The Garment Manufacturers Association in Cambodia (GMAC) has warned that increasing industrial action is hurting the investment climate as the threat of the Kingdom losing access to the EU’s "Everything But Arms" (EBA) agreement looms.

“GMAC, representing more than 600 factories and enterprises, notes with regret that recently there has been an increase in illegal strikes in the garment, footwear and travel goods sector,” said a GMAC statement released on Tuesday.

“These illegal actions led by some ill-intentioned unions negatively impact the investment climate in the sector at a time when we are facing the threat of the withdrawal of EBA by the EU,” GMAC stressed.

It urged all unions and workers to respect the law and related regulations.

Ath Thon, the president of the Coalition of Cambodian Apparel Workers’ Democratic Union (C.CAWDU), on Wednesday said strike action had indeed been on the rise.

But he said this was because employers were not correctly making seniority indemnity payments as instructed by Ministry of Labour and Vocational Training.