Phnom Penh May 1 protest to go ahead
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Around 20,000 workers from the garment, construction, tourism, banking, service and agriculture sectors want to march to present a petition to the National Assembly on International Labour Day, but the Phnom Penh City Hall has not approved the rally.
City hall officials have instead asked them to seek approval from the Interior Ministry before they do anything further.
Rong Chhun, president of the Cambodian Confederation of Unions, said on Saturday that even though the city hall had not granted permission to congregate at the Olympic Stadium or Wat Phnom ahead of the march to the National Assembly, his group will continue as planned.
He said, workers will choose another place to meet, such as the riverside near the Cambodia Development Council to rally and present a petition which consists of 16 demands, focusing on wages, labour law and other issues. Ath Thon, president of the Garment Manufacturers Association in Cambodia (GMAC), said the Labour Day celebrations this year differed from those last year because “we worked together with other union federations to be one voice”.
The petition will ask the government to find solutions to worker’s monthly wages, short-time contracts, irresponsibility of owners who closed factories without providing proper compensation to workers and violations concerning the rights of associations and unions, he added.
