{"id":330985,"date":"2024-09-18T17:16:21","date_gmt":"2024-09-18T22:16:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=330985"},"modified":"2024-09-18T17:16:21","modified_gmt":"2024-09-18T22:16:21","slug":"nagaworld-employees-will-continue-labor-fight-vows-freed-union-leader","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/nagaworld-employees-will-continue-labor-fight-vows-freed-union-leader\/","title":{"rendered":"NagaWorld Employees Will Continue Labor Fight, Vows Freed Union Leader"},"content":{"rendered":"

A Cambodian trade union leader released from prison this week after serving 15 months for organizing a strike at the NagaWorld casino resort in capital Phnom Pehn has vowed to continue her fight.<\/p>\n

\"Chhim
Chhim Sithar, above, was imprisoned for 15 months by Cambodia\u2019s authoritarian government for organizing strike action against NagaWorld casino resort, but she isn\u2019t done yet, she says. (Image: Amnesty International)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Chhim Sithar was arrested in November 2022 as she returned from a labor conference in Australia. She was later sentenced to two years<\/a> in prison for incitement to commit a felony.<\/p>\n

As president of the Labor Rights Supported Union of Khmer Employees of NagaWorld (LRSU), Sithar led a year-long protest over workers\u2019 rights at the casino, which is Cambodia\u2019s largest.<\/p>\n

It was the longest strike in the country\u2019s history, and it was eventually disrupted violently by Cambodian authorities. More than 200 protestors were arrested in February 2022 alone.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cAbout our advocacy fighting for union rights at NagaWorld, we will continue holding strike action until we get a solution. That\u2019s the position we have determined since the first strike,\u201d Sithar told the Associated Press this week.<\/p>\n

\u201cUnfortunately, as of today, after nearly three years, our workers have still not gotten justice. Therefore, as long as there\u2019s no justice, our struggle continues,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

‘Illegal’ Layoffs<\/h2>\n

Workers began the strike at NagaWorld in solidarity with 373 of their colleagues who were laid off in April 2021. The casino\u2019s owner, NagaCorp, said the job cuts were designed to reduce costs amid the financial pressures of the pandemic.<\/p>\n

But workers claimed the layoffs were illegal, and many refused to accept inadequate severance packages. Strikers were arrested on the pretext that they were breaching COVID-19 protocols.<\/p>\n

\n

Sithar\u2019s arrest was criticized by the US government, which urged Cambodian authorities to allow her and other union leaders to exercise their rights to freedom of association and peaceful assembly.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

The Cambodian government\u2019s suppression of the strike was also condemned by the United Nations, which called on authorities to \u201crespect the right to peaceful assembly and engage in dialogue to address the strikers\u2019 legitimate requests.\u201d<\/p>\n

Repression of Critics<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Cambodia\u2019s autocratic government has intensified its repression of civilian activists and critics in recent years, according to a report by Human Rights Watch.<\/p>\n

[During the pandemic] the government adopted a state-of-emergency law that grants the prime minister and others unfettered authority to surveil private telecommunications, and to ban the dissemination of information, while generally restricting the rights to peaceful assembly and association,\u201d Human Rights Watch wrote.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cNo one wants to be in prison, and I can say that we were afraid,\u201d Sithar said this week. \u201cBut I want to make a comparison. Which one is the scarier? For me, the fear of losing the rights to a union, the fear of losing the right to unionize, is scarier than putting me in jail.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A Cambodian trade union leader released from prison this week after serving 15 months for organizing a strike at the NagaWorld casino resort in capital Phnom Pehn has vowed to continue her fight. Chhim Sithar was arrested in November 2022 as she returned from a labor conference in Australia. She was later sentenced to two […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":330986,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[61],"tags":[55,83946,92358,92359,92357,83947],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nNagaWorld Employees Will Continue Labor Fight, Vows Freed Union Leader<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Chhim Sithar is free after serving 15 months in prison for strike against NagaWorld casino resort in Phnom Pehn, Cambodia.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/nagaworld-employees-will-continue-labor-fight-vows-freed-union-leader\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"NagaWorld Employees Will Continue Labor Fight, Vows Freed Union Leader\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Chhim Sithar is free after serving 15 months in prison for strike against NagaWorld casino resort in Phnom Pehn, Cambodia.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/nagaworld-employees-will-continue-labor-fight-vows-freed-union-leader\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Casino.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-09-18T22:16:21+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/Chhim-Sithar-.jpeg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1280\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"960\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Philip Conneller\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@casinoorgphilc\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Philip Conneller\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/nagaworld-employees-will-continue-labor-fight-vows-freed-union-leader\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/nagaworld-employees-will-continue-labor-fight-vows-freed-union-leader\/\",\"name\":\"NagaWorld Employees Will Continue Labor Fight, Vows Freed Union Leader\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/nagaworld-employees-will-continue-labor-fight-vows-freed-union-leader\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/nagaworld-employees-will-continue-labor-fight-vows-freed-union-leader\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/Chhim-Sithar-.jpeg\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-09-18T22:16:21+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-09-18T22:16:21+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/58769b72851c8cf117fb58ca150ebf8b\"},\"description\":\"Chhim Sithar is free after serving 15 months in prison for strike against NagaWorld casino resort in Phnom Pehn, Cambodia.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/nagaworld-employees-will-continue-labor-fight-vows-freed-union-leader\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/nagaworld-employees-will-continue-labor-fight-vows-freed-union-leader\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/nagaworld-employees-will-continue-labor-fight-vows-freed-union-leader\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/Chhim-Sithar-.jpeg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/Chhim-Sithar-.jpeg\",\"width\":1280,\"height\":960,\"caption\":\"Chhim Sithar, above, was imprisoned for 15 months by Cambodia\u2019s authoritarian government for organizing strike action against NagaWorld casino resort, but she isn\u2019t done yet, she says. 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