The Labour Court will be ready to hear cases by the end of next year, according to the Cambodian Labour Ministry.
The court is being optimistically designed to effectively resolve labor disputes in the garment sector, the Khmer Times online on Wednesday quoted Labour Minister Ith Samheng as saying.
The ministry is now cooperating with the International Labor Organization (ILO) to write the court’s policy.
“We are in the preparation stage of a draft law on the procedures of the Labour Court and its preparations. The Labour Ministry and ILO set a 12-month timeline for the project,” Samheng said, adding that the project had started a month ago.
After the court policy is finalised, an additional seven months will be needed to train the court’s human resources, Samheng said.
“We are preparing the court policy to strengthen mechanisms for solving labour disputes in the workplace, strengthen the implementation of the Union Law, Labour Law and other relevant laws,” he said.
The announcement of the new court comes as the number of labour disputes in the country has dramatically increased. According to the Arbitration Council, the body tasked with resolving collective labour disputes, some 2,500 labour dispute cases had been registered by the end of last year since the council’s founding in 2003, with the number of cases reported increasing year on year.
The 28 cases that were reported per month during the first quarter of 2016 are a dramatic rise from the two cases that were reported per month in 2003.
Of the 2,500 registered cases, only 75% have been resolved effectively by the Arbitration Council, the council’s board director, Chhiv Phirom, said at the 7th National Industrial Relation Conference on Tuesday.
Ath Thorn, president of the Coalition of Cambodian Apparel Workers’ Democratic Union, said he welcomed the presence of the Labour Court, which workers and unions have waited for years to be established.
“The Labour Court’s establishment was a request made by workers for years during which we have suffered in the general courts,” Thorn said. “Because it takes time, money and since [court officials] don’t have techniques to preside over cases involving professional skill over labour,” Thorn said, adding that such shortcomings often cause court officials to mishandle cases involving strikes and unions.
Thorn also expressed concerns over the independence, efficiency and cost of the Labour Court.
Samheng, responding to the concerns, sought to placate worriers. “I believe that the court will provide justice, no need to worry about this,” he said.
Sandra D’Amico, vice president of the Cambodian Federation of Employers and Business Associations, said that a labour court should be an important tool used to resolve labour disputes quickly, transparently and proactively.
She added that she hoped Cambodia’s Labour Court could be used as a new model for the legal and judicial sector.