Around 500 employees from two garment factories stopped work Tuesday, protesting the factory’s refusal to pay them an annual bonus.
Workers at Phnom Penh’s Meanchey district factories, United Eternity (Cambodia) Ltd, and Phnom Penh City Co Ltd, said they are owed as much as $36 each for annual sick leave they did not take in 2000. The protesters marched on the ministries of Social Affairs and Commerce Tuesday afternoon, asking for a resolution and threatening to stay on strike for three days.
In Khmemara, inspector for the ministry, said he had accepted the workers’ complaints Tuesday afternoon, and would meet with management and workers this morning to resolve the issue.
No workers from either factory have protested against the companies since they opened, said Chea Vichea, president of the Free Trade Union of Workers of the Kingdom of Cambodia.
Some of the strikers at the factory said their salaries are too low, and if they miss a day of work their pay is cut. They said they are expected to work from 7 am to 9 pm every day but Sunday, when they are let off at 3:30 pm.
They said they were striking because other factories around them had paid their employees annual bonuses for sick leave not taken.
Usually bonuses are not required by law, said Roger Tan, secretary-general of the Garment Manufacturers Association of Cambodia. “Bonuses are goodwill gestures,” he said, adding that if a company promises its employees a bonus, “it has to pay.”
It was unclear Tuesday what agreements, if any, United Eternity and Phnom Penh City management and its workers had made. Factory management could not be reached for comment Tuesday.
Striking workers at both factories said management has agreed to pay them annual bonuses for 2001 in August. But, the workers said they want a bonus for the previous year, too.
Strikes continue to hamper operations at garment factories, Cambodia’s top exports, despite a wage increase from $40 to $45 per month agreed upon by labor officials in July. Some critics have warned that an unfavorable climate created by the strikes will drive investors to other countries.
