About 200 workers employed by a sub-contractor of Kampot Cement Company went on strike for several hours Tuesday, demanding better wages as well as annual leave, a union representative said.
“The reason they went on strike is that they want Banjamag company to implement five points” agreed upon in 2010, said Yann Thy, secretary-general of the Building and Wood Workers Trade Union Federation of Cambodia. Banjamag sub-contracted the workers to Kampot Cement.
In addition to demanding the right to take paid annual leave and not work on national holidays, the workers also demanded that a union leader, Chhun Pov, be reinstated as a cement maker.
Two years ago, Mr. Pov was told he had to work as a ditch-digger. “I was discriminated against because I was a union leader,” he said.
On Tuesday afternoon, Banjamag agreed to these two requests and the majority of the workers returned to work.
