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16 October, 2026Investors must press brands to sign the ACT-Cambodia agreements if garment workers are to make progress towards living wages, Cambodian union leader Yot Seang told PRI in Person in Amsterdam this week. The binding agreements are a proven alternative to failed social auditing and more brands must join to ensure more workers are covered.
PRI in Person, the world’s largest annual responsible investment gathering, was attended by over 1,500 asset owners, asset managers, financial institutions, governments and civil society organizations.
Yot Seang, legal officer at IndustriALL Global Union affiliate the Coalition of Cambodian Apparel Workers’ Democratic Union (CCAWDU), spoke on a panel on human rights risks in apparel supply chains. The panel examined how geopolitical turmoil, trade disruption and new due diligence laws are reshaping these risks and how investors can respond.
He pointed out that wages in Cambodia’s garment industry are not enough to live on. ACT Cambodia sets out to change that through legally binding agreements between IndustriALL and sourcing brands, which back a collective bargaining agreement between employers and Cambodian unions to deliver wage increases at participating factories.
Mira Neumeier, executive director of ACT, also speaking on the panel, called it the world’s first legally binding supply chain model. Built over several years by brands, employers and unions, it offers a sustainable, sectoral answer to the systemic risks discussed during the session. Yot Seang stressed a point recently confirmed by the ILO: higher wages cannot be achieved voluntarily but must be negotiated through collective bargaining or minimum wage setting. He outlined what workers will gain from the CBA, starting with higher wages and a grievance mechanism. The agreement also protects workers from heat stress and gender-based violence and harassment. It brings better maternity leave and, in another first, paternity leave.
For brands, Mira explained, signing means strengthening industry resilience, delivering tangible improvements on working conditions and effective due diligence.
Where do investors come in?
Investors, Yot Seang explained, can press companies in their portfolios to sign up to ACT. IndustriALL has been promoting binding agreements to institutional investors. In 2025, the Labour Rights Investor Network (LRIN) published guidance on supply chain due diligence and binding agreements, developed with IndustriALL. Platform Living Wage Financials members have also told brands sourcing from Cambodia that their shareholders back ACT.
A fellow panellist from a Dutch investment manager described ACT as “a great example of a way forward to see sector-wide change”. But binding agreements only work if a critical mass of brands signs up, and investors can help make that happen.
“We encourage all brands to join the agreement with IndustriALL so we can help support our workers. Investors have a role as well in encouraging brands to sign,” said Yot Seang.