Nagaworld should have enough money to pay their staff.

Cambodia Casino Operator NagaCorp Posts Profit
August 28th, 2020, 5:48 AM GMT+0200
Philip Lee, executive deputy chairman of NagaCorp Ltd., the largest hotel, gaming and leisure operator in Cambodia, discusses the company's financial results, business outlook, and the impact of the coronavirus outbreak. NagaCorp reported a net profit of $21 million for the six months ended 30 June. Lee speaks with Haidi Stroud-Watts and Shery Ahn on "Bloomberg Daybreak: Asia." (Source: Bloomberg)

NagaWorld to Lay Off More Than 1,300 Employees: Union
2 min read
Nat Sopheap
| Tue Apr 13, 2021 6:54 pm

Phnom Penh casino NagaWorld plans to lay off more than 1,300 workers this month amid its temporary closure due to Covid-19 — a plan its union will contest as a violation of the Labor Law.

NagaWorld union president Chhim Sithar said on Tuesday that the company had told workers it would lay off 1,329 employees between April 19 and 23, with names to be announced. The casino currently employs about 8,000 people.

The company had stated that declining income amid Covid-19 was the reason for the layoffs. After several employees tested positive for the disease last month, and workers boycotted an alleged lack of disclosure from the company, the casino temporarily closed its doors.

But Sithar pointed to NagaWorld’s continued — if reduced — profits and said the company was taking action against employees for demanding that it pay out seniority allowances and annual bonuses.

“We see that the company is intentionally evading it and wants to demoralize employees because employees are asking the company to pay the seniority allowances owed in 2020 and 2019, the annual bonuses and the increase in salaries to employees,” she said. “The company has the ability to provide to employees based on the profits that the company made in 2020.”

NagaCorp announced a net profit of $102 million for 2020.
https://vodenglish.news/nagaworld-to-la ... ees-union/

Cambodians cry foul as casino slashes redundancy pay due to COVID-19
by Matt Blomberg | @BlombergMD | Thomson Reuters Foundation
Friday, 30 April 2021 08:29 GMT
Cambodia's largest casino to slash 1,300 jobs due to the threats of the pandemic
By Matt Blomberg

PHNOM PENH, April 30 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - With plunging profits, Cambodia's largest casino is set to slash 1,300 jobs and pay redundant staff a fraction of the severance money they are legally owed, the workers' union and advocates said, as the COVID-19 pandemic threatens labour laws worldwide.

NagaWorld resort - with almost 1,700 luxury rooms, themed gaming halls, karaoke lounges, spas and an underground shopping centre in the capital, Phnom Penh - told more than 15% of staff this month that they will be laid off in the next few weeks.

Redundant staff will lose tens of thousands of dollars as severance packages will be calculated based on reduced wages in 2020 and using government guidelines introduced to help businesses hit by the pandemic, the union said.

"Workers risked their safety to make profits for NagaWorld during the pandemic and then when they need help, they are abandoned," union leader Chhim Sithar told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

"We are asking for support and they have responded with the idea of mass layoffs. It's extremely disappointing," she said, adding that NagaWorld's plans breach labour laws as redundancies should take into account seniority and length of service.

NagaWorld declined to comment.
https://news.trust.org/item/20210430072242-gdyki/

NagaWorld’s Top Union Leaders Receive Dismissal Notices
4 min read
Tran Techseng and Horn Thovan
| Fri May 28, 2021 8:19 pm

Senior NagaWorld union leaders all received dismissal notices amid the casino’s plan to lay off more than 1,000 employees, a union official said, in what some labor and civil society observers labeled an attempt to eliminate the active union from the workplace.

NagaWorld has begun a process of laying off 1,329 employees, which it has explained is due to declining revenues, according to the union. But the workers targeted for dismissal have been long-time union members, and on Thursday the union’s top leadership all received notice, said NagaWorld union vice president Chhun Sokha.

Sokha said on Friday that she and other leaders, including union president Chhim Sithar and more than a dozen core activists, received a dismissal message from the company on Thursday.

As of Friday, more than 600 employees — mostly union members — had received notice, she added.

Sokha said the company wants to eliminate protests, which the union has led. She said recent protests were about protecting workers rights.

