GVC/City REDI Seminar Series: Jean Jenkins

'Militant Employers and the Garment Value Chain: The Case of Cambodia'

Speaker: Dr Jean Jenkins (Cardiff Business School)

The seminar will focus on the international garment sector in Cambodia and the activities of the garment employers’ association. Specifically, the seminar will consider the case of wage protests that took place in Phnom Penh in December 2013 and January 2014 as an example of the garment employers’ association’s political and economic influence in contesting any increase the level of the minimum wage for Cambodian garment workers. During the protests, five protesters were shot and killed and many more were injured. The seminar highlights the Employers’ Association’s militant advancement of the interests of its members in a developing economy, in a highly competitive global value chain.