Ministry, factories strike deal
About 600,000 workers in the lucrative garment and footwear industries, roughly 95 per cent of the sector’s work force, will soon take home an extra US$10 a month, the Ministry of Labour said yesterday. Barely an hour after a protest involving garment workers at the capital’s Freedom Park erupted into violence,…the ministry announced at about 11am it had struck a deal with employers to pay workers the bonuses beginning Sept 1. Minister of Labour Vong Sauth said employees would receive a transport or accommodation bonus of $7 per month and $3 per month on top of their existing attendance bonus. “First, the employers agreed to provide $9 per month, but on behalf of the government, I asked the employer to add $1 more,” he said. …
