1,000 Cambodians rally

1,000 Cambodians rally


The Straits Times
May 1, 2009




Chea Vichea said the government has to listen to their requests. --PHOTO: CAMBODIA.ORG

PHNOM PENH - MORE than 1,000 Cambodian workers on Friday marched through the capital to demand better wages and conditions and a halt to violence against unionists as they marked international labour day.
The group of mostly textile and hotel workers, carrying colourful banners and Cambodian flags, marched from a park near the royal palace to the parliament, where they handed a petition to political opposition leaders.

'The government has to listen to our requests,' said Chea Mony, head of Cambodia's largest workers' group, the Cambodian Free Trade Union.

'It has to take care of the workers because they help bring billions of dollars to the government,' he said.

The workers later marched to the place where Chea Vichea, who headed the country's largest labour union and was a vocal critic of Prime Minister Hun Sen's government, was gunned down in January 2004.

The daylight murder was condemned by rights groups as a brutal attempt to silence opposition-linked unions and two men jailed over the killing were later released and a retrial has not yet been scheduled.

Demonstrators shouted their demands through loudspeakers - the establishment of a labour court, a monthly 120-dollar minimum wage, fair treatment and a reduction in working hours from 48 hours to 44 hours per week.

Garment exports from the impoverished country have dropped sharply amid the global economic downturn and tens of thousands of workers have lost their jobs this year.

Hotel workers are also suffering from lower tourism revenues after foreign tourist arrivals in Cambodia dropped by 2.19 per cent in January compared with the same period last year. -- AFP