Garment Workers Protest Near PM Residence

More than 100 garment workers, outraged by what they said was the unannounced closure of their factory, gathered near Prime Minister Hun Sen’s Phnom Penh residence on Wednes­­day and demanded to be paid back wages.

“We came to ask Prime Min­is­ter Hun Sen to intervene and make the factory give us our sa­lar­ies and compensation,” said Mom Piseth, factory representative for the Cambodia Labor Union Feder­ation.

The Ho Hing Garment Factory closed without notice Nov 29, before paying the majority of its workers their monthly salaries or any compensation, he said.

According to the Labor Law, fac­t­ories must provide their em­ploy­­ees with three months’ sup­ple­­mentary wages before closing their doors.

One of the protesting workers, Eng Sova­nara, 22, said that her debts have be­gun to mount since her only source of income was cut off. “I owe my landlord two months [rent] already,” she ex­plained. “They said that if I do not pay this month, they will turn me out from the boarding house.”

Huot Chanthy, director of the La­bor Inspection Department at the Min­­istry of Labor, filed a muni­ci­pal court complaint Monday against Ho Hing Garments. He said that if the company does not follow the Labor Law, the factory would be seized and used to re­im­burse employees.

But Theam Simon, assistant to the factory’s director, denied the com­pany had closed. He said the factory had only temporarily suspended operations and therefore owed no compensation to workers. “We are finding buyers before we resume work at the factory,” he said.

But Mom Piseth said the factory’s sewing machines and other equipment have already been re­moved from the premises.

Theam Simon said the factory will continue to pay em­ployees their salaries un­­til it resumes operations, but it will deliver them to workers’ homes in order to avoid any un­rest.

The factory also filed a complaint at Phnom Penh Municipal Court last week alleging that Mom Piseth and three other union members were hurting factory operations by leading too many strikes. Theam Simon said that Ho Hing Garments is seeking $200,000 in damages.