Workers stand firm as dispute gets fiery [accusing a Chinese manager of using obscene language against them]

Mom Kunthear
Wednesday, 14 December 2011
The Phnom Penh Post

Photo by: Pha Lina

Employees from the Shinglecom factory protest by burning tyres in front of the factory yesterday.

A dispute sparked by the firing of a union representative at a garment factory in the capital’s Dangkor district last week will continue until the company reinstates the employee and meets other demands of the newly formed union, workers representatives said yesterday, after a morning protest in which they set tyres aflame in front of the factory.

“More than 100 workers protested for about two hours and will do so again today,” said Yang Thaisan, secretary-general of the Union Federation of Labour Rights at Shinglecom Cambodia garment factory.

Protesters also called for better working condition, benefits and payment, and for a Chinese manager to be fired for using obscene language, Yang Thaisan said.

Workers had asked the company to join negotiations with labour ministry officials on Friday but the company had not attended, he said.

Va Yuvavathana, director of the labour dispute resolution office at the labour ministry, said officials would send the case to the Arbitration Council.

A Shinglecom executive, who declined to be named, said most workers had returned to work after yesterday morning’s protest, but worker representative Lao Sokhorn said only about 30 per cent of them had.