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 A total of 118 employees passed out at work on Thursday at the
Shen Zhou and Daqian Textile factories in Phnom Penh, police said,
another blow for an industry fraught with disputes but critical to
Cambodia's fledgling economy.
Puma and Adidas said they were investigating the faintings at the
two factories and would respond soon.
Garment manufacturing earns Cambodia more than $5 billion a year in
revenue and employs some 600,000 people, many of them breadwinners
for impoverished families in the countryside.
"We don't know why but one worker was sick and others just saw them
and began to collapse," district police chief Khem Saran told
Reuters.
He said 53 employees had fallen sick at another factory because of
the strong smell of paint. Labour rights NGO Community Legal
Education Center said more than 200 workers had fainted this week.
Mass faintings are all too familiar in Cambodia, which has become an
important manufacturing center for many high street fashion brands.
Garment makers have often complained of poor ventilation, strong
chemicals and use of potent glue for footwear, although official
investigations in recent years have been largely inconclusive.
There were more than 1,000 faintings reported in 2011 alone in
factories that are mostly owned by Chinese, Taiwanese and South
Koreans. Most workers earn less than $100 per month and many
volunteer for overtime to boost their income.
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"It was hot and I began to vomit, I had diarrhea and others had the
same problems," said Nguon Sarith, 30, who was hooked up to an
intravenous drip at a hospital in the capital.
She said she didn't know the cause.
The problems do not stop at faintings. The industry has been plagued
by unrest in recent months, with long-running disputes over pay
mushrooming into nationwide strikes and anti-government protests
that have been violently suppressed by security forces.
Some 18 unions plan to hold a week-long strike on April 17 to demand
a minimum wage rise to $160 monthly from $100. The last strike was
put down hard by authorities, who on January 3 used live ammunition
to disperse crowds, killing five workers.
(Editing by Martin Petty and Nick Macfie)
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