Former employees of the Tack Fat garment factory split yesterday over a compensation offer from the bankrupt manufacturer after a fraction of the more than 1,000 laid-off workers accepted an offer one union representative said amounted to about US$200 each.

Ke Soksithiny, a member of the government lead committee overseeing compensation negotiations, said 100 workers had accepted a deal offering three out of the five points of compensation the company is required to pay as stipulated in Cambodia’s 1997 labour law.

“The central government does not side with the workers and mistreat the employers; their dispute is like the tongue and the teeth that we must coordinate,” he said.

Financial needs during Khmer New Year had influenced the workers’ decision to accept the compensation deal, he added.

However Yong Leab, president of the Tack Fat Free Trade Union, said only 20 workers who had been at the company for 10 to 15 years had accepted an offer of nearly $200.  

“Most of [the workers] are broke and have just delivered a baby,” she said.