Cambodia: Govt. ease lockdown measures to allow factories to reopen while workers continue to struggle as they cannot return to work
"As factories reopen, those who can’t return to work continue to struggle", 6 May 2021
… one month since rising COVID-19 cases forced the closure of D’Luxe International Co., Ltd, a garment factory in Pur Senchey district that is just one of hundreds that suspended operations …
For Hat Phallat, a 27-year-old who works in the factory’s sewing section, the past few weeks have been filled with endless hardship as she struggles to get food, cover her rent, and continue to help pay off her family’s debt…
But for Phallat and hundreds of thousands of people who live in areas marked as red or dark yellow zones, there is no return to work. And with COVID-19 cases continuing to rise in those areas, in spite of the weeks-long closures, workers are despairing.
“I don’t think that my factory will reopen soon because it is near Canadia Industrial Park where there are many workers infected with COVID-19,” she said.
… “Now, I do not have money to pay the bank, so I will ask my parents to delay with the bank but I do not know whether the bank will allow that,” she said.
… Mann Seng Hak, deputy president of Free Trade Union of Kingdom of Cambodia said workers will continue to suffer from another week of lockdowns and he hoped food aid would be better run going forward…