About 441 garment workers who have been working at Foremart Cambodia Co Ltd in Phnom Penh received their salary and other benefits in a program facilitated by the Ministry of Labor and Vocational Training and the factory owner after this factory burned to the ground on February 11, 2025.
According to a statement by the ministry, the workers received their salary and benefits at the Dangkor District Office on the morning of February 20.
Workers, who lost their jobs due to the fire, were encouraged to find new jobs by contacting the ministry’s National Employment Agency.
Ek Sim, a worker at Foremart for nearly 10 years, said she and the others were worried and saddened by the loss of their jobs due to the fire as it was their only source of income.
Speaking to CamboJA News after collecting her wages and benefits, Sim said she wants to continue working with the same owner if it reopens in a new site because she is “satisfied with the owner’s leadership”.
“I still want to work with the same boss. I love the factory I worked in. Losing the factory is like losing my life because I am alive because of this job,” she said.
Sim, who received $228, said if she lost her job, it would affect her household income because in addition to family expenses, she also owed about $1,000 to banks and possessed a private debt.
According to her, the factory owner informed her that he would open the factory temporarily on February 26. “In the future, a new factory will open on National Road 3, and I will register to work as a new contract employee,” she said.
Mark Reach, who worked with Foremart for about five years, told CamboJA News that after the factory caught fire, it made a decision to pay the workers’ wages plus their benefits.
Reach said even though he received the money, he still faced difficulties as he would be unemployed in the event the owner does not open a new factory.
While the workers were worried about losing their jobs when the fire broke, the owner lost nearly $5 million. An official investigation found that an electrical fault caused the explosion of a wire.
“At first, I was worried, but I see that the owner is very responsible,” Reach said. “From what I know, the owner of the factory will reopen the factory on February 26.”
As such, he urged the factory owner to respect labor laws and re-employ them as they too faced a loss similar to the owner losing his factory. He said many of them have difficult lives and are saddled with bank debts.
Free Trade Union of Workers of the Kingdom of Cambodia (FTUWKC) president Touch Ser expressed concern about factory fires which forced workers to become unemployed when factory owners are unable to reopen the factory. At the same time, when the owner reopens the factory, workers might have to sign new employment contracts, so they will lose their employment benefits, such as seniority and other benefits.
Hence, she stressed that safety standards were necessary and critical to ensure worker safety and for the factory to avoid losses. “If the factory burns down and the worker gets a job in another factory, he will lose his benefits such as severance pay, seniority and other benefits.”
Apart from having to face the prospect of unemployment, workers are also affected by insufficient income to repay bank loans, especially if the worker is older, which lowers their chances of getting a new job.
“Factories select workers based on age. If a worker has worked in a factory for a long time, their age also increases accordingly. So when the factory catches fire, it is difficult for these workers to apply for new jobs because of their age,” Ser explained.
Early January last year, a fire broke out at Yida garment factory in Kandal province’s Kien Svay district, killing one woman and injuring 20 workers. Later in March, more than 2,000 workers of R.G Footwear in Kandal province were suddenly jobless after their factory was destroyed by fire.
While fires cannot be predicted, the ministry and relevant parties can prevent it by ensuring that factories abide by the standards, Ser said. Based on her union’s observation, fire safety standards have not been fully implemented by factories.
“I don’t think it is safe yet. For example, the electrician recommends that the factory invest in ensuring proper wiring or reinforcing electrical outlets to prevent fires, but most companies are greedy and only think about making more profit [instead of investing on safety], so short circuits happen causing the wires to explode,” Ser said.
