Cambodia industry referred to as "once vibrant"

Things aren’t looking too bright in Cambodia.

This story from Alibaba.com is filled with unpromising phrases such as : “…the once vibrant garment industry” and “appealed to workers to call off their strikes to tackle the crisis which was snowballing out of control.”

An excerpt:

The Prime Minister Mr. Sen appealed to the labour unions to call off all the strikes as this was not the right time to strike but to ensure that their kitchen hearths were kept warm and helped companies tackle the crisis and cautioned them by saying that these strikes would lead to a loss of orders and result in possible closure of units they were working at.

The Chairman of the forums Industrial Relation’s Sub-Committee, Mr Sothy said that till date in the current year there have been 95 instances of strikes, a rise of 48 percent compared to the same period of the previous year.

Unemployment in the garment industry is rising due to frequent strikes and the recessionary trends prevailing in the main global markets due to which new orders have been reduced to a trickle.

When I read this I think about the workers I met, Nari and Ai, who support 6-8 people on their wages and wonder how they are fairing. I don’t want them to lose their jobs because the industry’s jobs jump their borders, but I also don’t want them to sacrifice what rights they’ve attained up to this point.