A garment factory commanded by the courts to rehire fired union activists has asked supervisors to “order” its employees to sign a petition against rehiring the workers, an NGO assisting the workers said Thursday.
Line supervisors at Cambodian Apparel Industry were asked at a meeting Wednesday to “order all workers to sign thumbprints against all the union leaders that the court asked back to work,” Cambodian Labor Organization legal assistant An Nan said.
A member of the management staff of Cambodian Apparel Industry Ltd denied the allegation and said the factory might move to Vietnam.
On Monday a Kompong Speu judge ordered the company to rehire seven workers allegedly fired for their union activism and pay them two years’ back pay.
Labor activists hailed the decision as the first-ever court ruling on freedom of association, which is guaranteed by law. The US Embassy called the decision a positive step for workers’ rights. The US makes its apparel imports contingent on workers conditions.
The workers probably will not be rehired or paid back wages for two months, since the company has two months to appeal, An Nan said.
A US labor organization that supports local unions urged the company to obey the court’s ruling. “This is a closely-watched case, and it’s in the interests of the government and industry that this bad actor finally does right by its workers,” said Jason Judd, of the American Center for Labor Solidarity. “We’ve been waiting two years for this.”
But Cambodia Apparel staff member Go Ding Jing called the ruling unfair. “I think some [political] party wants to put people into our factory. I don’t even know if they can do the job or not…. Someone wants to get into our factory, but business is not good.”
The president of the Garment Manufacturers’ Association of Cambodia, Van Sou Ieng, was out of the country Thursday. GMAC Secretary-General Roger Tan said he was unfamiliar with the case.
