Workers hope for an end to year-long Kandal factories closure dispute

 Cambojanews, Dec. 4, 2020

More than 1,000 workers from Dignity Knitter and ECO Base Factory garment manufacturers have yet to get compensation packages nearly a year the factories’ owner first withheld their pay and subsequently shut down the factories.

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The owner of the two factories reduced work and did not pay wages for workers last December and after three months of work suspensions starting March the facilities were shuttered permanently in June. A number of factories have suspended operations or closed down because of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has affected global supply chains.

Phin Sophea, a unionist at the Coalition of Cambodian Apparel Workers Democratic Union, who was employed at Dignity Knitter for 14 years, said Deputy Director of Kandal Provincial Court Pech Maren and Kandal Provincial Governor Kong Sophorn met with workers and factory representatives for a meeting on November 25.

Sophea said a European company was now evaluating and appraising the factories’ property, which would then be distributed between creditors and the workers.

“So, they need time to evaluate the details because if we want it faster, then we will not get enough information. So, when they sell it, we will get a cheap price,” Sophea said.

He said that proceeds from the sale would be first given to workers before being distributed to other parties. Sophea added that the case was moving slower than usual because a number of creditors had made court claims.

In full:https://cambojanews.com/workers-hope-for-an-end-to-year-long-kandal-factories-closure-dispute/

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