Hundreds of garment workers of Tonewin (Cambodia) Apparel Co., Ltd., in GiGa Resource special economic zone in Svay Rieng province ended their day-long protest on Tuesday and returned to work after local officials stepped in to address their demand to have an administrative and accounting staff removed due to an alleged misconduct.
Svay Rieng provincial Labor and Vocational Training Department director Ou Sokhoeun told CamboJA News that a meeting between the parties involved on Tuesday with nine points agreed but he could not detail them. However, he said, the staff member has resigned and will leave today (Wednesday).
“The important thing was that they wanted the administrative staff removed. As that staff didn’t want to complicate matters, she resigned. The issue is over now, and all of them have gone back to work,” Sokhoeun said.
Regarding late salaries, the company will pay them “properly”, and for the coming months, a proper administrative system will be established, he said, adding that the Chinese-owned company has only been in operation for three months, employing around 300 workers.
Moreover, Sokhoeun said a unit from the labor department will be working with the company and monitoring the company’s implementation of the points that have been agreed upon.
A brief protest took place early Wednesday morning as some workers did not know that the staff had resigned. The protest was dissolved shortly after the authorities intervened.
Speaking to CamboJA News during this morning’s protest, worker Chea Srouch confirmed that a protest took place on Tuesday, stating that workers would not return to their jobs until the administrative staff, who is also the accounting officer, is removed.
She noted that the officer’s alleged misbehavior included wrongfully firing workers just for asking about minor salary calculation errors and deducting pay without justification.
“When it was time to pay, it always was a mess. All the workers didn’t come to work until she was removed. At the meeting, the bosses said they would move that staff to the front office, but we didn’t want that. We wanted her to leave the place immediately,” she added.
Another worker, Tum Setha, who joined the company two and a half months ago, felt happy with the outcome and was already back to work. She hoped for a new administrative staff who is capable of the work.
According to her, workers faced difficulties when the former staff was there due to late payment of salaries, use of abusive language, and lack of hygiene as the company was not purchasing enough bathroom cleaning supplies.
“I want the new person to clearly calculate workers’ salaries to avoid a recurrence because we don’t want to [protest] either. If we protest too many times, it’s also not good.”
She also said management asked the workers not to protest again and be patient if there is a delay, as it is a waste of time for both sides.
In a video interview with a local publisher, the workers said the alleged staff name was Kanha, who was in charge of the accounts and administration. Kanha could not be reached for comment.
Apparel and Industrial Unions (Coalition-AI) vice president Khun Sokhom said the protest happened because the company did not pay the workers correctly. Their base payment is $208, which is divided into two parts in a month. But some of them received less than $104, while others never got paid.
He observed that there have been similar cases recently. He said it was due to companies’ alleged inappropriate implementation of labor laws and lack of inspection by the Labor Department to check if the laws were observed by the employers.
“I want the ministry and relevant departments to pay more attention, and encourage the full implementation of the law, so that there will be no protests. In the past, improper implementation caused workers to protest,” he added.
