Firings of Unionists at Garment Factories Raise Concern over Cambodia’s Labor Rights

PHNOM PENH — After working for two years as a shoe trimmer at Pontus Footwear factory in Takeo province, Kem Saory could not endure the working conditions any longer. He decided to create a union with nine colleagues in order to demand improvements in accordance with their labor rights.

Kem Saory, 37, knew he was risking his $200-per-month job from the factory, which he needed to support his wife, eight-year-old son and baby girl, but hoped that the Taiwanese-owned supplier of international shoe brands such as Puma and Timberland would respond positively.

He announced in a letter on Dec. 1, 2022, to management at the factory, located around 70 kilometers south of the capital Phnom Penh, that he was the head of a new, independent union. About three weeks later he and three other unionists were being let go by the company, which said in a letter dated Jan. 24, 2023, and seen by VOA Khmer, only that their fixed-duration contracts expired and were not being renewed.

“It is certain that the factory doesn’t want our independent union to exist in the factory. That’s why they rejected it and fired us,” Kem Saory told VOA Khmer, adding that the six other unionists feared they would be the next to be let go.

A spate of firings of unionists

A labor rights group said Pontus was one of three garment factories in recent months that have forced out a total of 20 workers for attempting to unionize. The others were T-Win Co. Ltd. in Takeo province, which reportedly supplies international brands Skechers, Nike and 5.11 Inc., and Caswell Apparel Co., Ltd. in Phnom Penh.

Another ongoing dispute concerns three workers who were fired in 2022 after attempting to form a union at Cinlon International factory in Kampong Speu province. The Chinese-owned factory produces bags for the California-based brand Clevermade. The Ministry of Labor instructed the company in July 2022 to reinstate the workers, but labor activists said that the factory failed to do so.

“Freedom of creating local unions has been a challenge for workers lately,” Pav Sina, president of the Collective Union of Movement of Workers (CUMW), said in a statement on 15 Feb. “[The workers] formed a union within the company for the rights and freedoms of workers as stated in Cambodian law,” he said, adding that union founders are protected by law, “[h]owever, the companies do not care about the law.”

The recently dismissed unionists jointly submitted letters of complaint on March 6 to the Ministry of Labor requesting intervention in order to force factory owners to rehire them and to respect the law.

Labor Ministry spokesman Heng Sour told VOA Khmer that the ministry was assessing the complaints and urged this reporter to be skeptical of the complaints of individual labor activists as they are “not the authority.”

Kaing Monika, deputy secretary-general of Garment Manufacturers Association in Cambodia, referred questions about the disputes to the ministry, adding,“Any action on non-compliance [with labor laws], if any, would be dealt with by the ministry.”