The Building and Wood Workers Trade Union Federation of Cambodia (BWTUC) urged the government and relevant parties to pass the legislation to compel the private sector to provide workers with social protection via the National Social Security Fund (NSSF).
BWTUC president Sok Kin told CamboJA News that there are 250,000 workers in the construction sector, while highlighting three important issues in the construction and brick kiln sectors.
The first issue is that workers in both sectors do not have NSSF membership, which means that they are not included in the registration of the labor framework system. He asked the Ministry of Labor and Vocational Training to strengthen the scope of both sectors. According to BWTUC’s report, only 9% of the workers are NSSF members, with 91% yet to be registered.
“Some employers don’t pay the monthly NSSF payment for their staff, even though we have tried [to remind them] but it’s still not yet better,” Sok Kin said.
The second priority is that there are no persons in charge as required by the law to respond to workplace accidents.
“When there is an accident or workers become disabled, they cannot claim benefits because they have no one to refer to regarding their accident. If they lose their job, they have to spend their own money for treatment,” said Kin.
In September 2024, five construction workers died when a lit rope snapped at a construction site near Olympic Stadium in Phnom Penh.
Workers’ unions raised concerns about accidents in the construction sector at the time, stressing that workers had low social protection and insurance.
He wants the government to set a safety and security framework in the private sector to align with the labor law, adding that stakeholders should push for it, as there was no safety and security law in the construction and brick sector.
“I want the government to create this law faster and urge the private sector to follow the law or regulation, as now this law is still in draft process,” Kin said.
The third issue is about the salary gap between women and men in the construction sector. He said although women are doing the same work as men, they still earn less. Besides this, workers have no payment from construction contractors.
“So, there is discrimination against women’s salaries. Men get $13 per day but women get only $5 or $6 a day,” Kin added.
Sor Sreymom, 37, a construction worker in Phnom Penh, told CamboJA News that she has been working in the construction sector for more than 15 years. Regarding her work, she said, sometimes it was good and sometimes it was bad, particularly because she does not have an NSSF card which means she has to spend a lot of money whenever she is sick.
“I am concerned because I’ve been working as a construction worker since I was 19 years old. Until now I don’t have an NSSF card. So, I want the boss or government to consider this issue,” said Sreymom.
Sreymom added that if she had an NSSF card, she would pay less when she gets sick because she only gets paid less than $10 a day. She has to save some of that money to support her children in their hometown.
“When I get sick, I spend more than $50. Everything in Phnom Penh is expensive. So, if I have an NSSF card, I will spend less on treatment,” she said.
A brick kiln worker in Kandal province, Roeun Som, 55, told CamboJA News that her working environment is acceptable but she does not have an NSSF card, thus she has to spend her own money for treatment when she falls ill.
Som urged the government and her brick kiln owner to register her and the other workers with NSSF because it would help her family reduce their expenditure on healthcare.
“My boss never talks about the NSSF to me or other workers. I don’t know if I have to do it myself or if my boss will provide it for me. Having an NSSF card will help me a lot,” Som said.
Labor and Vocational Training Minister Heng Sour, speaking during a discussion with stakeholders about the challenges of construction and brick kiln workers on November 30, said the construction sector is important to Cambodia’s industrial sector, employing about 200,000 workers, and many of them were informal.
The formal sector has more workers comprising 900,000 garment workers who work in 1,500 factories. The garment sector accounts for more than 50 % of Cambodia’s exports.
“Construction is different from factories. Factories have employers, but in Cambodia, construction sites are project owners. So, the nature of the construction sector, I see, is very informal. There are very few of them who are formal out of 200,000 workers,” Sour said.
According to him, there are only 10 to 15% of them in the formal system, while 70% to 80% working onsite are subcontractors and do not have registration or certificates confirming their profession.
“We need to solve the problem when it comes to construction. The first thing we need to think about is how to integrate those who are outside the construction system into the system. If we can’t integrate them, we don’t know how to manage them,” he said.
Regarding the NSSF, Sour mentioned that the registration of construction workers depends on the willingness of the foreman who manages them. There are also other tasks the foreman must fulfill once the workers are registered in the system.
As for the management of brick kilns, Sour believes that it is possible to manage them because the number of workers is not large, about 6,000, so there should be restrictions on who can live in the brick production site.
Underage children should not be allowed to enter these sites, he said, adding that the brick kiln owner must sign a contract to address workplace hazards. The owner is fully responsible for compensation and treatment or risk facing criminal charges if it is found that an accident occurred due to the owner’s negligence.
“Brick kiln owners must prohibit children or unauthorized persons from entering the production area if they want to operate,” he said.
Kong Atith, president of Cambodian Labor Confederation (CLC), said the number of workers in the construction sector is still low when compared to the garment sector. However, CLC will cooperate with the stakeholders to promote workers’ rights and benefits.
In the construction sector, there are “many bosses” which is the reason why it was hard to register workers at NSSF. “These are the challenges we have been working on. So, if the government created data mapping or a database, it would clarify the contract or subcontract workers under the management of the government. So, we can encourage workers or bosses to register with NSSF.”
Atith also pointed out that delivery riders, housekeepers and garment workers in cottage industries are not registered yet.
