Organising

To date a very small percentage of workers are organized into unions or associations, estimated at less than 5% percent of the total Cambodian workforce. The vast majority of organized workers are found in the garment industry where around 60% of workers are unionized. Despite the relatively high number of union federations it is well documented that the ruling party has tried to control major unions to support their agenda. As noted by Nuon Veasna, while some of these trade unions make noise about labor violations, these noises have been perceived as `orchestrations’ of political parties to portray some semblance of democracy in the country. CENTRAL commits to supporting only independent federations, associations and networks. CENTRAL provides training and research to workers and independent networks on supply chains, core labor standards, freedom of association and social movement unionism and peaceful demonstration. CENTRAL facilitates the expansion of existing independent networks and the collective bargaining of these networks for increased wages, better working conditions and provision of relevant public services and policies.