Cambodia – Watchdog warns laying off 1,300 employees from Cambodia’s biggest casino could cause family fragmentation

Location: Phnom Penh, Cambodia

Language: Cambodian

Duration: 00:6:34

Source: A24

Restrictions: A24 Subscribers

Dateline: 31-01-2022

Storyline

NagaWorld, one of Cambodia’s biggest casinos, sparked a nationwide outrage following its decision to lay off some 1,300 staff in April 2021, citing COVID-19 constraints. This ignited protests in the streets of Phnom Penh on January 4, 2022 by key unionists and activists calling for the return of the laid off staff. Chak Sopheap, director of the Cambodian Center for Human Rights (CCHR), accused the company of using the COVID-19 pandemic as an excuse to lay off its staff. In addition, she lamented the arrest of some unionists and activists. So Meta, an advocate against social injustice, worried that the families of the staff who lost their job might face fragmentation violence due to the financial hardship. Ros Sotha of the Cambodian Human Rights Action Coalition urged the authorities to release the detained protestors and said, as elections near; decision-makers must solve the crisis because it is most likely to affect their outcomes.

Shotlist

(Soundbite)Mrs. ChakSopheap (Director, Cambodian Center for Human Rights(CCHR))

“As we could say it’s been over a month that the Nagaworld workers and their unions have lit the strikes and this is a peaceful assembly and it have been current in our labor laws and other international human rights instruments related to International Labor Organization Convention, for example, that Cambodian government recognized them all.”

(Soundbite) Mrs. ChakSopheap (Director, Cambodian Center for Human Rights(CCHR))

“And on the 4th January, as the world have seen the picture of, you know, like a group of civil dressed man and with uniform men were there to arrest Sithole, who is the Nagaworld union leader.”

(Soundbite) Mrs. ChakSopheap (Director, Cambodian Center for Human Rights (CCHR))

“This is so wrong. This is so wrong in the sense that it’s violation to citizen’s right to peaceful assembly. Second is the violation and ignoring to women’s rights”

 (Soundbite) Mr. Chan Nath (Ex-Staff of Nagaworld)

I have been working for this company for 10 years. I see that union is very important for Nagaworld. The company took Covid-19 as an excuse to lay off 1,329 employees. 92% of whom are union leaders, activists and union members, so this shows that the company discriminates against unions; however, we have worked for this company for many years, some of us more than 20 years. Since the company is positioned on water. So far, Nagaworld has three skyscrapers in the city right now.

(Soundbite) Mrs. ChakSopheap (Director, Cambodian Center for Human Rights(CCHR))

“The conflict arise when the company plan to lay off over one thousand three hundred staff, based on their layoff, a number of them an active member of the unions, as well as the leader of the union. So clearly it is a kind of discrimination and targeting again unions and its members”

(Soundbite) Mrs. ChakSopheap (Director, Cambodian Center for Human Rights(CCHR))

“The way how the company so try to address the labor dispute. It’s problematic because as far as we observe the workers have tried to work with the company, with the Ministry of Labor and then even with the Arbitration Council to come up with solution, but it appeared that the company refused to address it.”

(Soundbite) Mrs. ChakSopheap (Director, Cambodian Center for Human Rights (CCHR))

“I believe that as a big company, you know, they still try to address the problem peacefully and to save their reputation. But so far it appear that you know, this company using the back up support from the authority and the authority well to play their independent role to support all citizens here.”

 (Soundbite) Mr. Chan Nath (Ex-Staff of Nagaworld)

All of us here will continue to demand the company to provide us with an appropriate solution and release the eight union leaders from prison to sit then talk about the solution.

(Soundbite) Mr. RosSotha (Executive Director of Cambodian Human Rights Action Coalition)

I would like to remind the country’s leaders to reconsider this problem, as it is a big issue, because this issue will affect the upcoming elections. This issue may reflect the injustice of the authorities of Phnom Penh.

These images have spread almost all over the world and are being monitored daily by the UN, including human rights organizations. These are not good pictures for our country, so I believe that the government should start resolving them rather than leave it like this.

(Soundbite) Ms. So Meta (Members of Khmer Thavrak (A Cambodian youth group that advocates against social injustice))

I would like to ask the company to be generous and come back to save them. Some families may experience domestic violence due to the economic crisis in the family, loss of parent-child intimacy due to the strike; these issues can also affect their children’s education.\

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