For Cambodia's garment workers, the ride to work is just the first hurdle of the day. They travel from the rural pastures to the urbanized sprawl and muggy air of the industrial zones that skirt Phnom Penh. At 4.30am each morning, thousands of young women who work in garment factories, leave their homes in the provinces to travel in small trucks to work in the city, returning at 8pm, they only see their homes in daylight on the weekends.
Up to 80 women on one truck, some pregnant, stand for the long trip. There have been many incidents of people falling from the trucks as they travel the rough roads, the girls say they are concerned for their safety each day.
The government recently lifted the monthly wage from $50 to $61, well below the $94 asked for by the unions, $10 of this is used to pay for the transport.
Around 7am a line of women meanders through the factory gates, after a perilous journey, work has begun.
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