Minimum hassle
Apparently unaware the government had announced a monthly minimum garment wage increase to $75 starting in May, more than 1,000 workers at Phnom Penh’s Maru Chuen garment factory yesterday agreed to return to work in return for a monthly increase to $70.
Workers were also granted $3 per month for transportation and will return to work today, said Workers Union Federation officer Tha Tory.
Tory said that before the deal was reached, workers yesterday blocked a company truck from entering the factory and broke its mirror with stones but, unlike the day before, no one was injured.
“The company did not demand we pay them for destroying property, even though the protesters damaged some cars and motos [during] the strike,” he said.
An administrative officer who declined to be named said that the strike had ended after both sides reached agreement at the Ministry of Social Affairs.
Meanwhile, workers from Wing Star Shoes factory in Kampong Speu province yesterday blocked National Road 3 for about an hour, also to demand a minimum wage increase and improved working conditions, causing a serious traffic jam, according to Free Trade Union officer Yung Leab.
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