"Staff of ex-hotel used for coronavirus quarantine protest for pay", 4 April 2020

About 50 former employees of Phnom Penh’s old InterContinental Hotel, which was sold and then shuttered … and is now being kept as a hospital ward for Covid-19 victims, protested outside the Labor Ministry … to demand unpaid benefits.

Known as “The Great Duke” when it closed ... When it ultimately shut, not all staff were paid out contractual benefits. 

With the agreement of the owner, the Health Ministry and Prime Minister Hun Sen said … that the empty hotel would be kept as a hospital and quarantine ward for victims of coronavirus if regular hospitals reach beyond capacity. 

A petition submitted by the Cambodian Tourism Workers’ Union (CTWU) to the Labor Ministry at the protest … asked for the authorities to help them secure unpaid benefits due to 152 employees, in line with a … Arbitration Council ruling.

… CTWU deputy secretary-general Da Chanmon said ministry officials had assured the protestors and union leaders that they would forward the issue to the minister.

“If there is still not a resolution from the labor minister, we will bring the petition to the cabinet of Prime Minister Hun Sen and other relevant institutions,” Chanmon said.

… Nin Vannak, a deputy secretary-general of the Committee for the Resolution of Strikes at the Labour Ministry, said that he had received a petition from the employees of the Great Duke and had sent the petition to the labor minister to make a decision…