Relevant Legislation
Cambodian Labour Law (1997)¹⁷

Definition
Article 318 describes a strike as ‘a concerted work stoppage by a group of workers that takes place within an enterprise or establishment for the purpose of obtaining the satisfaction for their demand from the employer as a condition of their return to work’.

Rights
Article 319 states that:

The right to strike and to a lockout are guaranteed. It can be exercised by one of the parties to a dispute in the event of rejecting the arbitrary decision.

Article 320 elaborates that the right to strike ‘can also be exercised when the Council of Arbitration has not rendered or informed of its arbitration decision within the time periods prescribed in Chapter XII’, as well as ‘when the union representing the workers deems that it has to exert this right to enforce compliance with a collective agreement or with the law’ and in order to ‘defend the economic and sociology-occupational interests of workers’.

Procedures
Prior to a strike: Article 323 provides that: ‘A strike shall be declared according to the procedures set out in the union’s statutes, which must state that the decision to strike is adopted by secret ballot’. Furthermore, prior notice of intention to strike must be given at least seven working days before any action is taken [Article 324]. The notice must contain the demands of the party who is striking, and must also be sent to the Ministry in Charge of Labour [Article 324].

Additionally, under Article 327:

If the strike affects an essential service, namely an interruption of such a service would endanger or be harmful to the life, safety, or health of all or part of the population, the prior notice mentioned in Article 324 shall be extended to a minimum of fifteen working days.

Regulations/Limitations
A strike must be peaceful [Article 330], and threats or coercion to strike are prohibited [Article 331]. Labour contracts are suspended during strikes and salaries will not be paid [Article 332]. Workers will be guaranteed reinstatement to their position at the end of the strike [Article 332]. Furthermore, an employer ‘is prohibited from imposing any sanction on a worker because of his participation in a strike. Such sanction shall be nullified and the employer shall be punishable by a fine in the amount set in Article 369 of Chapter XVI’ [Article 333]. An employer is additionally prohibited from hiring new workers during the strike to replace those striking, ‘except to maintain minimum service provided for in Articles 326 and 328 if the workers who are required to provide such service do not appear for work. Any violation of this rule obligates the employer to pay the salaries of the striking workers for the duration of the strike’ [Article 334].

Article 321 specifies that a strike:

[…] cannot be exercised when the collective dispute results from the interpretation of a juridical rule originating from the existing law, or the collective agreement, or the rule relating to an arbitrary decision accepted by the concerned parties. It also cannot be exercised for the purpose of revising a collective agreement or reversing an arbitrary decision accepted by the parties, when the agreement or the decision has not yet expired.

The Labour Courts are mandated to decide whether or not a strike is illegal, and if it is, then strikers must return to work within forty-eight hours of the finding [Article 337].

Endnotes
¹⁷ Cambodian Labour Law, available at http://www.gocambodia.com/laws/labor_law.asp (accessed 16/05/11).