Health cash fails workers
The Labor Ministry spent more than four billion riel on help for garment workers involved in accidents in the first three months of the year, but unions say staff are still struggling to access healthcare. Labor Minister Ith Samheng said the National Social Security Fund cash, worth about $1 million, was used to support workers in traffic accidents or who fainted at work. “The government is paying close attention to how it implements the social security fund for those covered by the Labor Law. NSSF had a total income of more than 441 billion riel from 2008 until 2017 and has spent 141 billion riel. The rest is held in reserves,” he said. Mr. Samheng said there are more than 1.14 million garment workers across the country. Last year, the NSSF paid out money to benefit more than 34,000 workers.
