Labor minister says solution to Bavet strike in the works
On the sidelines of a government event marking International Labor Day, Labor Minister Ith Sam Heng on Thursday blamed recent strikes in Bavet City on unnamed provocateurs, but said efforts were underway to resolve the dispute. He also said that a government-ordered shutdown of the 30-plus factories—meant to quell the escalating violence and scheduled to end Thursday—could be prolonged. In his speech to some 2,000 garment workers on Phnom Penh’s Koh Pich island, Mr. Sam Heng said conditions for workers and unions in Cambodia were “better than ever in history” and that the country’s 960 garment factories were now providing jobs for 628,166 people. ... The government ordered a three-day shutdown of the factories on Tuesday after the escalating strikes turned violent, with mobs of stone-throwing workers attacking some factories. The strike started after workers heard that one factory had recently given its employees a $50 bonus and started demanding the same deal for themselves. The workers say the factory paid the bonus because its employees kept a promise to not strike over the past few months; the factories say it was paid because the employees met their production target. ... Also in Svay Rieng, the provincial court Thursday charged a garment worker who took part in the Bavet City strikes on Monday for allegedly breaking the windows of some factories and a luxury car belonging the a factory administrator. ...
Aun Pheap and Khuon Narim
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/labor-minister-says-solution-to-bavet-strike-in-the-works-57942/
