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Cambodian Arbitration Council Orders Raffles to Reinstate Sacked Hotel Union Members

Posted to the IUF website 10-Jun-2004

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AGREEMENTS SIGNED ON SEPTEMBER 12 BETWEEN THE LOCAL HOTEL UNIONS OF THE IUF-AFFILIATED CAMBODIAN TOURISM AND SERVICE WORKERS FEDERATION (CTSWF) AND THE GENERAL MANAGERS OF RAFFLES TWO CAMBODIAN HOTELS - RAFFLES LE ROYAL (PHNOM PENH) AND RAFFLES GRAND HOTEL ANGKOR (SIEM RIEP) HAVE PUT AN END TO THE CONFLICT WHICH BEGAN IN APRIL. FOR MORE INFORMATION CLICK HERE.


The tripartite Arbitration Council handling the case of 97 dismissed members of the Cambodian Tourism and Service Workers' Federation (CTSWF) at Raffles Phnom Penh Le Royal has ruled that the workers were sacked illegally. The Council ordered the hotel to immediately reinstate the fired union members with full back pay and to repudiate the phoney "agreement" signed with the company union which management created in the wake of the firings (for full background information click here).

In its June 8 decision, the Council ruled that "within two weeks of improperly dismissing 97 union members, including all of the union leadership, the hotel Raffles Le Royal organized an unlawful election of worker delegates and entered into a collective bargaining agreement with this group.

These actions reveal a clear intent on behalf of the ownership and management of the Hotel Le Royal to bypass the union, which had the sole right to represent workers in the collective bargaining process. In pursuing this strategy, the employer party has shown a flagrant disregard for the right to freedom of association and the right to bargain collectively."


The council also ruled that requiring returning workers to sign statements saying they would not strike again was a further violation of the law.

Raffles lawyers walked out of the Arbitration Council hearings into the Le Royal firings on May 19. Arbitration Council hearings into the dismissal of 200 union members at the Raffles Grand Hotel in Siem Riep, where management also created a yellow union in the wake of mass firings, began on June 10.