... More than a dozen employees of Giant Ibis Transport, a bus company which appears to be owned by tycoon Kith Meng’s Royal Group, gathered in Phnom Penh to demand they receive severance and seniority payments they say they are legally owed after being laid off several years ago when the company suspended operations due to the pandemic.

… Around 80 co-workers were laid off in April 2020. At the time, the company gave laid off workers the choice of being removed from their positions permanently while receiving $1,000 in seniority benefits without severance payment or else waiting to be reinstated without receiving any payment, a violation of labor law, the workers and multiple labor rights activists point out…

The protestors also allege the company has discriminated against union members by refusing to reinstate them on fair terms, privileging non-union members…

Giant Ibis, which bills itself as Cambodia’s “leading responsible bus company,” was established in 2011, started domestic operations in 2012, and has since expanded its routes to Vietnam and Thailand.