Unions skirmish using factory as ‘battleground’
The setting is familiar – a garment factory in Kandal province that supplies Levi’s and Gap – and so is the number of people involved, but a strike that has raged at Yung Wah Industrial II factory since Monday has a twist: it’s worker versus worker and union versus union. Sok Phalla, the Coalition of Cambodian Apparel Workers’ Democratic Union (C.CAWDU) representative at the Yung Wah Industrial II factory in Takmoa town, said about 5,000 workers have been striking to demand their employer, which also supplies Old Navy, sack two of her union rivals, one of which she claims beat her up. … Garment Manufacturers Association in Cambodia secretary-general Ken Loo said C.CAWDU rallying 5,000 people to strike after a personal dispute between workers was an example of “how unions operate here”. … Um Visal, labour dispute resolution officer at C.CAWDU, said yesterday the union would file a letter to the buyers of Yung Wah II to examine the case. …
