A public workshop on the long-awaited draft union law scheduled for next week has been delayed following the ruling CPP and opposition CNRP agreeing on Thursday to create a joint committee to review the law.
According to a National Assembly statement issued Friday, the workshop was postponed because the Assembly’s CPP-led legislative commission, which was put in charge of preparing the law for a vote and hosting the workshop, “needs more time to prepare.”
CNRP lawmaker Ke Sovannaroth, head of the Assembly’s labor commission, said that the delay would allow the opposition to have more say in the law.
“The adhoc [committee] will be created soon, and I think that my commission must be part of this ad hoc committee,” she said.
Ms. Sovannaroth said that she would raise concerns about restrictions the law would impose on workers’ freedom of expression and right to strike.
“More importantly, this law was sent to the National Assembly before the roy al Government had talked widely with concerned trade unions, and the draft law doesn’t seriously reflect the union’s concerns.”
