Roads blocked

A bout 5,000 workers went on strike at the M&V garment factory in Kampong Chhnang province yesterday, adding to the list of incidents at the factory in the past two years that has also included mass faintings.

Noun Sam Ol, the Free Trade Union representative at the factory, said the issue this time was that a manager, Chan Narith, had been sacked without reason.

“He would always help the workers when we had problems . . . we need him back at work.”

Thousands went on strike at the factory last June, while hundreds fainted in August 2011.

Factory officials could not be reached yesterday.

Elsewhere, about 700 workers from the Pine Great (Cambodia) garment factory in Phnom Penh’s Meanchey district blocked the road for half an hour, demanding due wages.

Phai Dara, an FTU officer at the factory, said workers had been promised wages yesterday, but arrived to find equipment in the factory removed and factory staff missing.

She said Labour Ministry officials had met the workers, and company officials had promised to pay their salaries tomorrow.

In Kandal province’s Ang Snuol district, 800 workers at Master& Frank factory also blocked the road, demanding the factory rehire eight workers they say were sacked unjustly.

The company claims the workers had incited their counterparts to protest.