Dozens of workers of a chemical factory took to the streets to demand payment. A rare event in a country that strongly punishes public dissent. According to a worker, Chinese employees are paid on a regular basis, but not the Laotians. Local residents protest environmental pollution.

Vientiane (AsiaNews / Agencies) – Dozens of Laotian workers, employed in a Chinese owned chemical company, have taken to the streets to demand the payment of back wages. It is a rare event in a country ruled by the Communist Party, which is the only party, where demonstrations and the public expression of dissent are forbidden.

The managers of the plant, located in the district of Xaythany, about 20 km from the capital Vientiane, have attracted the ire of local residents because of waste which is polluting the area and ruining the land used for crops.

On March 18 about 70 workers from the factory that processes potassium salts, used for the production of fertilizers, staged a protest near the plant, demanding the payment of two months' back wages and denouncing the lack of regular payments, as is the case with Chinese colleagues. "We see the Chinese get a regular salary, not us," complains one protester, speaking anonymously.

In recent days, the management of the factory, a joint venture between the Chinese Sinohydro and the Laotian government that employs more than 100 people, met with the workers and promised them to pay a month's work. However, other monthly wages remain pending and the workers are threatening further protest.

Speaking to Radio Free Asia (RFA), a Laotian government official denies there were strikes and unrest in the area and speaks of "misunderstandings that have been resolved" between workers and employers. The misunderstanding is because some workers wanted to receive “an advance payment". However, a labor union official, however, acknowledged that “a problem” had occurred at the plant and said local government officials had been dispatched to discuss the matter with the plant management.

Meanwhile, the factory has led to bad feelings even among local inhabitants, mostly farmers.  They claim that it is destroying the ecosystem and their livelihoods. "We cannot plant rice in the fields, as we did in the past," said a resident. "We can not plant or rice, or vegetables - he adds – since the factory was built".

In contrast, the company had claimed that it would use environmentally friendly technology in the excavation and production processes.

 

• LAOS
• -
• CHINA
• pollution
• factory
• farmers
• workers
• protests
• wages