"Cintri Workers Protest Over Sudden Dismissals", 3 January 2020

More than 80 office staff from waste collector Cintri protested in front of their company along Monivong Boulevard ... after it laid them off without notice, clear reason or adequate compensation, they said.

Song Soly, a staff member previously employed at the customer service office, told ... that the company had held a meeting ... to inform its staff to stop working that day, promising to give only 50 percent of their severance pay. The staff, he said, protested ... to ask for 100 percent of the severance pay due upon termination.

Song Soly said the layoffs affected their livelihoods as it was difficult to find a new job.

“It affects our families’ livelihoods, which need a daily income,” he said. “With these immediate layoffs, we don’t know how to find jobs.”

Phon Rathpiseth, another office worker, said the move went against Prime Minister Hun Sen’s speech ..., who had said that all staff would be kept even when Cintri lost its license.

... Cintri representatives could not be reached.

Cintri has been the sole license holder for waste collection in Phnom Penh since 1996...

Labor Ministry spokesman Heng Sour said his ministry would find a solution for the workers, but that it was a complicated matter. “This case is not a mathematical calculation of 1 plus 1 equals 2 immediately,” he said. “However, the ministry will side with the workers who are protesting and will find a solution.”