On December 18, 2019, unions and NGOs send letter to minister of Cambodia to express concern over trade union law and other serous labor right violation in Cambodia. The letter have express concern and request to Royal Government of Cambodia as the following.
1- Article 3 (amended): The current article still does not extend application of the TUL to “all persons,” as previously recommended by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR). Article 3 of the TUL states the law applies to “all persons who fall within the provisions of the labour law.” This undermines article 36 of Cambodia’s Constitution which guarantees that “Khmer citizens of either sex shall have the right to form and to be members of trade unions.” The proposed amendments to the TUL thereby fail to widen the coverage of the law to workers in the informal sector, teachers, and other public servants. Related to this, domestic workers and small businesses with fewer than 10 employees will always fail to meet the minimum requirement of 10 workers in order to create a local union, as enshrined in article 10 of the TUL, resulting in a de facto denial of their right to unionize.
2- Article 5 (unchanged): The article states that all workers and employers have the right to form a union of their choice “for the exclusive purpose” of study, research, training, promotion of interests, and protection of the rights of persons covered by the union. The OHCHR has recommended removing the phrase “for the exclusive purpose of” as it could unduly restrict the right of the organization to freely decide on their activities and programs.
3- Article 12 (unchanged): The article details that an application for registration of a union shall be approved “if it adequately meets all requirements” including copies of union statutes, regulations that govern leadership, names of leaders, copies of financial books, bank accounts, and official minutes of elections. Article 12 grants a high degree of discretion to the government and sets out considerably burdensome registration requirements for unions.
4- Article 17 (amended): The article infringes on unions’ rights to determine their internal affairs. The amendment added an additional independent auditing mechanism if 10 percent of union members or 5 percent of union donors call for it. The auditing mechanism requires the institution be legally registered in Cambodia, which may eliminate the use of reputable independent auditors who are licensed overseas. The amendment has not reduced or simplified the required documentation that unions must annually submit to the Ministry of Labor and Vocational Training (MoLVT). When article 17 is read in conjunction with the unchanged article 18, the law effectively empowers the MoLVT to revoke union registration if the union has not fulfilled obligations stipulated by regulators in two warning notifications.
5- Article 18 (unchanged): This article empowers the MoLVT to file a lawsuit in the labor court to revoke the registration of a union if it has not fulfilled its obligations outlined under the current TUL. Considering the cumbersome administrative and documentary demands imposed by the law, and regulator’s arbitrary powers to determine whether those requirements have been met, workers’ unions risk dissolution based on arbitrary grounds and unreasonable requests.
6- Articles 20, 21 and 38 continue to infringe on the right of unions to elect their representatives in full freedom.
7- Article 54 (amended): The amendments fail to bring the law into conformity with international standards because they do not grant the right to collective bargaining and collective dispute resolution to all unions, regardless of their “most representative status.” Under TUL, unions that do not have most representative status are currently prevented from defending the interests of their members, including being blocked from making representations on their behalf and representing them in grievances before the Arbitration Council.
8- Union registration procedures and union statute requirements: The TUL’s registration requirements conflict with international standards by requiring previous authorization by the authorities (violating article 2 of ILO Convention No. 87) and infringing on unions’ rights in drawing up their own constitutions and rules (violating article 3 of ILO Convention No. 87). In addition, determination of the union with most representative status is subject to approval and recognition by the authorities when this discretion should lie with an independent body. The amendments therefore fail to ensure a transparent, effective and simple registration process that will guarantee freedom of association for all workers as well as address the backlog of pending union registration applications.
9- The current law does not include any provisions to increase protection for workers employed on fixed duration contracts to exercise their right to freedom of association. To date, the widespread use of short-term employment contracts causes fears among workers that if they join a union, management will not renew their contract.