Cambodia: Union members arrested & convicted after leading strike; NagaWorld casino announces layoffs and slashes pay, despite profitable year
BHRRC Cambodia
In April 2021, Cambodia's largest casino, NagaWorld, announced the layoff of 1,329 people, despite the company making a profit over the previous financial year.
The union representing the casino workers claims that this is an attempt to reduce union influence at the casino and does not acknowledge the contribution of these workers in the company's growth. They also highlighted the unfairness of making workers redundant at the height of a pandemic, without adequate financial justification, putting their lives and livelihoods at risk. They note that workers have only received partial payments (40-50%) over the months directly preceding the layoffs, which can affect redundancies owed to workers, if the lower amount is used as a reference for the calculations.
The Ministry of Labour had also issued a directive in late April, requiring factories, companies and enterprises to not end any job contracts for workers and staff during the lockdown in the capital metro area.
In May 2021, Business & Human Rights Resource Centre invited NagaWorld to respond to the allegations of undermining the right to freedom of association, incomplete payments and unfair dismissals. NagaWorld did not respond.