Street cleaners strike for $150 + Raising a stink in Siem Reap [#garbage]

[geovalin]

Mom Kunthear

More than 1,000 sanitation workers employed by the garbage collection company Cintri were on strike yesterday, demanding their bosses increase their wage to $150 per month, representatives said.

Cintri, a subsidiary of the Canadian Firm Cintec, signed a 50-year contract in 2002 that made it solely responsible for collecting and disposing of Phnom Penh’s waste.

But about 1,200 of its 1,400 employees – which include waste collectors, equipment repairmen and street cleaners – began striking on Sunday night, demanding a pay increase, a health bonus, overtime for working on Sundays and national holidays off.

After gathering outside Cintri’s main garage in Meanchey district in protest on Sunday, negotiations came to a standstill yesterday morning, Prack Sokha, a representative for the strikers said.

“This morning we negotiated with the company director, City Hall and district officials about our demands, but we did not get any results,” Sokha said, adding that Cintri had offered workers a $15 pay raise that was subsequently rejected.

Street cleaners make a base salary of $65, garbage collectors $77, and repairmen and drivers are paid $110, according to Cintri employees.

If demands continue to be denied, strikers would be willing to compromise, Sokha said.

“We will accept if the company increases street cleaners’ pay to $100, garbage collectors’ to $120 and $130 for drivers and repairman,” he added.

But according to Cintri director Seng Savy, employees are simply asking for too much.

“We can only increase their wages by $15,” Savy said. “What they are demanding is too much, and what we get from citizens is too little.”

Ith Sopheak, a garbage collector in Russey Keo district, said yesterday that a health bonus was reasonable considering that he worked with trash for a living.

“We will continue striking until our demands are all met,” he said.

ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY AMELIA WOODSIDE

http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/street-cleaners-strike-150

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Tue, 4 February 2014

Thik Kaliyann

Piles of waste stinking up Siem Reap’s Chreav commune are causing serious health problems and making the area unlivable, according to local residents.

The site in Knar village, which is run by refuse company Global Action for Environment Awareness (GAEA), is plagued with flies and a smell that leaves nearby residents reaching for the sick bag,
locals said.

“The smell is so bad from day to day, especially in the rainy season. Sometimes my family has to eat lunch and dinner under a mosquito net,” said villager Oun Srey Mao.

“My son gets sick every week – dizziness, vomiting and diarrhea, difficulty breathing – all that happened because of the smell of rubbish”, she added.

Residents of Knar village told the Post yesterday that the issue dates back at least to the administration of former Siem Reap governor Sou Phirin, who had not managed to find a solution despite multiple requests for intervention.

Loung Khin, another Knar village resident, said their hopes now rest with current governor Khim Bunsong.

“We need a clean and healthy environment; we want to see our children look healthy,” he said.

GAEA is the only rubbish collection company in Siem Reap. It also runs the Bakong district dump, which has attracted numerous homeless Cambodians who scratch out a living in the trash.

GAEA director Pho Phallkun said yesterday that the garbage storage area in Knar village had been created in 1999 when no one lived there.

“We chose that area because before no one lived there, and I know that the smell has affected people, but I really do not know what to do, because there are only people asking us to relocate [villagers], but no one has suggested a suitable alternative,” he said.

“We did not ignore the villagers’ suggestion, but we need time to do it, to reduce the garbage smell.”

Deputy provincial governor Kim Chhay Heng said that the company had been ordered to move to another more suitable area.

“They failed; they have to relocate to another site,” he said.

http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/raising-stink-siem-reap