Staff of Anco Brother beer company, owed by a senator of the ruling Cambodian People’s Party, barred labor officials from entering the company Wednesday, as workers staged a demonstration outside.
Sen. Kok An’s company has laid off 12 workers since January, some of whom have since won the right to severance through the government’s Arbitration Council. But the company has so far refused to pay, leading to Wednesday’s demonstration.
San Sophat, legal and campaign officer of the Cambodian Food and Service Workers Federation, who led the demonstration, told VOA Khmer that the Ministry of Labor’s head labor dispute officer, Va Yuveak Vathana, was not allowed in the company.
“He waited for more than one hour and the local authorities, including police, came to tell the union that the ministry official had arrived, and that there would be a meeting soon for a talk face to face,” San Sophat said. “We waited more than one hour, then the ministry official came back and didn’t say a word, besides explaining that the company didn’t allow him to get in.”
