Workers at Dongdu Textile in Phnom Penh’s Dangkor district ended a two-week strike yesterday after their bosses agreed to reinstate 11 union leaders and activists fired in January.

Chhin Sony, president of the government-aligned Union of Cambodia, said more than 2,000 workers returned to the factory at Vattanac II Industrial Park in the morning.

“The workers agreed to go back to work from today after we signed an agreement to finish the dispute and the company accepted those 11 unionists back,” he said.

Workers had been striking in front of the factory since January 25, without the presence of authorities. This was despite a ban on public gatherings plus police crackdowns on protesters elsewhere in the capital in recent weeks.

“The factory’s bosses filed a complaint against us to the union federation, accusing us of inciting a strike, but decided to drop the case after the owner of Vattanac II intervened to end the dispute,” Sony said.

The company had not docked the workers’ salaries for going on strike, he added.

An official from Dongdu, who declined to be named, confirmed that all strikers had returned to work.

In a separate strike, about 200 workers from the GCC factory in Preah Sihanouk province’s Prey Nop district took to the streets yesterday, demanding their administrative manager be sacked and compensation and seniority bonuses be paid to two workers fired late last month.

“The company fired me and another worker after we worked here for three years, but did not pay us what we are owed,” Sam Vanna said.

The workers, who are not members of a union, claim the administrative manager is abusing the labour law.

Officials at the factory could not be reached for comment yesterday.