Cambodian NagaWorld Union Strike Fund

Union members of the Labor Rights Supported Union of Khmer Employees of NagaWorld (LRSU) have been on strike for over four months at Cambodia’s largest casino. They are asking for your help.

Management at NagaWorld used the pandemic as an excuse to terminate the jobs of 1,300 workers, most of them members of the LRSU. All of the union leaders were also sacked by the company. Union members tried for months to get their jobs back and decided to launch a strike in late December 2021 to pressure the company to reinstate union workers.

In response to the strike, the company started to hire non-union workers and has fought the LRSU at every turn. The authorities continue to violently repress the strike, attack workers on the picket line, and detain them. Workers are then driven in buses to the outskirts of Phnom Penh and must find their own way home when they are let out late at night. All of this is done in the name of “public health” to fight the spread of Covid-19 according to the authorities, but the government is clearly weaponizing the pandemic in order to bust the union. Eleven union leaders were also arrested and thrown in prison on trumped-up charges. The repression continues but the workers are not giving up.

In an act of solidarity with the LRSU, the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) General Executive Board passed a resolution to support the NagaWorld strike. Members of the IWW in Cambodia and the US launched this fundraiser on GoFundMe to make it easier for supporters outside of Cambodia to directly support the strike. All proceeds will go to LRSU members on strike via a Cambodian ABA Bank of Canada account used by the workers.

You can read more about the strike by checking out the IWW blog Organizing.Work or the consistent coverage by Voice of Democracy in English or Khmer - vodenglish.news

LRSU members are currently fundraising to support hundreds of workers on strike. Average wages in Cambodia are $200(USD) a month; however, housing can cost anywhere from $50-$300 (or more) a month in Phnom Penh, and the cost of food and gas is steadily rising. Any donation and support would go a long way for these workers. Please donate what you can!

Solidarity and love from members of the IWW!