The Garment Manufacturers Association in Cambodia (GMAC) said Monday that the recent weeks of labor unrest have cost the industry $200 million and international buyers would likely cut clothing orders by up to 30 percent this year, while the killing of five strike protesters was dismissed as “collateral damage.”

Capping off a week of strikes and protests by garment workers demanding a doubling of the sector’s monthly minimum wage to $160, military police shot dead five and wounded more than 20 outside a Phnom Penh factory on Friday.

(The Cambodia Daily – January 7, 2013)