Workers split on call to rally

Union workers and leaders appeared divided yesterday on the question of whether to support the opposition party’s planned three-day demonstration at Freedom Park.

Campaign promises from the Cambodia National Rescue Party to raise minimum monthly salaries to $150 seemed to have struck a chord with garment workers in the capital’s Meanchey district yesterday. But if support for the party among those workers is solid, their individual commitment to attend the Sunday-to-Tuesday protest seemed fractured. …

Employees at SL Garment Processing (Cambodia) Ltd gathering near a fruit stand on the dusty, unpaved road in front of the factory’s gate during their lunch break yesterday afternoon, meanwhile, seemed more concerned with problems within the factory than the opposition’s protest. …

Labour unions also leaned in different directions when it came to whether to throw their support behind the demonstration in Freedom Park.

Earlier this week, Chea Mony, president of the Free Trade Union sent a letter to the Garment Manufacturers Association in Cambodia (GMAC) requesting that factories give workers one week off in light of the demonstration. …

Chhay Channyda and Sean Teehan
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/workers-split-call-rally