{"id":13368,"date":"2020-03-11T10:30:35","date_gmt":"2020-03-11T10:30:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.mekongmigration.org\/?page_id=13368"},"modified":"2020-03-11T10:30:35","modified_gmt":"2020-03-11T10:30:35","slug":"key-issues-in-sezs","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/mekongmigration.org\/?page_id=13368","title":{"rendered":"Key Issues in SEZs"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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Home <\/a> > Our Work > Areas of Work > Projects > Project: Collaborative Research on SEZs and the Garment Industry > Key issues in SEZs<\/h2>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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Project: Collaborative Research on SEZs and the Garment Industry<\/a><\/h2>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Key Issues in SEZs<\/h2>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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The following information is drawn from the findings of MMN’s publication Jobs in SEZs: Migrant Garment Factory Workers in the Mekong Region<\/a>, published in July 2019.\u00a0Guided by the question of whether the jobs being created within these zones are promoting decent work for women migrant workers, the report developed four case studies of SEZs: Thilawa SEZ (Yangon Region, Myanmar), Phnom Penh SEZ (Phnom Penh, Cambodia), Manhattan SEZ (Svay Rieng Province, Cambodia), and Tak SEZ (Tak Province, Thailand), with a particular focus on the garment industry. For more information about the research project, please visit the main webpage<\/a> of MMN’s Collaborative Research on SEZs and the Garment Industry.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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SEZS and Workers' Mobility<\/h2>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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The relocation of capital to SEZs is producing changing forms of labour migration. Phnom Penh SEZ, located in close proximity to a major urban centre, is creating new rural-urban population movements within Cambodia. It is anticipated that Thilawa SEZ\u2019s dependence on internal migrant labour from Myanmar\u2019s rural areas will similarly increase in the near future as labour markets in neighbouring townships have been increasingly depleted. The Myanmar Government has also pronounced that jobs in SEZs will incentivise the return of cross-border migrant workers; an aspiration that has yet to be realised. Situated on the Cambodia-Vietnam border, Manhattan SEZ has created employment opportunities for local inhabitants in an attempt to reduce out-migration, while producing new internal rural-rural movements. Thailand\u2019s Tak SEZ, adjacent to the Myanmar border town of Myawaddy, is being developed, in part, to capitalise off of existing \u201ccheap\u201d migrant labour and limit the mobility of migrants. This has been done by means of policies sanctioning the employment of temporary migrant workers and limiting their movements to select SEZ provinces.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Working Conditions in SEZs<\/h2>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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The study found substantial differences in the working conditions across the four SEZs. In Phnom Penh and Manhattan SEZs, wages and other entitlements were largely provided in accordance with the law, while in Thilawa SEZ some respondents reported labour rights issues, such as not receiving a copy of their contract and or access to paid leave. In Tak SEZ \u2013 where precarious labour arrangements and rights infringements were the norm prior to the area\u2019s designation as an SEZ \u2013 the majority of respondents reported wages and working conditions in violation of the labour law. This study posits that differences in working conditions relative to national standards are determined, in part, by how governments and SEZ management value and market their workforce \u2013 whether as a showpiece for foreign buyers seeking to comply with labour standards, in the case of Cambodia, or as \u201cdisposable\u201d workers satisfying firms\u2019 desires for the lowest labour costs, in the case of Thailand.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Labour Organising in SEZs<\/h2>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Across all of the SEZs, there were severe restrictions on workers\u2019 access to the right to freedom of association and the operations of trade unions. Respondents across all locations reported cases of collective industrial actions being suppressed and trade unions struggling to be established. Trade union alliances and labour rights organisations outside of the SEZs also expressed difficulties in accessing workers inside the zones to learn about their working conditions, share information on labour rights, and support potential cases of rights violations.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Skills Development and Recognition in SEZs<\/h2>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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While skills training programmes for garment factory workers have been introduced in all of the studied countries, most of the trainings respondents had received, irrespective of location, were on-the-job and centred around how to sew a specific garment. There was little evidence of skills standards being implemented in SEZ factories. Respondents noted that their skills were not recognised, nor did they lead to position upgrades or wage increases. Across the four study areas, there was no relationship between the number of years worked in the garment industry and being promoted within a job. The study found that some of the only ways in which workers could increase their employment earnings were through working greater overtime hours or changing jobs. Although many respondents chose to work in the garment industry because of their interest or prior experience in sewing, and accumulated skills on the job, channels for adequate skills recognition and career development were severely lacking.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Care Work Supports in SEZs<\/h2>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Despite the fact that the majority of women garment factory workers are of reproductive age, the study found that childcare supports were largely absent in SEZs and the role of mother that many workers perform is generally disregarded. Even though Myanmar and Cambodia\u2019s national laws require the establishment of factory-level day cares, these facilities either did not exist or were defective, and childcare responsibilities still fell predominantly on women workers. In roughly half of all studied cases, women workers cared for their children by themselves and, in the other half, the role of primary caretaker was assumed by the respondent\u2019s mother. It was found that childcare responsibilities were greater for migrant women relative to those from the local area, who had more options available.\u00a0<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Home > Our Work > Areas of Work > Projects > Project: Collaborative Research on SEZs and the Garment Industry > Key issues in SEZs Project: Collaborative Research on SEZs and the Garment Industry Key Issues in SEZs The following information is drawn from the findings of MMN’s publication Jobs in SEZs: Migrant Garment Factory 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