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Last updated May 3, 2024
Created May 3, 2024
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Name Webpage capture on the news article of Cintri rubbish collectors told to get back to work
Description

This webpage capture shows about "rubbish collectors went on strike to demand the company address their requests concerning benefits such as payments related to seniority, damages, prior-notice payments and annual leave. The demands were made after the municipal hall said it was opening bidding for the city’s rubbish collection contract to three new companies.

Negotiations between the CTWUF, the company and the Phnom Penh municipal administration initially failed to yield an agreement. The Phnom Penh municipal administration ordered the workers to end the strike and return to work on October 5, saying their demands were not in line with the Labor Law. They said that if workers refused, new workers would be recruited.

Cintri said it did not have money to pay workers. The Phnom Penh Municipal Administration, and the CTWUF president, both then said it was not the right time for workers to make demands because the company has not fired anyone.

On October 7, the Phnom Penh governor offered every worker 25kg of rice to return to work by 3pm that day. Workers declined, saying they wanted proper compensation. Phnom Penh City Hall said it had agreed to two demands: that workers would not lose seniority benefits, and that they would keep their jobs. The CTWUF president said City Hall was guaranteeing workers’ benefits if they lost their jobs, and said that was an acceptable deal. However, the union leader for Cintri said that workers decided not to accept the government offer, as their demands were not met.

The Ministry of Labor and Vocational Training warned the CTWUF president to stop inciting striking waste workers, threatening to sue the union. The president pointed out that he had been trying to get the two sides to reconcile and demanded that the Ministry present evidence that he had incited workers."

The outcome was a court injunction issued October 13 said the strike was illegal and ordered workers to return before October 16. On October 14, workers agreed to return to work after the company said it would meet their demands when their contracts ended on January 31, 2021. Cintri added, however, that workers’ pay would be cut for seven days of strike action because they had not returned to work when Phnom Penh Governor had asked them to do so. The strike ended on October 14 after the company said it would meet their demands when their contracts ended on January 31, 2021, including paying all benefits. In November, the Phnom Penh municipal governor claimed the strike was political motivated, and that there had been an order from Thailand to incite workers to turn Phnom Penh into a city of rubbish. The CTWUF president urged political parties not to link rubbish collectors to politics.

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  • English