FTU bows out of May Day rallies
Chea Mony, president of the opposition-aligned Free Trade Union (FTU), said Tuesday that his union, one of the largest in the country, will not be joining other labor groups planning to rally on International Workers’ Day because he has been sick and traveling in the provinces. However, plans remain in place for others in the labor movement to test an arbitrary ban on public assemblies on May 1 in order to call for workers’ rights to be respected and an increase to the minimum wage. … Mr. Mony—whose unionist brother and predecessor became a martyr for workers in Cambodia when he was assassinated in Phnom Penh in 2004—said the group would instead put out a statement. … But some of those under the FTU’s umbrella also said they were disappointed by the announcement. Ean Samnang, an FTU representative from the Wai Full Garment Factory, said he and his colleagues want to join the march, “but we cannot, since we did not receive a call to do so.” Separately, the government on Tuesday was accused by Human Rights Watch of “sharply limiting registration of unions” in an apparent bid to stifle workers’ rights to “depend on union protection.” … According the HRW statement, there has been a “dramatic reduction” in the registration of unions since December 2013. …
Mech Dara
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/ftu-bows-out-of-may-day-rallies-57734/
