Cambodia's $5.5-billion garment industry witnessed a significant decrease in the numbers of the strikes and lost work days as compared to 2013, reveal latest industry figures. The Garment Manufacturers Association in Cambodia (GMAC), which represents the sector’s more than 500 export factories, collected these figures after unprecedented number of strikes in 2013 in Cambodia’s crucial but volatile garment sector. As per GMAC’s latest stats, the number of strikes fell by more than 25 per cent, from 147 in 2013 to 108 in 2014. The number of lost work days fell even more, from 8,89,000 to 5,13,000, a decrease of 40 per cent. These figures exclude the 15 days nation-wide strikes that brought much of the industry to a halt in late December 2013 and early January 2014.

GMAC chairman Van Sou Ieng points out that 15 days were not included because the association considered them to be political events rather than industrial actions. He blamed the peak in strikes and lost working days in 2013 on the opposition CNRP, which he accused of whipping up discontent among garment workers for votes in an election year.

The CNRP had promised higher wages to garment workers if elected to power. After the strikes, the negotiations between the unions, factories and government for yet another boost to the minimum wage helped to defuse tensions and bring the number of strikes down, believes Sou Leng. Agreeing with Leng’s views, Ath Thorn, president of the Coalition of Cambodian Apparel Workers’ Democratic Union, and one of the leaders of the Dec. 2013 strikes, said that the elections had helped fuel a rise in strikes in 2013.

Both, Thorn and Sou Leng, are clear about the idea that the drop should help revive confidence in Cambodia that international brands lost in 2013.