The Cambodian Alliance of Trade Unions (CATU) condemns the decision of the Head of the Department of Labour Dispute in refusing to resolve the collective labour dispute of the Cambodian Union of Roo Hsing Garment Co., Ltd as this decision is a case of severe injustice liable to restrict the ability and freedom of the Cambodian Union of Roo Hsing Garment Co., Ltd, as well as other local unions in other factories, in protecting the rights and interests of their members.
On 12 May 2020, officials of the Cambodian Alliance of Trade Unions went to the Ministry of Labour and Vocational Training with the Cambodian Union of Roo Hsing Garment Co., Ltd to participate in a conciliation of the collective labour dispute which the Cambodian Union of Roo Hsing Garment Co., Ltd submitted to the Head of the Department of Labour Disputes on 15 April 2020. However, when we arrived at the conciliation, Ministry officials told us that they requested to remove the second point of demand (which requested the factory reinstated the workers’ representatives and trade union leaders be reinstated) and refused to resolve our collective labour dispute for the reason that the Ministry had determined that this labour dispute was an individual dispute and not a collective labour dispute.
The Cambodian Alliance of Trade Unions would like to publicly note than in the last twelve months, officials of the Ministry of Labour and Vocational Training have determined at least 12 cases of demands for reinstatement of employees or trade union leaders as collective disputes and forwarded all of these cases to the Arbitration Council, causing us to feel that in this case, either Ministry of Labour and Vocational Training officials do not know how to work according to their own procedures, or have implemented a different standard for us if compared to other trade unions.
The Cambodian Alliance of Trade Unions calls on the Ministry of Labour and Vocational Training, and in particular, His Excellency Ith Samheng, Minister of Labour and Vocational Training, to reverse this decision and determine this labour dispute as a collective labour dispute.
Done in Phnom Penh, 13 May 2020
Secretariat of the Cambodian Alliance of Trade Unions
It is very good that Cambodia’s trade unions representing workers are able to post to the world-at-large important messages like this one. This is particularly so when Employer Organisations are doing the same with appeals on behalf of their industries amid Covid19 order cancellations and delayed payments. It is important to convey too that despite the involvement of the International Labour Organisation (ILO), collective bargaining and fair dispute resolutions do not exist in Cambodia. Authorities side with employers and despite its name the Arbitration Council cannot arbitrate. It has no powers to determine disputes, only to try to conciliate between parties which it does quite well. As CATU notes, even this is denied in this case.
Thanks so much John for your support and inspire comments