Cambodia: After more than a year, hundreds of workers receive unpaid wages following sale of shuttered factories' assets
"Workers of Two Factories Receive Compensation after more than one year ago", 13 February 2021
… After a year of broken promises, the provincial court … sold more than $1.1 million worth of equipment seized from the shuttered factories, which will be split between more than 1,000 workers, who have stood vigil at the factories around the clock for months and staved off multiple attempts by management to take back their goods…
The Labour Ministry will disperse more than 1.2 million to workers over two days –$1,110,009 from selling items seized from the factory and $160,000 lodged with the ministry by the Chinese factory owner, a provincial official told ...
A committee formed to resolve the dispute agreed to sell the goods at a reduce price earlier this month after two failed attempts to auction them with a reserve price of $1,777,000.
Ket Sokny, 30, who worked for 12 years at Dignity Knitter, said she had not found work since it was shuttered and had dedicated her time to guarding the factory and spending time with her five-year-old daughter.
With her husband’s earning from growing fruit irregular and Covid-19 putting a further squeeze on the family, they was forced to cut back on spending.
“I had to reduce expenditure on items which are not necessary, including new clothes and shoes,” said Sokny…
Phin Sophea, a representative for the Coalition of Cambodian Apparel Workers Democratic Union (CCAWDU) at Dignity Knitter and organizer of the push to be repaid, said he was happy that the nightly vigils at the factories could end…