Workers of 4 garment factories in Cambodia will now be duly compensated after their owners fled recently. This was announced by the Ministry of Labour on 3 April 2018.
Earlier, the Ministry had said that 9 factories would be provided with compensation. However, the status of 5 factories is not clear as yet.
The 4 factories that are expected to be compensated next week are Yu Fa Garment Industry, Chung Fai Knitwear, Benoh Apparel and Great Honour Textile Factory, stated Ith Sam Heng, Labour Minister of Cambodia. However, there was no mention of how much amount the garment workers would receive.
Several workers said that the factories owed them money as well as severance. One of the workers, Roeum Sao Leap, from Benoh Apparel, welcomed the decision of being compensated.
Leap said that though she was not sure about the amount of money she is going to receive as a part of compensation, she said the decision would help workers like her to go home on the occasion of Khmer New Year, which is around the corner.
A spokesperson from the Ministry said that the Government was keen to fix this issue.
The severance payment deposit programme initiated recently by the Labour Minister is one such effort on the part of Government.
According to the scheme, business establishments in the country would have to regularly deposit severance amount to National Social Security Fund (NSSF).
The objective is that if the factories close down suddenly, the NSSF would ensure, on behalf of the factory, that the severance is distributed among workers.
Ken Loo, GMAC representative, however, said that before implementing such a severance programme, a detailed analysis would be needed to understand its impact on business, both local and international.
