![A woman holds a sign saying “The pain of the people is the pain of Samdech [Prime Minister Hun Sen]” as nightlife workers filed a petition to the premier’s cabinet asking for aid on June 25, 2020. (Hy Chhay/VOD)](https://vodenglish.news/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/2020-06-25-nightlife-worker-petition-462x290.jpg)
Many nightlife industry workers — from bartenders to waitresses — have gone months without a stable salary, and some say they are discouraged by the lack of social welfare funding for their sector’s workers.
After a day of trying to speak to her factory’s HR manager over union members losing their jobs, Soy Sros posted her frustrations online. Two days later, police showed up at the factory and imprisoned her for almost two months. Her charge is pending.
About 200 NagaWorld employees demonstrated at the Labor Ministry on Tuesday after Phnom Penh’s sole licensed casino operator stopped offering workers suspension pay while casinos remain closed amid the Covid-19 pandemic.
At his Phnom Penh laundry shop, owner Thy Leanghour exclusively employs people living with disabilities, offering his staff an opportunity to independently earn an income and challenge the biases often associated with disability in the workplace.
Local industry groups have asked the E.U. to postpone the partial withdrawal of Cambodia’s tariff-free access to the European bloc for a year to allow the garment sector time to recover from the ongoing pandemic-spurred economic crisis.
Nearly all of the former employees of the closed Great Duke Hotel in Phnom Penh have received owed compensation distributed by the Labor Ministry as of Monday, but an official declined to clarify the source of the payouts.
Cambodia could see negative growth this year — for the first time since 1994 — due to the pandemic-spurred economic crisis, the World Bank projected on Friday, estimating even more severe hits to the nation’s key industries than it did two months ago.
The leader of an informal workers’ union in Poipet City said excessive security forces were deployed throughout the city as a “threat” after his request to hold a demonstration over border crossing restrictions next week was denied.
About 100 fired garment workers have been guarding their closed factory in shifts since mid-January. They aim to ensure the owner does not sell equipment left inside and disappear with the money before paying workers what they are owed by the end of May.
Former employees of the shuttered Great Duke Hotel again protested in front of the building on Thursday, calling for awarded compensation from the Phnom Penh hotel’s owner or legal action from the Labor Ministry.
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