Pro-Government Unions Call for Action Against Leaders of Strikes
Unions aligned with Prime Minister Hun Sen’s government issued a statement Wednesday calling on it to “take action” against union leaders who they accuse of inciting workers to hold strikes and violent demonstrations. “We would like to request [CPP Labor Minister] Ith Sam Heng to take action against some union leaders and their activists who have incited workers and threatened innocent people with violence during the strikes and demonstrations,” the pro-ruling party unions said in a statement. “The ministry should take those people to condemn them in accordance with the law,” states the letter, signed by Som Aun, Chhum Socheat and Chuom Mom Thol, presidents of CPP-aligned union confederations. … Mr. Mom Thol said Wednesday he was simply endorsing calls by the Labor Minister for unions to stop violating the law through illegal strikes. … Ath Thorn, president of the Coalition of Cambodian Apparel Workers’ Democratic Union, the country’s largest independent union confederation, said that Mr. Aun and Mr. Mom Thol were not acting in the interests of the country’s 600,000 garment factory workers. … Despite setting up a task force before its latest wage revision, which found that a living wage for garment workers is between $157 and $177, the government decided to raise the wage to $95, expressing fear that a higher wage could scare off investment. …
Aun Pheap
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/pro-government-unions-call-for-action-against-leaders-of-strikes-50970/
