Feb 22, 2012
Phnom Penh (dpa) – Senior Puma SE executives are to investigate the shooting of three employees at a Cambodian factory supplying it with footwear, the company announced Tuesday.
Over 1,000 people from three factories – including Puma supplier Kao Way Sports – were protesting in the city of Bavet, near the Vietnamese border, on Monday morning when a gunman opened fire, according to rights groups Licadho and Community Legal Education Centre (CLEC). Three people were injured.
The NGOs said workers were calling for a 10-dollar increase on their 61-dollar monthly wage, transport subsidies and a 50-cent lunch allowance. According to local media reports, the shooter was dressed as a security guard.
NGOs said Tuesday that one female Kao Way employee was still fighting for her life in Phnom Penh’s Calmette hospital following the incident that appeared to be a “clear-cut case of attempted murder.”
Puma said that a company official would visit the hospitalized worker, meet unions and NGOs, and that it had “stepped up its resources” in the country. It contends workers with its supplier did not initiate the demonstration.
Last year, Puma came under the spotlight in Cambodia after two mass faintings took place at a subcontractor’s factory in Phnom Penh. An independent investigation in July found an array of violations of national law, international practices and Puma’s own rules.
No comments:
Post a Comment