More than 500 workers from Splendid Change International Ltd staged a strike Wednesday morning in front of the National Assembly and the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor’s Employment Department, urging them to help reinstate three fired union bosses, union officials said Wednesday.
The workers protested the Jan 4 dismissals of union leaders Kim Yung, Sorn Mean and Ly Bun Sao, Coalition of Cambodian Apparel Workers Union President Chhorn Sokha said Wednesday. The factory says they were dismissed for work-related offenses rather than union activities.
The three bosses were questioned and subsequently arrested in November over allegations that they forced 30 workers into striking, Municipal Judicial Police Chief Heng Pov said at the time. They were released when factory workers said they were tricked into signing accusatory statements against the union leaders.
Splendid Change’s CCAWDU branch was formed Sept 8 and shut down Jan 4 when the factory claimed the union was no longer needed, Chhorn Sokha said.
The three sent a letter to the Ministry of Labor Social Affairs last month, urging Minister Ith Sam Heng to help them get their jobs back, Chhorn Sokha said.
Factory representatives and union members agreed to reach a compromise today in the presence of ministry officials, Splendid Change spokesman Sou Sarith said. He added that it would be hard, though, to reach an agreement, since the union leaders had caused many problems in the past.
“It will be difficult to work if we hire them again because they always intimidate women workers,” Sou Sarith said concerning allegations that the union bosses pressured workers into paying 1000 riel a month to join the union.
Khieu Savuth, a labor dispute inspector at the Employment Department, confirmed that he would facilitate today’s meeting.
“We cannot find one party who is right or wrong. We only try to compromise,” he said.
“The factory’s firing of those people wasn’t related to the union, it was related to the individuals,” Sou Sarith said.
