"W&D followed law when firing workers: GMAC", 28 January 2019

The Garment Manufacturers Association in Cambodia ... issued a statement saying W&D Cambodia Co Ltd’s termination of striking workers was done in accordance with the law.

In a press release, GMAC said the company complied with the Labour Ministry’s Directive 443 when terminating them because the workers did not protest to demand better working conditions, but for the indemnity payments to be paid all at once instead of twice yearly as allowed by the law.

From December 24 until recently, 1,729 workers protested to demand seniority indemnity owed last year in a lump sum and that the amount should be the same as payments due to them for this year...

The statement noted that the Arbitration Council had ordered the W&D workers to go back to work, but they continued striking...

The statement said that 760 workers have returned to work and the company will maintain their seniority and attendance bonus in proportion to the number of days they have worked...

So Vanna, a worker, said up until now, some workers have returned to work while others have not...

“The workers who were fired have agreed to stop demanding the seniority indemnity in line with a recent statement by Prime Minister Hun Sen on worker protests,” Ms Vanna said. “They asked the company to accept them back, but the company did not accept some of them.”...

Labour Ministry spokesman Heng Sour said earlier this month that 90 percent of W&D workers returned to work and the demand by the protesting workers was illegal...