A prominent union leader who has led a high-profile strike at a Phnom Penh hotel and casino was released from prison on Monday and promised to continue leading workers who are demanding better wages and working conditions.
“It is a mistake for those who think that putting people in the prison can stop workers from protesting,” Chhim Sithar told Radio Free Asia.
“Most people fear being in prison. I fear it too,” she said. “But for me and my union team, we are more afraid of losing our rights.”
The dispute at the NagaWorld Hotel and Entertainment Complex, one of the world’s most profitable gambling centers, began in 2021 when the company laid off more than 1,300 employees, about half of them union members.
The strike has drawn a violent crackdown from police and continues to this day. Cambodian authorities have claimed that the strike is illegal and the product of alleged foreign donations.
Workers demanding better wages and working conditions have the legal right in Cambodia to organize and strike, Chhim Sithar said on Monday
Chhim Sithar received a two-year sentence in May 2023 after she was convicted of “inciting social chaos” for her role in the dispute. She received credit for time served before her trial.
Police initially detained her in December 2021. She was arrested again in November 2022 after returning to Cambodia from a labor conference in Australia for violating bail conditions that authorities said restricted her from leaving the country.
Her arrest was condemned by NagaWorld strikers, civil society officials and the U.S. State Department. Her defense lawyer argued at her trial that she was never properly informed of any travel restrictions.
‘They fear the public’s attention’
Prison authorities transported Chhim Sithar to her Phnom Penh home before dawn on Monday from Prey Sar Prison, which is located on the outskirts of the city. Over the weekend, NagaWorld strikers had announced plans to gather at the prison to greet her after her release.
Officials apparently wanted to prevent a demonstration at the prison, said Ou Tep Phallin, president of the Federation of Food and Service Workers of Cambodia, one of the unions involved in the strike.
“They fear the public’s attention,” she said. “I see this as a fear of union workers’ assembly.”
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Chhim Sithar is the leader of the Labor Rights Supported Union of Khmer Employees. At her sentencing, the Phnom Penh Municipal Court also sentenced eight other union members to shorter prison sentences, which were then suspended.
At the time, Amnesty International said that the union members “were prosecuted solely for exercising their basic rights to freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly.”
NagaWorld is owned by a Hong Kong-based company believed to have connections to family members of Senate President Hun Sen.
Translated by Sum Sok Ry. Edited by Matt Reed.