Union president Khmer Employees of Naga Hotel has been suspended by Cambodia’s giant NagaWorld Hotel Casino for defending her members’ right to bargain their wages.
The 5-star NagaWorld Hotel Casino in Phnom Penh has 1,685 rooms and suites – but no room for the right of its thousands of employees to collectively negotiate their wages through collective bargaining – a universally-recognized human right.
For nearly two decades, labour rights groups supported Union of Khmer Employees of Naga Hotel has struggled for rights and recognition against a hostile management. In May, 2019 the union launched a campaign to bargain wages for the first time and now faces a management backlash.
Union president Chhim Sithar, who is also a member of the IUF Asia/Pacific Regional Youth Committee and IUF Women’s Committee, was suspended on September 20 for allegedly breaching company rules after she assisted a union member being harassed by security over union materials in her bag.
On the October 15-16, mass membership meeting of the union’s more than 4,400 members, they unanimously confirmed their commitment to fighting Sithar’s suspension and continuing their struggle for wage bargaining rights. (Source: IUFGLobal)