About 200 employees of a Phnom Penh garment factory agreed to go back to work after reaching a deal with the factory Sunday, a day after they walked off the job—with some sewing machines in hand—because the owners could not pay them on time.
Long Sarann, police chief of Pur Senchey district’s Trapaing Krasaing commune, said his officers were called in when the employees of the Korean-owned Atto garment factory walked off the job on Saturday and took eight sewing machines outside with them.
“The workers protested and took the sewing machines outside because the factory could not pay their monthly salaries on time,” he said.
District deputy governor Khim Sun Soda said he helped broker negotiations Sunday during which the factory agreed to pay the workers half their monthly wage on the spot and pay the other half, along with their full August wages, on September 10.
According to Mr. Sun Soda, the factory owners said they could not immediately pay the workers in full because they were short on cash due to falling orders.
