Sugar Firm Staff Protest Over Unpaid Wages
About 250 laborers working at a newly opened $90-million sugar factory complex in Kratie province-hailed by the government as a boon to Cambodia’s economy-staged a protest last Saturday morning demanding to be reimbursed for two weeks worth of unpaid wages. … District governor Heng Soha acted as a mediator during the protest and confirmed that the factory owners blamed a manager named Mr. Dang for stealing the money before fleeing, but said they solved the issue and the workers had been paid and returned to work. … However, a rights worker yesterday said they were rumors the company had run into financial difficulties. According to Adhoc’s Heng Pheark, the company originally paid 26,000 reil, or about $6.50 per day, but had recently dropped the wage to 15,000 reil, or about $3.70. …