The casino and hotel company reported a net profit of $102 million in 2020 despite the Covid-19 crisis, down from more than $521 million in 2019.
In full: https://vodenglish.news/nagaworlds-top- ... l-notices/

Workers at Cambodia casino NagaWorld protest mass layoffs
Union claims company using COVID as excuse to target leaders and membership

SHAUN TURTON, Contributing writer June 8, 2021 13:34 JST

PHNOM PENH -- Workers at Cambodia's largest casino NagaWorld have urged the government to stop the company's plan to lay off more than 1,300 of its 8,000 employees.

Representatives of the Labor Rights Supported Union of Khmer Employees of Naga World delivered a petition signed by more than 2,000 members to the Labor Ministry on Tuesday morning, requesting that officials intervene.

The union says the company is using COVID-19 as an excuse to target their leadership and members.

Union president Chhim Sithar is among those who have been given notice of termination, along with the group's vice president, secretary and treasurer.

Sithar called the company's plan "a clear attack" on the union, saying a similar thing happened after the global financial crisis. "There is a pattern," she told Nikkei Asia. "Among the 1,300 [workers being fired], around 1,100 are union members." The union has more than 3,700 members.

Sithar said about 500 employees who had been given notice had rejected their termination offers, while the rest accepted.

She said workers, who had already suffered pay cuts during the pandemic, were under a lot of economic pressure and called the layoffs "irresponsible and inhumane."

The company recorded $102 million in net profit in 2020 despite plummeting tourism in Cambodia and a three-month, state-enforced shutdown from April that year. It exclusive rights to gambling facilities in the Cambodian capital.
https://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Compan ... ss-layoffs

Phnom Penh casino accused of union busting with mass layoffs
23 June 2021
Cambodian trade union leaders are fighting back after more than 1,300 casino workers were laid off this year. Danielle Keeton-Olsen and Yon Sineat report from Phnom Penh.

When managers at Phnom Penh’s exclusively-operating NagaWorld casino announced in April that about 15 percent of its 8,000-strong workforce would be laid off due to pandemic-related economic losses, it soon became apparent who the main targets of the layoffs would be.

Among the 1,329 workers being retrenched were all the complex’s trade union leaders and organizers. The President, Vice President, and Secretary of the union all received layoff notices, as did 60 union organisers and recruiters, and a number of long-serving staff.

The union, which has long battled with NagaWorld management over pay and working conditions at the massive casino complex, did not take the news lying down. In early June, the union filed a petition with Cambodia’s Labour Ministry, signed by more than 2,000 union members and supporters, seeking government intervention. In addition to protesting the layoffs, the petition highlighted the company’s failure to pay seniority benefits and its miscalculation of layoff packages.

When contacted by China Labour Bulletin, Labour Ministry spokesperson Heng Sour said the case was still under review, and he could not comment further.

President of the Labor Rights Supported Union of Khmer Employees of Naga World, Chhim Sithar, believes the layoffs are much more than just pandemic-driven cost cutting. “This is a very helpful way” for Naga Corp to deal with the union, she said. “The company gets a lot of benefits from this idea… They reduce costs, get rid of union members, [and] weaken the union.”

At one point, the union had just over 4,000 members, or nearly half of the workforce, which would have enabled the union to apply a collective bargaining agreement under Cambodian law. However, as the union’s Vice President, Chhun Sokha, explained, it’s been a constant battle to recruit more workers to the union.

“We’ve encountered several challenges organising new members. We need to spend a lot of time with them to build trust with the union. In addition, the old employees are afraid to join the union because they have seen intimidation from the company,” she said. “They do everything to ensure that the union can’t function at the company.”

For example, after winning higher basic wages through strike action in 2019 and early 2020, the company started reducing workers hours due to Covid-19 business slowdown, but union members noticed they were working fewer hours than their non-union peers. At the same time, new short-term workers - who don’t receive benefits like seniority pay and can’t join the union - were hired by the company.

The latest layoffs came after a string of union actions designed to protect workers’ rights and interests during the pandemic. Workers were initially disturbed by the company’s slow response in late February after a client who visited the Naga 2 building tested positive and at least 11 workers subsequently contracted Covid-19.
In full: https://clb.org.hk/content/phnom-penh-c ... ss-layoffs