Restoration Fund Meets With Labor Union Over Wage Hike

13 August 2012
The Cambodia Daily
Labor / Siem Reap
American Center for International Labor Solidarity / Angkor temples / Building and Wood Workers Trade Union Federation of Cambodia (BWTUFC) / monument restoration / Phnom Bahheng temple / Preah Khan temple / Siem Reap Province / World Monument Fund (WMF)

A meeting between the New York-based World Monument Fund (WMF) and its workers who are restoring temples in Siem Reap province took place on Friday, but no agreement was reached over wages, a union representative said yesterday. Van Thol, vice president of the Building and Wood Workers Trade Union Federation of Cambodia (BWTUFC), said 121 workers are currently employed by WMF to restore Phnom Bahheng and Preah Khan temples inside the Angkor temple complex. They have been attempting to negotiate with WMF since 2007 on issues such as paid annual leave, better working conditions and wages. ... Dave Welsh, country director of the American Center for International Labor Solidarity-which has assisted the union in its dispute with WMF-said Friday's meeting was the first-ever normal negotiation between the two parties, as WMF has continually refused to come to the table with BWTUFC since the union's creation in 2010. ...