Factory pay protest continues

18 February 2013
By Mom Kunthear
The Phnom Penh Post

Workers at the shuttered Yung Wah I and II factories in Kandal province will continue protesting today, despite the government already agreeing to pay them using company funds. Worker Soy Sokchea said yesterday that he and his colleagues would keep demanding benefits and seniority bonuses.

“We thank the government, but we need our benefits... because we have worked for this factory for many years,” he said, adding that he was owed more than $1,000. “We sleep in front of the factory every night to protect the equipment in case the employers take it quietly out of the factory [to sell].”

The factory has been closed since late December when the owners fled unannounced.

Um Visal, labour dispute resolution officer at the Coalition of Cambodian Apparel Workers’ Democratic Union, said yesterday that the workers had demanded the government pay them using company money that had been lodged as a type of bond.

“The workers did not care whether the equipment in the factory is sold or not, but what they want is responsibility from the government,” he said.

After workers blocked road 21B last week in protest, the Ministry of Social Affairs announced Friday it would pay more than 7,000 workers a total of about $90,000 of company money.

Meanwhile, more than 500 workers at Hi Fashion garment factory in Phnom Penh’s Sen Sok district will also protest to demand wages tomorrow.