MORE than 80 employees of the Tack Fat garment factory in Meanchey district have staged a protest in front of the Ministry of Labour accusing management of preventing them from working or drawing a salary for much of the month of April.

Soth Chanthou, an organiser with the Free Trade Union of Workers of the Kingdom of Cambodia, said 87 workers had attended the protest on Tuesday, which was prompted by the company’s decision to stop assigning them shifts after they refused to accept new positions within the factory.

“Now the company might order that the workers be fired. They say they do not recognise those workers,” she said.

FTU President Chea Mony said the transfers would actually have been demotions, which is why they were rejected.

“Generally, [management] has moved workers from one place to another, and these changes have required the workers to lose job seniority. They want the workers to be tired, and then they will quit on their own,” he said.

But Yim Yoeun, an administrative official for Tack Fat, said the workers had not been allowed to clock in because they had refused to comply with an order that they learn how to sew. He added that this had been asked of 200 workers, and that the others had agreed.

La Luy, head of resolution and litigation at the Ministry of Labour, said that a report on the case was being prepared and would soon be sent to Vong Soth, the minister.