Nearly 100 workers held a strike inside Phnom Penh’s Conpress Holdings jeans factory yesterday to demand the company allow four fired workers to return to work.

The Seak Meanchey district factory, which employs more than 1,000 workers, fired the four in August because they attempted to start a union to protect workers’ rights, Free Trade Union representative Luch Lin Ang said.

“We are afraid the company will fire more workers,” he added.

Worker Yem Srey Net said the company should let the workers return because they did nothing wrong.

“We need union activity to protect against the factory’s demands, including orders to work over hours.”

At a meeting with workers and Free Trade Union representatives after the strike, the factory agreed to allow back one worker but refused to let the other three return.

Factory representatives could not be reached for comment.

To contact the reporter on this story: Sen David at [email protected]