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Unionists involved in Cambodia’s longest-running labor dispute rallied for a third time this year outside Phnom Penh’s NagaWorld casino resort on Wednesday.
About 50 members of the Labor Rights Supported Union of Khmer Employees of NagaWorld (LRSU) repeated demands they have pressed for over four years, including reinstating dismissed workers, clearing criminal records against unionists and securing intervention from the Labor Ministry.
The dispute dates to 2021, when the union accused the country’s largest casino operator of trying to break it through mass layoffs and legal action. The strikes triggered arrests of more than a dozen members and led to the jailing of union president Chhim Sithar for two years on an incitement charge condemned by international rights groups.
The union has also accused the Labor Ministry of failing to act as a neutral mediator, saying it sided with the company by pushing compensation over reinstatement, freezing union dues and refusing to recognize the union’s elected leadership.
The ministry has suggested LRSU members file a lawsuit against NagaWorld, which the union says would be ineffective given the company’s resources and the absence of a labor court.
“The Ministry of Labor has not taken any action,” said Sok Sreymas, a unionist who worked at NagaWorld for 15 years. “In early January 2026, we submitted another petition, but received no response.”
Sreymas and other workers say they are still seeking government intervention.
She said they want a court to drop incitement and social disorder charges against seven union members. The group was detained for nearly two months before being released, but must still report to local police each month.
LRSU has also continued to press the Labor Ministry to step in so dismissed employees and union leaders can return to work, submitting repeated requests.
Labor Ministry spokesperson Sun Mesa reiterated calls for former NagaWorld workers to take the case to court but declined to comment further. In February, he said the ministry had intervened 27 times in the dispute without elaborating.
NagaWorld did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Another former NagaWorld worker at Wednesday’s rally, Nam Tivorn, said many fired workers continue to face financial hardship while keeping up the campaign, taking service jobs to get by.
“The solution we demand is not to become rich, but to allow the independent union LRSU to return to work without discrimination,” he said. “We work and protest at the same time because we don’t want to starve in peacetime.”
Am Sam Ath, operations director at local rights group Licadho, said there have been no new developments in efforts to resolve the dispute involving current and former employees.
He said the international community and local civil society groups have previously urged the government to settle the issue in line with national and international law, particularly International Labor Organization conventions.
“I think the NagaWorld issue depends on the will of the relevant parties, especially the government,” he said. “If it intervenes to push for a resolution, the problem could be resolved. So it depends on the political will.”
