Cambodia: Dismissed luxury hotel workers face 'cultural protection' police and political pressure

Five months after their mass dismissal for exercising their fundamental right to form a union, 67 workers continue to hold peaceful demonstrations daily in front of the five star Angkor Village Hotel and Angkor Village Botanical Resort Hotel in Siem Reap. Ignoring court orders and growing international condemnation, the hotel owners, Olivier Piot and Tep Vattho, have responded with more fabricated charges against the workers and wielded political influence through a local government agency whose official role is to protect the Angkor World Heritage Site.

The internationally funded APSARA (Authority for the Protection and Management of Angkor and the Region of Siem Reap) has "the triple role of tourism management, urban planning and safeguarding the cultural heritage of the Angkor", but it seems that in her position as head of APSARA's Urban Development Department, Tep Vattho has added a fourth role - preventing demonstrations in front of her luxury hotel.

When the unfairly dismissed workers attempted to distribute copies of the IUF campaign story and action alert in English and French to passing tourists and take photos of their peaceful protest action, the APSARA police intervened to stop them. The APSARA police then confiscated the workers' mobile phones to erase all the photos of the demonstration - a clear abuse of power.

This latest action against the dismissed workers and their union casts new doubt on the internationally-financed APSARA, which appointed a luxury hotel owner to be in charge of urbanization in a World Heritage listed site.

An even more insidious political influence was apparent in the sudden turnaround by the Siem Reap Court on December 14, 2011, which issued a new verdict overturning the October 26 ruling ordering the immediate reinstatement of the unfairly dismissed workers. The new decision legalizing the workers' unfair dismissal - issued by the same judge against his own verdict! - was not the result of new evidence submitted by the employers and has left the dismissed workers shocked and dismayed. The Cambodian Labour Confederation (CLC) immediately filed complaints with the Ministry of Justice and the government's Constitutional Council demanding an explanation for the judge's new verdict.

On January 6 IUF General Secretary, Ron Oswald, wrote to the Minister of Tourism, Dr. Thong Khon, to remind the government of its commitment to ethical and responsible tourism, describing the violations of workers' rights by the owners of Angkor Village Hotel as a shameful example of "unethical tourism".

CLICK HERE to send a message to the Cambodian Ministry of Tourism calling on the government to fulfill its commitment to promote ethical and responsible tourism by ensuring that the owners of Angkor Village Hotel stop abusing the authority of APSARA and immediately reinstate all the dismissed workers with back pay and recognize their unions.