferential tariff treatment (except weapons) of Cambodia and Myanmar EBA, which means that Cambodia may lose the preferential trade status provided by the EU (everything except weapons).
In 2017, Cambodia ’s exports to the EU totaled US $ 5.7 billion, and all exported products received preferential tariff treatment. If this treatment is not obtained, Cambodia needs to pay more than 500 million taxes to the EU market. In this way, Cambodia's advantages will disappear and the bosses will be forced to evacuate.
In addition, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of Cambodia will attend the Asia-Europe Meeting next month and will meet with the Director General of the European Union, hoping that Cambodia will continue to receive EBA tariff treatment, which has become an urgent issue for Cambodia.
4. Workers fainted and strikes occurred frequently
For most people, the fainting incident of workers in Southeast Asia is no longer a new thing, and the reasons for fainting workers are often very strange. Workers who are of poor health say it separately, smelling gasoline, chicken feces Can faint, faint when you hear sirens, car tires explode, you can be scared even when you hear someone speaking loudly ... There are various fancy serial halos, the boss does n’t. "Halo" is strange!
It is worth mentioning that in Cambodia, workers fainting the factory not only have to bear medical expenses, if a large number of workers faint while working in their enterprises, the factory owner will also face legal proceedings; workers strike, the factory still requires the boss to pay wages, If the delivery cannot be made to the orderer within the expected time, the orderer ’s losses will be compensated, and the factory will suffer huge losses.
Finally, for the boss of the cloth factory in the foreign country, he presented the response to the strike:
1. The management endures for a while, and strives to temporarily calm the laborer's emotions, and asks local cadres and public security to help break up the assembled crowd as soon as possible.
2. Don't provoke the employees any more: when labor disputes occur, our company should stabilize the workers as soon as possible. In turn, the emotions of the employees are so high that the situation is uncontrollable and the simple strike is directed to a violent strike.
3. Request for public security assistance: Maintaining social order is most important with public security forces. Therefore, our business should always maintain good care with the public security. When there is a strike, the public security can come forward to help restore the factory order as soon as possible.
4. As soon as possible, the labor authorities and labor unions should actively negotiate with the representatives of the striking employees to quell the strike: after the public security assists in restoring order, the next step is to negotiate with the labor authorities and the labor union and the representatives of the striking employees. The labor authorities usually require both employers and employees to abide by the labor laws and regulations. If our business does comply with the labor laws, and the violation of the laws and regulations is relatively minor, the strike usually ends at this stage.
5. If the strike cannot be resolved for a long time, most serious violations of labor laws will occur. At this time, it is advisable to immediately contact the neighboring Chinese merchants factory, the affiliated Chinese Chamber of Commerce and China's overseas units for joint assistance, in order to seek experience and relationships and jointly try to solve related problems.
Finally, I sigh: It is not easy to set up a factory, it is even more difficult to set up a factory abroad! The bosses will continue to cheer for the new year!