Camboya - Union bashing at Huey Chen (2012)

On 19 June, the Coalition of Cambodian Apparel Workers’ Democratic Union (C.CAWDU) formed a union at the Huey Chen garment factory in Phnom Penh. The management took a range of retaliatory measures, such as the transfer of sections of the factory with a large proportion of members to a far-off location, and the dismissal of four members opposing the transfer, including the union’s president, Nim Savouen, and secretary, Va Kunthea. The members were reinstated in October following the intervention of the Arbitration Council, the Garment Manufacturers Association in Cambodia (GMAC) and Puma (one of the buyers), but then found themselves faced with wage discrimination. The management is still refusing any form of dialogue with the C.CAWDU and is pressing workers to join a yellow union.