Caretaker Prime Minister Hun Sen has ordered the Labour Ministry to expedite the special payment to about 200 garments workers who are in a dilemma after their factory in Por Senchey district’s Kakab commune ceased operations on August 1.

To make the workers’ plight worse, the Korean national who owned the factory committed suicide in his residence on July 30, leaving nobody to settle wages and other matters.

Hun Sen made the call during a meeting with 18,467 garment workers from 14 factories in Kampong Speu yesterday. He also gave out donations to 735 pregnant workers.

“We request the ministry to settle the payments soon and then deal with the wife of the deceased, which is another issue. First, we need to pay the workers as the company’s owner owes them money,” he said.

On average, workers take home about $300 a month and the factory had been operating for the past six months. They do not have a workers’ union.

The issue came to light after about 100 angry workers staged a protest last week and officials from the ministry visited the factory on Tuesday to resolve the crisis.

Hun Sen also urged the ministry to view his Facebook page. “The ministry must check my Facebook page because the last time workers commented on my page and I don’t have enough time to monitor it,” he said.

The ministry’s spokesman Heng Sour could not be reached for comment.