First ReFashion radio talk show
Listen to the first ReFashion radio talk show hosted with Women’s Media Centre of Cambodia here.
Through 2021, the ReFashion project is launching a series of talk radio shows in collaboration with the Women’s Media Centre of Cambodia (WMC), aiming to explore garment workers’ experiences of the Covid-19 crisis in Cambodia in real time. WMC is a Cambodian non-profit media organisation, best known for its radio channel Women's Radio on FM103.5. Women’s Radio reaches 75% of households in Cambodia, with a targeted focus on contemporary issues that affect the rights and roles of women in Cambodian society. Our ReFashion collaboration provides a platform for live listeners to call in to the programme to seek advice or share information on topics of urgent concern with our invited studio guests, including trade union leaders and government officials.
Our first talk show (in Khmer language) was broadcast live on March 12th 2021, focusing broadly on the impact of the COVID-19 crisis on workers and their families. We were delighted to welcome Yang Sophorn as our first studio guest: current President of the Cambodian Alliance of Trade Unions (CATU) and one of the few female trade union Presidents to represent workers in Cambodia. Speaking to our listeners on the live show, Sophorn identified multiple crises that workers in Cambodia are facing through the pandemic, including diminishing incomes as a result of factory closures and suspensions, and the pressures of debt repayments. She explained that around 90% of workers have outstanding loans that are now testing household finances. Moreover, as has been experienced elsewhere around the world, women workers with children in Cambodia have faced additional challenges through the pandemic due to school closures, particularly in meeting the costs of new modes of online study, such as internet connections and equipment, and increased utility bills.
Several garment workers listening to the show called in to share their own views and experiences with Sophorn, describing their ongoing difficulties due to lost income and irregular wages, as orders and overtime opportunities have decreased in factories. One caller estimated that their working hours and wage had fallen by as much as 40%. Sophorn was able to provide advice to another caller whose factory employer had cut additional workplace benefits, citing ongoing financial difficulties, reassuring workers that factories are obliged to comply with existing legal agreements even in these challenging times.
The talk show is the first of a series which will be broadcast across 2021, each highlighting different themes. The shows form part of the ‘action research’ that the ReFashion team is undertaking to advocate for an economic recovery that prioritises workers’ interests, bringing workers into direct conversation with public authorities and policymakers in Cambodia, and building public awareness among our listeners.