Less than 36 hours after Wang Zia Chao provoked a strike by destroying two photos of the late King Father in front of hundreds of Cambodian garment workers, the Chinese factory manager was booked, charged and convicted by the Phnom Penh Municipal Court, which last night sentenced her to a year in prison on charges of intentionally causing damage.
The sentence was immediately suspended and she will be deported to China, said Judge Seng Neang, adding that she will also be fined 2.5 million riel ($625) and “charged with damage to the late King Father in accordance with articles 410 and 107 of the penal code”. …
Phnom Penh Police commissioner Choun Sovann said the deportation request would be reported to the Ministry of Interior immediately and that they would request that she be blacklisted from re-entering the country. “I think the punishment is enough for her mistake,” he added. “And I think the Chinese embassy also accepts it in accordance to the law of Cambodia.” …
In a bizarre twist, a second Chinese national was detained and questioned yesterday for destroying a widely circulating image of the moon in which many believe the late king’s face can be seen. …
By Mom Kunthear and Cheang Sokha, P. 1
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012102459392/National-news/sentencing-swift-in-sihanouk-pictures-ripping-case.html
About 600 Tae Young factory workers are back on the job thanks to a court injunction – and the desire to pocket a little cash in time for Pchum Ben – but the return will only be temporary, workers said yesterday.
The decision followed a Kandal Provincial Court injunction ordering them back to the Ang Snuol district factory within 48 hours, but the workers said that after the holiday, they would resume their strike to reinstate 16 workers sacked for allegedly inciting a protest in June.
Worker representative Un Bunkea said yesterday that the need for wages before the holiday, coupled with the court injunction and the factory’s announcement that it would fire workers who continued striking, prompted the decision that all but the sacked 16 should temporarily return.
Mom Kunthear, P. 6
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012101059202/National-news/strike-takes-pchum-ben-break.html
Garment factory workers who set tyres ablaze during a strike on Friday claimed yesterday they were burned when police pushed them into their own fire.
Snguon Vannary was one of several workers who said his feet had been burned when police broke up the strike at Tae Young factory, in Ang Snuol province. …
About 600 workers had gathered in front of the factory to demand their bosses reinstate 16 representatives and drop legal complaints filed against them. …
Workers have vowed to continue striking and burning tyres today, and to march to the Ministry of Labor in the capital.
Mom Kunthear, P. 3
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012100859149/National-news/strikers-claim-police-abuse.html
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. …
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. …
Sen David, P. 4
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012092658907/National-news/protest-calls-for-workers-to-be-rehired.html
Workers striking at Ocean Garment factory say they still fear for their safety after being ordered back to work on Friday, where a manager accused of sexual harassment continues to work.
More than 2,500 workers at the Phnom Penh factory – which supplies retail giant Gap – rallied behind six female employees, who accused their Bangladeshi manager, Faruk Ahmad, of sexual abuse, in an August 11 protest that has stretched on for nearly two weeks. …
[Pav Sina, president of the Collective Union of Movement of Workers] said the workers had continued their strike inside the factory’s walls yesterday, and would gather again today in support of five worker representatives, suspended by Ocean despite all workers being ordered back to the factory in a Phnom Penh Municipal Court injunction on Thursday. …
Sina said the company yesterday agreed to accept the five back to work, but the workers remained distrustful of management and wanted the move verified in a letter. …
Mom Kunthear and Claire Knox, P. 1
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012082758304/National-news/gap-supplier-in-spotlight-for-sexual-harrassment-allegations.html
Ocean Garment yesterday refused to meet the sole demand of thousands of striking workers to have their manager, accused of sexual harassment, sacked.
An inter-governmental ministerial committee met with union and employer representatives, but Bangladeshi-owned Ocean Garment – which supplies retail titan Gap – refused to terminate the manager accused by workers of misconduct.
More than 2,500 of the Phnom Penh factory’s 4,000-strong work force have been on strike since August 11, and the allegedly abused women yesterday announced they would be pressing criminal charges. …
Four women claimed to have endured repeated sexual harassment from the manager for almost a month now. …
Claire Knox and Mom Kunthear, P. 3
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012082258207/National-news/sexually-harassed-workers-stick-to-their-guns.html
A sharp increase in garment factory strikes this year has raised eyebrows among industry insiders, who say the disputes could lead to a decrease in year-on-year export growth.
The Arbitration Council, which hears work-related disputes such as factory strikes, saw claims nearly double during the first five months of the year compared with 2011, data from the council shows.
The strikes would slow the Kingdom’s garment manufacturing industry, Ken Loo, secretary-general of the Garment Manufacturers Association of Cambodia, said yesterday. …
May Kunmakara, P. 7
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012060756642/Business/strikes-hit-garment-boom.html
