Factory workers in limbo
More than 400 workers from the Chun Chao garment factory in Phnom Penh’s Por Senchey district protested in front of their factory on February 13 after discovering the owner had fled the country without paying workers their January wages. A garment worker who only identified herself as Mom said employees of the factory learned their employer fled the country when no one came to pay staff their salaries on Friday. “We do not know why our boss ran away without paying our wages. We worked as usual and we never thought that our employer would do this to us,” Ms. Mom said. She said the workers were protesting at the factory hoping relevant officials would be able to compensate them for their losses. “The government increased the minimum wage of workers to $150 in 2017 and we were supposed to be getting that last Friday for our January wages, but we did not get a single cent. I do not know what to do now,” she added.
