The owner of the closed Great Duke Hotel in Phnom Penh has until Friday to settle a monthslong dispute with former employees, a Labor Ministry official said after the ex-staff resumed protests this week and were earlier awarded compensation by arbiters.
Garment factories have taken precautions in an effort to prevent Covid-19 from spreading down assembly lines. But workers and labor advocates say they are concerned the cramped trucks that ferry workers to factories could be potential hot spots for infection.
The E.U. has listed Cambodia as one of 12 “high-risk” countries with deficient anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing efforts, but the government on Friday said officials were working hard to get the nation off international watch lists.
More than 2,000 garment workers have been suspended from a factory in Svay Rieng province for two months, with the company saying it cut employees because the factory had received no orders from buyers amid the Covid-19 economic downturn.
More than half of surveyed families in a Banteay Meanchey village said the need to repay microfinance loans compelled some in their households to migrate to Thailand for work, which researchers say is part of a longtime, well-documented trend of debt-driven migration.
Tuk-tuk drivers in Phnom Penh are losing their income as tourist arrivals to Cambodia plummet and residents decide to stay home during the Covid-19 pandemic. But as informal workers, they are largely excluded from the limited social welfare that others can access.
On the front lines of Cambodia’s fight against Covid-19, the five-man team responsible for disposing of all of Phnom Penh’s medical waste says they are poorly equipped, uninsured and at risk of infection, but few recognize the challenges they face.
Nearly 100,000 workers’ jobs are in danger as garment factories suspend employees amid the ongoing economic fallout of the Covid-19 pandemic, with a Labor Ministry official predicting garment exports will nosedive this year.
After the National Bank suggested lenders cut struggling borrowers a break, some financial institutions say they are relieving customers affected by Covid-19 disruptions on a case-by-case basis. But civil society groups say the measures won’t offer debt relief quickly enough.
Workers who were told to isolate at home as a Covid-19 precaution said they would accept orders to take time off. But with more garment factories suspending production due to reduced orders, some workers worry their leave will be extended indefinitely.
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