Cambodian garment workers press factories for pay rise

PHNOM PENH, Sept 17 (AFP) : Cambodian trade unionists and hundreds of garment workers on Wednesday launched a campaign for a $77 monthly pay hike, turning up the pressure on factories ahead of looming wages talks.
About 500 workers joined a brief rally at a garment factory in an industrial park in Phnom Penh to urge international buyers, including GAP, Levi's, H&M, Puma and ZARA to lift their basic wage to $177 a month.
Scores of soldiers armed with rifles were also deployed near the rally and at nearby factories, witnesses told AFP.
The workers are asking for a minimum monthly wage of $177 -- a $77 increase to the current base wage.
"With the current wages, the garment workers cannot have a decent living," Ath Thorn, president of the Coalition of Cambodian Apparel Workers Democratic Union, told AFP.