Social Dialogue and Capacity Building for Strengthening Labour Disputes Prevention & Resolution Mechanisms in Cambodia

Establishing effective dispute prevention & resolution mechanisms is critical for fair, harmonious employment relations and productive enterprises. Cambodia recognizes this and the country has some mechanisms in place to prevent and/or resolve labour disputes. The conciliation services provided by Ministry of Labour and Vocational Training (MoLVT) and the Arbitration Council seems to face challenges due to lack of awareness on the specific details of labor laws or dispute resolution procedures, and insufficient credibility on the objectivity and fairness of the dispute resolution service. Cambodia does not have tripartite labour relations commissions that some other countries have to address individual and collective disputes. Labour disputes often end up in litigation in civil courts which may resolve a particular dispute but often does not address underlying conflicts that led to the dispute and is thus not effective in improving industrial relations. Workers organizations have often pointed out that it takes too much time and emotional energy to get industrial disputes resolved and then get the decisions implemented. Both men and women workers, most of who earn primarily minimum wages, do not have the resources to go through this long-drawn dispute resolution process. During the discussions for the new DWCP, among the priorities identified by constituents are also: social dialogue and capacity building to strengthen the national labour dispute resolution mechanism, including the technical capacities of conciliators and arbitrators and strengthening of Arbitration Council (AC) as an independent, professional and trusted ADR institution in Cambodia. Improving dispute resolution systems and practices, including collective bargaining and mediation services, is necessary, otherwise labour conflicts will affect productivity of investments and become hurdles in the growth process and adversely affect businesses, economy and the workers prospects for decent work. It is against this background that this proposal is being put forth for supporting social dialogue to review the ‘policy approach(es), institutional arrangements, processes and practices’ in Cambodia for labour disputes resolution, identify areas for improvement and follow up with capacity building to strengthen dispute resolution systems.

Project symbol

KHM/24/50/KOR

Admin unit

RO-Asia and the Pacific

Start date

11/06/2024

End date

10/06/2026

Total allocation

453677

Total expenditure

Status

Active

210912

Development Partners

Republic of Korea, Ministry of Labour

Country/Countries

Asia and the Pacific - regional
Cambodia

Outcomes

Outcome 2: Strong, representative and influential tripartite constituents and effective social dialogue