Kompong Chhnang Workers to Petition Hun Sen at Home

About 500 staff of the Chinese-owned Jiun Ye Garment factory in Kompong Chhnang province plan to rally outside Prime Minister Hun Sen’s house today after Labor Ministry-brokered negotiations with management failed to end their pay dispute.

The workers, who have been striking since they realized monthly bonuses were missing from their paychecks on August 18, traveled to Phnom Penh to petition the Labor Ministry on Monday.

As a result, provincial labor officials arranged negotiations between worker representatives and factory management, who say the pay oversight was a technical error that will be remedied next month, but the impasse could not be broken.

Chan Phearom, a representative of the Khmer Union Federation of Workers Spirit, said the workers were returning to Phnom Penh because they had no faith in the negotiation process.

“It is difficult to travel to Phnom Penh but we are forced to do it,” he said.

Workers have presented the factory with 17 demands, including immediate payment of their missing bonuses, a shaded area under which to eat lunch, and one day paid leave per month for pregnant staff.

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