Executives from Columbia Sportswear, Adidas Group and Puma SE condemned the Cambodian government's use of deadly force against protesting garment workers and urged the nation's factory owners and trade unions to work together to help the government improve its annual minimum wage review process.

In an open letter dated Jan 6, the executives urged Cambodia’s Prime Minister to seek a peaceful resolution of a nationwide strike linked to the government’s annual minimum wage increase.
 
“We strongly oppose all forms of violence,” reads the letter, which is also signed by executives from H&M, Gap Inc and Inditex. “It is with great concern that we have observed both the widespread civil unrest and the government's use of deadly force.”
 
The letter is addressed to the Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Cambodia, his cabinet, the chairman of the Garment Manufacturers Association of Cambodia and the presidents of six labor unions. It is signed by William Anderson, vice president, social and environmental affairs, Asia Pacific for Adidas Group; Dr. Reiner Hengstmann, global director, SAFE Supply Chain for Puma SE and Abel Navarrete, director of corporate responsibility and product safety for Columbia Sportswear Company as well as their counterparts at H&M, Gap Inc., Inditex and Levi Strauss & Co.
 
The executives sent the letter following news reports that government security forces killed four garment workers rallying for higher wages during a Jan. 3 rally in Phnom Penh. Security forces reportedly began firing into workers with assault rifles and pistols after firing warning shots as protestors hurled rocks, bottles and gasoline bombs.
 
The incident followed days of protest by workers angered by the government’s Dec. 24, 2013 decision to raise the minimum monthly wage from $80 to $95, well short of the $160 sought by garment workers and unions. The Garment Manufacturers Association of Cambodia called on factories to remain closed until they could guarantee safety and on Jan. 1 the country’s Minister of Labor announced an increase in the minimum wage to $100, setting off another wave of protests that resulted in the Jan. 3 confrontation and deaths.
 
In their letter western brand executives urged the government, the Garment Manufacturers Association of Cambodia and its members, and all concerned trade unions “to immediately endorse and support the development of a regularly-scheduled wage review mechanism, which is fundamental to peaceful wage negotiations in the future.”
 
“We support the efforts by the Royal Government of Cambodia and the Labor Advisory Committee to implement a robust minimum wage review mechanism based on international good practices, using objective criteria and data,” reads the letter. “We call for the continued development of such a mechanism, with the hope that this will reduce the incidence of wage disputes in the future.”
 
 
As of Jan. 9, Columbia Sportswear was unable to determine where the slain protesters worked, a spokesman for the company told The B.O.S.S. Report. Columbia Sportwear currently sources product from five factories in Cambodia.
 
“We believe that the only way to resolve this dispute is to cease all forms of violence, and for stakeholders to enter into good faith negotiations, allowing workers to safely return to work without fear of repercussions as soon as possible,” reads the letter. “We support the efforts by the Royal Government of Cambodia and the Labor Advisory Committee to implement a robust minimum wage review mechanism based on international good practices, using objective criteria and data. We call for the continued development of such a mechanism, with the hope that this will reduce the incidence of wage disputes in the future.”