A reported 1,000 workers from Kampong Speu’s Pattern International (Cambodia) Co factory staged protests Saturday after the factory owner disappeared without paying his employees.

According to Ou Phern, secretary of the Voice of Khmer Youth Union Federation, workers haven’t been paid since the company declared bankruptcy in December.

The company’s Chinese owner, who was renting factory space, had been trying to sell the factory’s machinery since declaring bankruptcy but had found no buyers, Phern said.

Workers ran the factory throughout December and January without pay.

Srey La, one of the protesting employees, said workers were waiting to see if the sale of equipment would allow them to receive the wages and benefits they are owed.

“We need our last wages . . . Now we are lacking money to support our families,” La said, adding that the company owner vanished and there is no representative to appeal to for help.

Pat Sung, a department of labour official in Kampong Speu, said the building’s owner is also still owed his rental fee.

A Pattern International representative could not be reached for comment.