Workers in Cambodia's 200 garment factories were demanding an increase in their $40 monthly wage. Hundreds of them marched on the capital, Phnom Penh, to protest abysmal working conditions. They demanded a shortening of the workweek and an increase in wages. Garments account for 90 percent of the country's exports.

At one garment factory in the Takhmau district north of Phnom Penh, workers complained to the employers that they were receiving electric shocks from the sewing machines. The bosses ordered them to keep working. In response, workers forced their way out of the factory despite the fact that the managers had locked the gates in an effort to keep them inside.

The strikers nationwide returned to work after six days after the government Labor Advisory Board promised to discuss the workers' demands.  
 
 
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