Workers at the East Loyal Garment Factory in Cambodia are still waiting for a response from the Ministry of Labour more than a week of silence following the dismissal of a union leader at the plant, CamboJA News has reported.

The case lands at the intersection of two pressures that matter directly to apparel sourcing teams: Cambodia's labour-compliance record and the buyer codes of conduct that make union-busting allegations a commercial risk, not just a legal one. Cambodia ships garments to major Western markets under preferential trade arrangements partly conditioned on labour standards, and individual buyer agreements typically add their own supplier requirements on freedom of association.

According to the CamboJA News report, factory management dismissed the union leader, and fellow workers have since sought intervention from the Ministry of Labour. They have received no reply. The workers' account of the timeline and their complaint could not be independently verified beyond the report.

The dispute has not, so far as the report indicates, reached the Arbitration Council, the tripartite body that handles unresolved collective disputes in Cambodia's garment sector. Under Cambodian labour law, individual dismissals of union officers carry procedural protections, and unresolved matters can escalate from ministry conciliation to formal arbitration.

For brands sourcing from Cambodia, the case presents a familiar compliance decision tree. A dismissal targeting a registered union official triggers freedom-of-association review under most buyer codes. Compliance teams typically ask suppliers for the documented grounds for termination, confirmation that legally required procedures were followed, and evidence that ministry conciliation is under way or complete.

Cambodia's garment sector remains one of the largest employers in the country's manufacturing base, and labour disputes in export factories carry visibility with the ILO's Better Work programme and with trade-monitoring structures tied to the EU's Everything But Arms arrangement. Allegations of anti-union dismissal at a named exporter therefore can move quickly from a local grievance to a buyer audit question.

What the news forces is a sourcing-side decision: brands with East Loyal Garment Factory in their supplier base should now verify the dismissal's legal basis with the supplier, track whether the labour ministry responds, and be prepared to document the case in social-compliance reviews — before an auditor or a rights group raises it first.