Workshop promotes rights at work places
THE Ministr y of Labour held a workshop in Phnom Penh on Thursday which focused on creating jobs and promoting t he rights of workers, healt h and safet y in t he workplace as well as socia l welfare of employees, as part of a five-year, $20 million programme.
Minister of Labour Ith Sam Heng said: “The programme is very important for the workforce in Cambodia because it promotes rights at work and the creation of jobs, as well as increasing social welfare and safety in the workplace.
“The most important objective of t his programme is to a llev iate povert y by helping youths and workers who are v ulnerable,” he said.
The t wo-day workshop engaged with relevant sta keholders, including employers, unions and non-governmental organisations to f urt her develop t he programme.
Sam Heng hailed t he accomplishments of t he Internationa l Labour Organisation backed programme from 2016 to 2018, including employment creation, t he improvement of workers’ rights and a decrease in labour disputes. The programme also ran from 2011 to 2015.
“We set a target for t he de- velopment of employment opportunities for the Cambodian workforce. Out of our 10 million-strong workforce, the employment rate is 99.3 per cent.
“Rights at work have [improved] with the labour law and union law, and socia l protection has been created [wit h t he National Socia l securit y Fund] for example, while labour disputes have decreased to t heir lowest levels. Socia l protection [means] pregnant workers are now financially supported,” Sam Heng said.
Cambodian Federation of Employers and Business Associations vice-president Sandra Dámico said Cambodia has a competitive force that needs supporting.
“Our first priorit y is to stress t hat vocationa l t raining needs to be a priorit y as is i mproving i nvestment i n t he public sector. It needs to focus on qualit y, not quantit y so t hat we have t he best and most ta lented workforce in Asean.
“I really believe Cambodia has a very competitive workforce in terms of language ability and the ability to learn quickly. Technical institutions need to support them,” she said.
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