Cambodian garment workers are protesting unpaid wages after bosses closed a manufacturing site without providing full payment or seniority benefits. The almost 200-strong workforce have slept on the doorstep of the manufacturing site since last week in fear their goods and machines would be moved without receiving payment. The company has suggested new employers will soon arrive to resume business under new ownership, though workers insist nothing has changed.
Recently those workers at the Hong Xing garment factory in the Mean Chey District of Phnom Penh, Cambodia, were handed the equivalent of $100 and told the workplace would close its doors. The garment producers insist this sum is insufficient for the entire month of November, and say they also went without seniority benefits. Still, factory bosses shut down and have since left nearly 200 people jobless.
Since, the workers have resided outside the premises in protest over wages and the benefits they’re rightfully owed. What’s more, one former employee says she and her colleagues fear their former bosses will move on without rectifying the situation.
It’s said that police are monitoring the factory, believed to be owned by a Chinese national company, on an ongoing basis to protect the workers. Whilst this continues, petitions have been filed to the local authorities and the Labour Ministry which is yet to comment.
