Police make arrest, file complaints in Bavet strike
Police in Svay Rieng province on Tuesday arrested a garment worker for allegedly breaking a car window during a strike that turned violent in Bavet City the day before, and have filed complaints to the provincial court against two union representatives accused of defamation. The arrest and legal action come amid a government-ordered shutdown of all Bavet City factories—scheduled to end today—meant to quell the strike and prevent it from spreading across the country. Workers began the strike at a few factories after the Khmer New Year holidays earlier this month when they heard that another factory had recently given their employees a one-time $50 bonus for not striking in prior months and decided to demand the same deal. The strike gradually spread to most of the city’s 30-plus factories and peaked on Monday—the day before the government-ordered shutdown—with some workers throwing rocks at factory buildings and breaking several windows. Bavet governor Seng Seila said city police arrested one of the strikers on Tuesday. … Since last week the Garment Manufacturers Association in Cambodia (GMAC), which represents all of the country’s 500-plus exporting garment and footwear factories, has been urging the government to do more to stop the strikes from turning violent and growing. GMAC officials repeated the call at a press conference in Phnom Penh on Wednesday, calling on police to detain those using violence, and insisted that the factories would not be paying workers their wages for the duration of the strike or the government-ordered shutdown. …
Aun Pheap
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/police-make-arrest-file-complaints-in-bavet-strike-57856/
