Employees at Kampong Speu province’s New Best Global Textile Co garment factory – much of which was gutted by a fire on Wednesday – will have to contend with a 70 per cent pay cut while the facility is closed for repairs.

Provincial police deputy chief Sek Heng said the cause of the fire was still unknown, and experts were still investigating the blaze, which caused $7 million of damage but no injuries.

Provincial labour department director Chek Borin said yesterday that an informal employer-employee meeting had been held during which it was agreed workers would be paid 30 per cent of their daily wage until the factory reopened.

The decision to cut wages was slammed by labour rights NGO Solidarity International’s country director William Conklin, who said that employees should not be suffering as a result of the fire.

“The loss of production was not the workers’ fault and they should not be penalized for it. The factory and the MOL [Ministry of Labour] need to work out a compensation scheme for workers,” he said in an email.