Nearly 1,000 workers fired from Winson International garment factory
Eight hundred and sixty-eight workers have been fired from the Winson International garment factory after they refused to obey a Kampong Speu Provincial Court injunction last week ordering them back to work within 48 hours. Free Trade Union official Ry Sithinet said yesterday that the workers, who had been striking for better wages and the reinstatement of fired union members, would not agree to leave unless they were given benefits beyond the last wages the factory offered them. … “They abandoned their work by themselves,” he said. “They made a big mistake.” The 868 fired workers made up “almost all” the factory’s work force, Vannet said, but added the factory would not close its doors and would be willing to re-hire fired workers on new contracts. The company lost about $50,000 per day due to the workers’ strike, he said. According to fired worker Khut Thet, who had worked at the factory for two months, “the factory began recruiting new workers when we started to protest and since then, several new workers having been coming to the factory each day.” …
