"Lao Workers Are Abused at a Chinese Factory in Luang Prabang", 17 January 2020

Lao workers at a Chinese-owned cement works in Luang Prabang are complaining of abuse and unfair practices, saying they are being made to work long hours at no extra pay and describing physical assaults by Chinese employees of the plant.

Those reporting late for work find their salaries cut, one worker at the CONH Luang Prabang Co., Ltd., factory in Luang Prabang City....

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"Some days, we don't even get a lunch break,"....

...[N]o health care is provided for factory employees, and that workers falling ill must pay for their care by themselves.

Meanwhile, Chinese factory employees freely beat and assault Lao workers at the plant, sometimes tying them together and forcing them to stand for long hours in the sun, other sources said.

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Responding to a report by a village leader that in a separate incident Chinese employees of the factory had also tied and beat two teenage Lao boys, a factory representative told RFA, "They were not our workers, they were from the neighborhood."

"Our company has rules to prevent outsiders from coming in and stealing our stuff. This has happened many times in the past," he said.

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