"In cramped factories, garment workers fear coronavirus", 14 April 2020

With the cancellation of Khmer New Year due to fears about the spread of coronavirus, Cambodia’s garment workers have been forced back into their factories this week during a time they would typically be in their hometowns celebrating. Yet many workers say not enough precautions are being taken to prevent them being infected at work…

Cambodian Alliance of Trade Union president Yang Sophorn said that Cambodia’s garment factories were like Petri dishes for infectious diseases, with their cramped and closed-air conditions, as well as workers passing clothes down production lines.

… Sophorn said that she did not understand how the government could pass directives requiring people to maintain social distancing but then not enforce this in factories.

… Seak Hong, a 36-year-old worker at the Horizon Outdoor factory in Kampong Chhnang province, said conditions at her factory had not changed much in response to Covid-19 and questioned why the zeal to combat coronavirus did not apply to workplace safety…

Eng Luy, a worker at the Estext factory in Phnom Penh’s Pur Senchey district, said that her factory, too, had not changed much to help prevent coronavirus transmission, even as workers were forced to forego their holidays in the name of health and safety…

The government has promised $70 a month to workers if they lose work due to the coronavirus … but this figure pales against the present monthly minimum wage of $190 …

Garment Manufacturers Association of Cambodia secretary-general Ken Loo declined to comment. His deputy secretary-general, Kaing Monika, could not be reached…