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. Lim Ly, 37, one of about 1,000 employees in their third week on strike from the Nex-t Apparel (Cambodia) Co Ltd garment factory, said she will likely join Sunday’s CNRP demonstration. “We want the CNRP to rule,” Ly said. “Their policy is to increase salaries for all workers.” 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. …

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