"NagaWorld casino workers petition government for financial help", 17 June 2020

More than 200 NagaWorld employees submitted a petition at the Ministry of Labor to request a stimulus payment of $40 per month as entertainment venues remain closed in a bid to contain the spread of Covid-19.

Chhim Sithar, 32, president of NagaWorld’s Khmer Employees’ Labor Rights Support Union said outside the ministry that she and other employees of the casino’s gaming department brought their petition to the ministry because they have not been given the $40 monthly allotment provided to workers in other sectors hit hard by Covid-19…

“I hope that our petition will be considered by the government,” she said, also asking why the government had not allowed NagaWorld to reopen while factories and offices had been allowed to do so.

… She said that 90 percent of NagaWorld’s nearly 9,000 employees had taken out loans, and that she was considering making an appeal to banks and MFIs to suspend repayments.

Ry Sovandy, 38, a Nagaworld employee and union activist who has worked at the casino and resort for 13 years, said she was facing huge financial distress and could not afford her $600 monthly loan repayments.

… However, a similar petition for monthly financial support delivered to the Labor Ministry … by a group of entertainment industry workers was turned down earlier this week...

Ou Tepphallin, president of CFSWF, said that the ministry had sent a letter on June 15 declining to provide a subsidy, saying the government had already finalized its budget package…