Yesterday morning, I got up early after I had recieved a phone call from my friend who informed me that there would be a protest outside the Vattanac Capital tower on Monivong Boulevard that morning. “Oh, Shit! Why this news start up my day? Nothing better than this?,” I asked myself while my hands were pushing two notebooks, one card book, my camera, recorder, and some more accessories into my backpack.
At around 7:20am, I arrived at the spot and saw hundreds of workers walking outside the workplace gate as they were striking for better pay and work conditions. I asked a worker who walked pass me, and he told me that he joint this protest because he could not stand anymore with a daily wage of $3.50 wage and $0.75 extra if they work overtime.
I haven’t count the number of protesters, but the report from some famous local newspapers said there were more than 700 protesters joint this two-day strike.
The latest news I got this morning said both sides (the company side and the worker side) agreed to the 12 points, which are priorities for our construction workers, among 24 demands submitted by workers after two hours of negotiations yesterday.
The 38-story Vattanac Capital tower was started construting in 2009 and set to be completed in 2012. It will house the head office of Vattanac Bank, a business centre and Vattanac Capital.
I have seen lots of protest, but this is the second time that I saw construction workers dare to express thier worries, angers, and demands through the strikes.
How many more strikes will be happened in the Kingdom in the future? And what kind of solutions will be used to solve the problems?
@Saoyuth
Below are some photos I shot during the second day protest and I decided to post it for my dear visitors to see clearly the situation at that time.
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