Friday, 24 April 2009

Labour Day: main trade unions of workers in Cambodia call for great gathering


By Duong Sokha
22-04-2009

Union leaders and members of the Cambodian Labour Confederation (CLC) and of the Free Trade Union of Workers of the Kingdom of Cambodia (FTUWKC) called citizens, civil servants, teachers, workers and employees to take part in the celebrations of the International Labour day, organised on the morning of May 1st outside the former premises of the national Assembly in Phnom Penh. The goal of unions is to pressure the Cambodian government into setting up as soon as possible a Labour Court in charge of solving labour conflicts and giving up the project about the amendment of Articles 67 and 73 of the Labour Code regarding work contracts, their duration and the conditions in which dismissals are carried out.

“We must put an end to discrimination in all the shapes it comes, against freedom of association and unions, and put an end to dismissals or illegal suspensions of workers' representatives. The government must take measures by asking companies who invest [in Cambodia] to put a deposit in a bank and pay for work compensations in the event of a factory closedown”, Ath Thun, president of the CLC, and Mann Senghak, secretary general of the FTUWKC, declared in a joint plea dated April 21st.

The list of claims of participants for the May 1st gathering will include the granting of the title of “workers' hero” to the late and former FTUWKC leader Chea Vichea shot dead by two strangers in broad daylight on January 22 2004, the erecting of a statue with his head, at the crime scene, located on the crossroads between Street 51 (Pasteur) and Sihanouk Boulevard, as well as the re-opening of the enquiry, with a view to arrest and bring to justice his murderers.

Finally, both trade unions intend to request that the government take measures in order to stimulate the labour market for workers, to improve working conditions in all fields, to develop irrigation in terms of quantity and quality and to help farmer find new job possibilities.

Reached by Ka-set on Wednesday April 22nd, Ath Thun said he expected some 3,000 people at this gathering. The procession will start off in front of the former premises of the National Assembly and will end in front of the newsstand, close to Wat Langka where Chea Vichea was murdered. Flower wreaths will be laid there, and the procession will then hand in to MPs a petition containing all the claims of the unions, he said.

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