Garment employees who have refused to return to work after striking for
three weeks no longer have jobs at Tai Yang Enterprise, which supplies Levi’s
and Gap, management said yesterday.
Tired of strikes the company
claims are costing it US$10,000 per day, administrative manager Ou Meng Hour
said yesterday that more than 100 employees have effectively resigned by
choosing not to return to work.
“The workers who stay outside are
not the workers for Tai Yang Enterprise and Camwell anymore,” he said,
referring to two of three factories the company owns in Kandal province’s Ang
Snuol district.
“We released a letter on July 10
announcing that if they do not return to work, it means they have abandoned
their work automatically,” he said, referencing a court order from Kandal
provincial court.
The workers went on strike
briefly in May after discovering their factory had changed its name, which
workers claim was to avoid paying seniority bonuses. They resumed striking on
June 25, adding demands for more bonuses.
Meng Hour said 85 per cent of the
strikers had agreed to return to work, but he expected about 100 to continue to
strike today.
“It is up to them if they do not
return to work – they’ll just have to get their salary from [Cambodian
Confederation of Unions president] Rong Chhun and [Cambodian Alliance of Trade
Unions president] Yang Sophorn,” he said.
Meng Hour said Free Trade Union
president Chea Mony’s recent split from CCU had contributed to the strike’s
length because the factory had already negotiated with Mony.
“We will keep striking,” Chhun
said, adding that only 20 per cent of strikers were back at work.
Meanwhile, the Phnom Penh
Municipal authority has defended its police officer’s actions after union
employee Rong Panha, Chhun’s nephew, was left bloodied following a city protest
involving Tai Yang workers last Wednesday.
“Rong Panha … has used violence
and kicked the authority,” it said in a statement released on Friday. “The
authority [had] no choice besides taking appropriate action based on the law.”
Mom Kunthear and Shane Worrell
Business & Investment Opportunities
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