Prime Minister Hun Sen, in his speech to garment workers on Wednesday in Phnom Penh, said he had been told by workers that the risk is really high for workers to lose their job with short term contract if their employer are not happy with them. And with short term contract, workers also lose many benefits covered by the Labor Law.
To solve this problem, the premier said that he has been asking his Minister of Labor and Vocational Training to revise all legal frameworks in a view to restrict this short term contract.
Concerning this issue, Mr. Ath Thon, president of the Coalition of Cambodian Apparel Workers Democratic Union, said that with short term contract, workers don't have the right to join local union in order to promote their working conditions, to discuss about minimum wage, to get paid for employment history, to get paid for giving birth, and to use public free healthcare service etc.
According to the Cambodian Labor Law, there are two different types of labor contract - Fixed Duration Contract (FDC) or Specific Duration Contract (SDC), and Undetermined or Unfixed Duration Contract (UDC).
Under the Labor Law, FDC must be made in writing. If not, it becomes a UDC. The law also states that FDC could be signed only for the maximum period of two years, beyond two years, the contract automatically becomes UDC. However, FDC could be renewed more than one time.
On the other hand, when a FDC is signed for a fixed period of or less than two years, but the work continues after the end of the fixed period, the contract becomes UDC that is simply a kind of contract to be signed without any limitation of date.
Regarding this issue, an anonymous political analyst said that besides short term contract, another problem for Cambodian job seeker is «foreign workers».
He added that following the Cambodian Labor Law, as well as labor laws in many countries around the world, employers could hire foreigners to do their job only if they could not find a proper local worker to do their job. It means that high priority has to be given to local job seekers. But in Cambodia, many foreigners were illegally hired to do the regular jobs that Cambodian people could do very well. This fact makes Cambodian job seeker unable to find a decent job.
«To solve this problem, our government needs to enforce our Labor Law,» said the political analyst.
"Enterprises of any kind and professionals such as lawyers, bailiffs, and notaries who need to recruit staff to work in their profession must appeal to Cambodians as a first priority," read Article 263 of the Cambodian Labor Law.
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