"About 1,800 Garment Workers Hold Brief Strike at Kampong Speu Factory", 17 June 2026

About 1,800 workers at an AJ Textile garment factory in Kampong Speu province briefly walked off the job this week over working conditions and the dismissal of a supervisor, before returning to work on Tuesday after intervention by the Labor Ministry, authorities and union representatives said.

The Coalition of Cambodian Apparel Workers’ Democratic Union (CCAWDU) said more than 100 workers protested outside the factory …, while about 1,700 others stopped work in support of demands to improve working conditions and reinstate Chork Mealea, a supervisor and unionist who had been dismissed.

Workers also raised concerns over salary miscalculations and deductions for sick leave, according to AJ Textile worker Yieuk Sreyoun.

Mealea, who had worked at AJ Textile for more than two years and was a member of CCAWDU, said she was dismissed on Saturday without prior notice and in violation of labor laws.

“It’s unfair for me. I wasn’t informed and received no official explanation,” she said…

Shun Yao, chairman of AJ Textile’s board of directors, denied that Mealea’s dismissal was linked to union activities by her or her family.

“There is no discrimination against unions,” Yao said, adding that the factory complies with Cambodian labor laws.

Yao, however, did not provide a clear reason for the dismissal…

… Yieuk Sreyoun, an AJ Textile worker, told … that Mealea’s dismissal amounted to discrimination and expressed concern that similar action could be taken against other workers. She said employees had returned to work …

Labor rights groups say the widespread use of short-term contracts in Cambodia’s garment, footwear and travel goods (GFT) sector, which employs nearly one million workers, allows some factories to sideline union organizers by letting their contracts expire while renewing those of non-union employees…