The US’ largest union has asked Prime Minister Hun Sen to intervene in the case of two labor leaders who have been held at Prey Sar prison since July.
“These two trade unionists have been jailed under harsh conditions and what are clearly unfair and unsubstantiated charges, in blatant violation of their basic human rights,” wrote John Sweeney, President of the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations.
The letter, dated Sept 12, concerns the case of Kim Saoun and Sok Bona, the president and secretary of the chapter of Cambodian Federation of Independent Trade Unions at the Tommy Textile factory in Phnom Penh.
In July, Municipal Court Judge Hing Thearith charged the two men with provoking a riot at the plant in June 2001 and threw them into jail. A government panel investigating the strikes last year cleared four union leaders, including the two men, of wrongdoing in the riot.
“Neither the Cambodian courts nor Tommy Textile’s owners have produced any evidence linking the two to acts of violence…” Sweeney wrote. “Instead, what appears to be behind these arrests is reportedly a concerted effort by Tommy Textile’s owners to destroy the trade union organization at their factory.”
The US has conditioned increases in garment export quotas to improvements in workers’ rights and working conditions.
A US Embassy official termed the lack of progress “frustrating.”
“It is not surprising that this kind of abuse of freedom of association and anti-union discrimination is now receiving international attention, and honestly it is these types of cases which the US government will consider very carefully in making its quota decisions,” the official said.
Ros Sok, president of the Cambodian Federation of Independent Trade Unions, said workers at Tommy Textile are considering a strike to advocate for the men’s release, though he said he is discouraging a strike and hoping for a legal solution.
