The Southland garment factory in Phnom Penh’s Por Sen Chey district suspended ten union leaders on 7 June following a strike by 1,500 workers.
The initial strike was over the factory’s refusal to give workers sufficient time off to travel to and from distant polling stations in order to vote in the 4 June elections. Employees agreed to work on a bank holiday in return for taking the Saturday off to travel, but wanted the Monday off to travel back, on half pay. The factory insisted that workers who did not return that day would have the day taken out of their annual leave – which could impact their attendance bonus and yearly salary.
The workers went on strike in protest, and the factory then suspended ten union leaders from the independent Collective Union Movement of Workers (CUMW), and one other worker, for seven months.
A CUMW official said the factory had discriminated against the union’s members by targeting and subsequently suspending them, despite the fact that most of the workers at Southland belonged to a government-aligned union, the Cambodian Union Federation (CUF). The CUMW also claimed that the majority of workers were pressured against their will into joining the CUF, which had been deducting membership fees from the workers without their agreement. Workers said the CUF did nothing to support their demands.
Following the suspensions, the workers prolonged their strike. Following negotiations between the factory and unionists, mediated by the government, the CUMW announced on 12 June that the suspensions had been lifted. As part of the agreement, Southland pledged not to penalise workers who went on strike in solidarity with their suspended colleagues.
