"NagaWorld Workers Tell Labor Ministry Their Arrested Leaders Need to Be at Negotiating Table", 10 January 2022

NagaWorld union members admonished the Labor Ministry during an impromptu press conference ..., accusing labor officials for disregarding calls to release jailed union leadership as a precondition to restart negotiations.

Around 10 members of the Labor Rights Supported Union held a press conference outside the Labor Ministry ..., 24 days into a strike that started in December and has resulted in the arrest of nine senior union members...

In a statement they prepared for the ministry and shared with the press, the union members said the Labor Ministry had invited them for negotiations ... — days after nine union leaders had been arrested from New Year’s Eve to president Chhim Sithar’s detention ... The union said it was disappointed to see the ministry had reached out only after the senior leaders were detained and had failed to acknowledge workers’ request to reinstate more than 200 union members, including the leaders.

“The comments of a number of high officials at the Ministry of Labour and Vocational Training shows the real intention of the Ministry of Labour and Vocational Training [which] has no will to find a resolution for staff still demanding reinstatement,” the statement said...

Merch Srey Oun, an active NagaWorld employee and strike participant, told VOD that the workers were disappointed by the ministry’s lack of engagement with union leaders before the arrests.

“After they arrested our leader, they called us to negotiate with them, so we cannot agree with them,” she said. “We voted for the union leaders as representatives for solving the problems and negotiating with them, not us.”...