Leader of Country’s Oldest Union Replaced

 Cambodia Daily | 27 June 2016

A former garment worker was appointed on Sunday to replace Chea Mony as the head of the Free Trade Union, six years after Mr. Mony first announced his intention to step down and two decades after his late brother launched the country’s labor movement.

Touch Soeu, 53, was named the new president during the union’s annual congress, attended by about 560 activists from more than 100 factories across the country, according to Mr. Mony.

“Ms. Touch Soeu was automatically selected as the new president because she was the only candidate to apply,” he said.

Mr. Mony, 52, took over as head of the union in 2004 after the assassination of his brother, Chea Vichea, a charismatic leader whose shoes have proven difficult to fill.

While the FTU continues to be one of the country’s largest and most prominent unions, Mr. Mo­ny has for years said he did not have the energy to run the organization and has been accused by former deputies of corruption.

He also served as president well beyond the six years allowed in the party bylaws, ostensibly due to petitions and pleas from workers asking him to stay. But Mr. Mony said on Sunday that it was time to move on.

“Now I am tired, so I am giving the chance to someone else,” he said. “Let workers evaluate me. I don’t want to comment on my performance.”

Ms. Soeu said she joined the union in 1997 while working at a garment factory in Phnom Penh.

 Read full article