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Several factory workers at an H&M plant in Cambodia were fired for attempting to form a union. One of the women, Neth, told Swedish news reporters from SVT that she and her colleagues work on short-term contracts and earn less than $217 US dollars a month. Cambodian law stipulates that seamstresses who work for two years must have permanent employment and paid vacation and sick leave, but according to a report done by the organization Fair Action, the vast majority of Cambodia’s 700,000 textile workers are employed on short-term contracts lasting between two and six months. While permanent employees cannot be dismissed without notification and severance pay, short-term workers do not have the same protection and often work overtime without compensation. When Neth and her colleges tried to redress the gap, their boss told them they would not win the fight and refused to extend their contracts. Swedish-owned H&M is the largest buyer of clothing sewn in Cambodian textile factories and generates an annual revenue of more than $20 billion USD. H&M’s Sustainability Manager for Social Affairs, Cecilia Tiblad Berntsson, said that Neth and her colleges did not have their contracts extended because of work shortages, and not because of their organizing activities.