In early 2014, the government appointed the heads of the armed forces to a new Committee to Solve Strikes and Demonstrations, which threatens to militarise future government responses to strike activity and demonstrations. Following the 2-3 January strikes, the government has repeatedly used force to break up demonstrations and rallies, and has detained trade union leaders for participating in those events.
Further limitations on trade union activity were being developed through a review of the laws regulating trade unions. A draft of the Trade Union Law made public in May was reviewed by the International Labour Organization, which said that it fell well short of meeting international conventions signed by Cambodia that ensure the right to assemble and unionise.
At a workshop on the draft union law for government, factory and union representatives in Phnom Penh in May, ILO labour relations specialist John Ritchotte said it failed to comply with Cambodia’s ILO convention obligations on several points and was actually a step backward compared to earlier versions.
The proposed law gives the country’s courts broad power to revoke union licenses. It also stipulates that at least 20 per cent of employees at an enterprise must agree to join a union before it is allowed to register with the Ministry of Labour. It also stipulates that only one union may exist per workplace. The existing law did not require a minimum number of members to set up in a single workplace, and did not limit the number of unions.
“It seems to lock many out from creating unions,” Pav Sina, president of the Collective Union of Movement of Workers, said.
The rule could lead to wide-scale dominance of government-loyal unions and seriously hamper those that are independent, Cambodian Confederation of Unions president Rong Chhun said.
In October 2014, the Interior Minister Sar Kheng indicated to factory owners and investors that he would work with the Labour Ministry to push through the draft Trade Union law to give the government more control over unions and the courts’ power to revoke the registration of unions deemed to be acting illegally.