A security guard at the InFong Cambodia Garment Factory who allegedly pulled a gun on a factory worker last month has been fired, factory managers said Thursday.
Although the guard was licensed to carry a gun, the terms of his employment did not allow him to carry the weapon, let alone threaten anyone with it, the managers said.
They further said they did not even know about the gun incident, which occurred after workers were dismissed for the day on Oct 18, until the next morning.
“We have worked here for three years, with no problems, or no strikes,” said Ma Wen Qiang, vice general manager of the factory which employs 600 workers in the Canadia Industrial Park.
An investigator with the Cambodian Labor Organization reported last month that the gun incident stemmed from a work dispute on the factory floor in which a worker refused to thumb-print a document admitting he had performed poorly.
When a supervisor summoned the security guard, tempers flared and the guard allegedly threatened workers. Managers said Thursday that a worker threatened the security guard’s wife, who also works at the factory.
Workers returned to work after the incident, but when they left the factory at the end of the day, the guard pointed the gun at the man who had threatened his wife, the managers said.
Ten workers did not return to work the next morning, saying they were afraid of what the guard might do.
The factory managers say all of those workers remain on the payroll, and that none have been disciplined.
