StreetNet International, which represents more than 550 000 street/market vendors and hawkers from 52 affiliated organizations from 49 countries along with International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) and other Global Union Federations, is deeply concerned with the current situation in Cambodia which happened around the content of the proposed Draft of the Trade Union Law.
Independent Democracy of Informal Economy Associations (IDEA), StreetNet affiliate from Cambodia informed StreetNet about its deep concern related to the new Draft proposed by the Government for adoption.
On 13 November 2015, the Government of Cambodia submitted a proposed Draft of a new Trade Union (TU) Law to the Council of Ministers. This is a significant step in the legislative process, after which the Bill will be submitted to the Parliament for debates and approval.
Since October 2014 there has been a complete lack of consultation with trade union organizations regarding any development of amendments to the TU Law. And only at the end of November the Unions got a revised Draft, which had been publicly released by the media.
However, according to the unions, employers have had consistent access and influence on the Draft Law all along.
Despite some of trade unions` previous concerns appear to be addressed in the Bill, the unions still have many serious concerns to be put in the Draft. These must be addressed before the Act is submitted to the Parliament, or during the legislative process.
It should be emphasized that the proposed Draft contains numerous restrictions for the unions and is fully in violation of the ILO Conventions 87 on Freedom of Associations and Convention 98, On Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining.
StreetNet International expresses its big support and solidarity to all trade unionists of Cambodia and will try its best to put pressure on the Cambodian Government to hear the unions` voice while adopting such important legislative document which has a direct relation to existence and activity of trade unions in Cambodia.
