"NagaWorld strikers seek Prime Minister’s intervention after failures to resolve dispute", 22 June 2022

NagaWorld strikers have petitioned Prime Minister Hun Sen and the National Assembly for help in their dispute with the corporation, after 11 meetings mediated by the Ministry of Labor failed to come to a resolution.

…, the strikers submitted their petition with three major requests, according to Chim Sithar, president of the Khmer Employees of Naga World Labor Rights Support Union. The first is for the corporation to reinstate its employees. The second, for it to compensate employees fairly in compliance with labor legislation. And the third is for it to drop charges against 15 union leaders and activists…

Sithar said that the workers had been urged to just take the money offered, but that they refused and would continue to strike. They were taking a principled stand because such a move would jeopardize their freedom of association, trade unions, and labor rights…

… However, after 30 minutes of negotiating with the authorities on a sweltering day, the strikes were finally allowed to go to the National Assembly to file their petition.

Sor Chamrong, chairman of the Senate Relations Commission on Human Rights in the National Assembly, informed … that he was unable to resolve the matter…

Ou Tep Phallin, president of the Cambodian Federation of Food and Entertainment Workers’ Unions, which oversees the petition process, said that working-class citizens must be able to voice their basic rights and demand that employers respect those rights – in peace.

“We see that the situation in our country is a blindfolded democracy and a blindfolded peace when the working class is once again assaulted,” she remarked,…