NagaWorld workers set to strike in job lay-off, pay row: union

Dec 16, 2021 Newsdesk Latest News, Rest of Asia, Top of the deck  

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A local labour union has announced that staff at Cambodian casino resort NagaWorld will go on strike from Saturday (December 18) following unsettled disputes with the resort operator, and after government-mediated talks between management and staff ended inconclusively.

The information was confirmed to GGRAsia by the the union’s leader Sithar Chhim. She added that the group forecast between 1,500 to 2,000 former and current NagaWorld workers would join the strike. According to Ms Chhim, about 70 percent of those expected to take part in the labour action were existing employees of the casino resort.

Her union – “Labour Rights Supported Union of Khmer Employees of NagaWorld” – is demanding the NagaWorld operator to answer a number of requests, including a call to reverse a lay-off decision and to rehire some workers already let go, including some union leaders.

The labour group is also asking for “proper” severance pay for other laid-off workers and higher wages for existing NagaWorld staff members.

The casino resort promoter, NagaCorp Ltd, confirmed in a June 7 filing some lay-offs at the complex, as well as pay cuts, the latter effective since March. The firm said at the time that these were “proactive measures” to manage the impact of Covid-19 hit, as the Phnom Penh casino resort had been shuttered since early March. Casino business at the casino resort only restarted on September 15.

GGRAsia has approached NagaCorp for comment on the union’s planned strike.

Cambodia’s Ministry of Labour and Vocational Training earlier this week asked the union to “remove” some of its demands and to delay its planned strike action, stated the union in a Thursday press release, adding it would still go ahead with the strike.

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