Former staffers of Phnom Penh Sorya Transportation will meet with a company representative tomorrow to demand reinstatement after more than two weeks of the firm’s continued refusal to comply with a decision by the Arbitration Council, they and the bus operator said yesterday.

According to Yim Kuyba, deputy chief of the not yet official Phnom Penh Sorya Transportation Worker Democratic Union, the council gave the company 10 days from July 4 to reinstate himself and 14 other workers who were fired for trying to form a union.

“If tomorrow’s negotiation is not fruitful, we will ask the court and the institutions concerned for a continued strike,” he said.

In April, scores of Sorya bus drivers demonstrated to demand better pay and working conditions on the heels of the firing of 17 staffers who had attempted to form a union, 15 of whom the Arbitration Council ordered the company put back on the payroll.

Phnom Penh Sorya director Chan Sophanny said the company would send its lawyer to meet with the union on Tuesday, and that their decision on whether to reinstate the workers would depend on the attorney’s report.

“The company has sold off some 30 buses, so the company needs to downsize the number of staff, but we do not know yet,” Sophanny said.

“We’re just waiting for the lawyer to meet with them first.”