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NagaWorld workers set date for strike
19 December 2019
Yon Sineat

Workers at Phnom Penh’s NagaWord casino are set to strike on Jan. 10, a union said in a letter to the company.

The union made six demands, including a higher minimum wage for employees starting at $300 per month for hotel staff and $500 for those on the gambling floor. It is also seeking the reinstatement of union president Chhim Sithar, who was suspended in September for defending a worker carrying a T-shirt that was printed as part of the union’s campaign for living wages.

A Labor Ministry mediation between the company and the Khmer Employees’ Labour Rights Support Union of NagaWorld in October failed to make headway.

“We still haven’t received any response from the company to discuss how to settle this dispute,” Sithar told CamboJA News. The company needs to show “willingness to have a dialogue and negotiation to talk with us for a solution.”

Sithar said the union’s demand for higher wages was reasonable considering the casino’s growing profits — “the company makes almost $4 million every day.”

The current wage for the hotel workers is between $191 to $230 depending on seniority, and for gambling staff between $230 to $370. About 4,000 of 8,700 workers at the casino are part of the union, according to VOD.

Khun Tharo, project coordinator for labor rights group Central, criticized both the company and dispute resolution officials in their handling of the case.

“The working procedure in this dispute of Naga casino workers is not following the right procedure,” Tharo said, citing a failure to classify the various parts of the dispute such as the collective demands from workers and Sithar’s individual issues.

“They [seem] afraid of union empowerment,” he said of NagaCorp, the casino’s owner. It appeared to be willing to “do anything to remove the union movement from their company.”
The company should negotiate in good faith with the workers to resolve their differences, he added.
https://cambojanews.com/nagaworld-worke ... or-strike/

They pay so much tax, maybe they think that is enough giving back to the community. LOL

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought unions were illegal here?

philip.smith wrote: ↑Thu Dec 19, 2019 4:02 pm Correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought unions were illegal here?

Yeah, your wrong. You could have googled it yourself in 5 seconds but maybe that sophisticated web function is unknown to you.

King Keil wrote: ↑Thu Dec 19, 2019 4:05 pm

philip.smith wrote: ↑Thu Dec 19, 2019 4:02 pm Correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought unions were illegal here?

Yeah, your wrong. You could have googled it yourself in 5 seconds but maybe that sophisticated web function is unknown to you.

Yeah, I'm clearly not an intellectual like yourself. You are all that I could ever hope to ever aspire to.

King Keil wrote: ↑Thu Dec 19, 2019 4:05 pm

philip.smith wrote: ↑Thu Dec 19, 2019 4:02 pm Correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought unions were illegal here?

Yeah, your wrong. You could have googled it yourself in 5 seconds but maybe that sophisticated web function is unknown to you.

No need to be rude; that's not a stupid question. TIC, where things are not quite what they seem, and what they say on the internet is probably only half correct anyway.

Unions are not illegal, but firing unionists and putting them in jail is not unusual either. Unions are allowed to exist as long as they toe the line. Garment workers have strong and well organised unions for the most part, but it seems that the Chinese-owned factories are discouraging workers from joining up. (AFAIK Chinese migrant workers in Cambodia are not unionised at all.)
Construction workers seem to have almost no legal protection whatsoever if they hurt or kill themselves on the job, and safety conditions are shocking.
The ILO is officially invited to talk to officials and make suggestions for improvements for Cambodian workers, but how much of that is just for show ?

Posted on social media this morning.

Nagaworld employees are asking for the company to negotiate. Thank you for understanding.

Anchor Moy wrote: ↑Thu Dec 19, 2019 6:07 pm

King Keil wrote: ↑Thu Dec 19, 2019 4:05 pm

philip.smith wrote: ↑Thu Dec 19, 2019 4:02 pm Correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought unions were illegal here?

Yeah, your wrong. You could have googled it yourself in 5 seconds but maybe that sophisticated web function is unknown to you.

No need to be rude; that's not a stupid question. TIC, where things are not quite what they seem, and what they say on the internet is probably only half correct anyway.

Unions are not illegal, but firing unionists and putting them in jail is not unusual either. Unions are allowed to exist as long as they toe the line. Garment workers have strong and well organised unions for the most part, but it seems that the Chinese-owned factories are discouraging workers from joining up. (AFAIK Chinese migrant workers in Cambodia are not unionised at all.)
Construction workers seem to have almost no legal protection whatsoever if they hurt or kill themselves on the job, and safety conditions are shocking.
The ILO is officially invited to talk to officials and make suggestions for improvements for Cambodian workers, but how much of that is just for show ?

What is certain ois that both capitalist and communist countries have 1 thing in common. Profit before people

pczz wrote:What is certain ois that both capitalist and communist countries have 1 thing in common. Profit before people

People are always motivated by profits. Ask any worker if the owner pays them too much for what they do. Ask any owner if he pays his workers too little for what they do. The key is balance. That’s why negations are good everyone. Hope the workers and Nagaworld find that balance.

In a truly capitalist society, workers can leave a company anytime they feel they are undervalued without repercussions. And companies can fail at any time due to lack of workers.

newkidontheblock wrote: ↑Fri Jan 10, 2020 9:29 am

pczz wrote:What is certain ois that both capitalist and communist countries have 1 thing in common. Profit before people

People are always motivated by profits. Ask any worker if the owner pays them too much for what they do. Ask any owner if he pays his workers too little for what they do. The key is balance. That’s why negations are good everyone. Hope the workers and Nagaworld find that balance.

In a truly capitalist society, workers can leave a company anytime they feel they are undervalued without repercussions. And companies can fail at any time due to lack of workers.

if people were always motivated by profits we would have no teacher, nurse, doctors or social workers. I made a conscious decision in y twenties that I wanted a fair society and I was prepared to put up with shit wages and crap working conditions to help achieve that, so I quit banking and moved into social services. I am not alone.