Garment workers will return, still seek resolution

Mom Kunthear

Monday, 14 May 2012 

PhnomPenhPost

Garment factory workers protest in Kandal province’s Ang Snuol district on Saturday. Photograph: Vireak Mai

More than 800 workers from Su Tong Fang factory in Phnom Penh’s Russei Keo district will end their two-week protest and return to work on Thursday after reaching an agreement with their bosses, their union representative said yesterday.Factory union president Hai Soven, a member of the Free Trade Union, said the company had agreed to meet some but not all of the workers’ demands – an offer they had accepted.

“The company has agreed to give us US$3 [per month] as an attendance bonus, $5 for accommodation and $2 for transport,” he said, adding they had asked for $10 per month to cover accommodation and $10 per month for transportation.

A resolution, however, has yet to be found at the Tai Yen factory in Kandal province’s Ang Snuol district where workers rallied last week against a secret name change that occurred in 2010.

More than 5,000 workers will continue strikes after the King’s Birthday holiday.

Worker Sreng Srey Touch said the name change robbed workers of seniority bonuses because their years of service were effectively reset when Tai Yen secretly changed to Tai Nan.

“We demand the company gives us the annual seniority bonus – for me, it means about US$1,400 because I have worked for Tai Yen for 14 years,” she said.

---

To contact the reporter on this story: Mom Kunthear at kunthear.mom@phnompenhpost.com