by Pactics garment factory to fire Met Rath, president of the Employees’ Independent Solidarity Union at Pactics and Ping Teav, a union activist, saying the dismissals were legal. Both were fired in early June, after management said Rath had shared information that impacted the interests of the company and Teav had taken holiday without permission. The provincial department had also ruled on 30 June that the factory’s termination of the workers was fair, but union members disagreed, filing a complaint with the Labour Ministry on 10 August.
Nearly 400 of the factory’s 500 workers began striking on 28 August to demand the reinstatement of Rath and Teav. They were also calling for their employer to provide back pay or reinstatement options for 80 other workers it had terminated due to the economic impacts of Covid-19 on Cambodia’s garment industry exports. As of 11 September, union representatives said some among the 80 had been re-employed at the factory.
