NGO Says Clothing Giants Shirked Workers
A local legal aid NGO said yesterday that American retail giant Wal-mart and Swedish clothing brand H&m have failed to take responsibility for a shuttered supplier factory in Phnom Penh that owes its workers up to $200,000 in unpaid severance payments. The Community Legal Education Center ...
Radio Ban Sparks Debate of Media Freedom in Cambodia
While observers yesterday accused the government of censorship for ordering radio stations not to transmit international broadcasters over the election weekend, a government spokesman defended the move. On Sunday, a ministry of Information official said the ministry had ordered local F.m. stations not to transmit Voice ...
UN wants probe into Cambodian violence
The UN human rights agency urged Cambodia to launch an investigation into the “disproportionate” use of force by security forces last week against garment factory workers striking over pay. military police opened fire on workers protesting outside a factory in Phnom Penh on January 3 and ...
Peninsula On-line News Staff
http://thepeninsulaqatar.com/news/asia/267595/un-wants-probe-into-cambodian-violence
Union President calls for inspectors
The president of the Free Trade Union yesterday sent a letter to the Ministry of Labour’s inspection departMent to Monitor working conditions at M&aMp;V factories in KaMpong Chhnang province, alleging excessive overtiMe is causing workers to faint. “They have to work both in day and night ...
Muhibbah JV bags RM276m projects for Cambodia’s airports
Muhibbah Engineering (M) Bhd and its joint venture partner has secured two contracts valued at US$87Mil (RM276Mil) to build and expand two airports in CaMbodia. Muhibbah has a 30% stake in SCA [Societe Concessionnaire de L’Aeroport]. The duration for the PhnoM Penh Airport and SieM ...
The Star Online News Staff
http://www.thestar.com.my/Business/Business-News/2013/11/06/Muhibbah-JV-bags-RM276m-projects-for-Cambodia-airports.aspx
Cambodia discusses garment issues with buyers from global brands
Cambodian Permanent Deputy Prime minister Keat Chhon on Wednesday met with a delegation representing 30 global brands and global trade unions to discuss the current situation of garment sector. The delegation comprised 27 global brands including H&m Hennes & mauritz AB, Gap Inc., Adidas, Puma, Levi ...
Xinhuanet News Staff
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/world/2014-02/19/c_133128000.htm
Brands, international unions press Cambodian government on labor issues
Representatives from some of the world’s largest fashion brands and the leader of one of the world’s biggest union organizations met this week with Cambodian officials and local clothing manufacturers to demand better treatment and improve workplace safety for the country’s estimated 600,000 garment workers. Garment ...
Robert Carmichael
http://www.voanews.com/content/brands-international-unions-press-government-on-labor-issues/1923596.html
Cambodia the focus of new IT training course
Cambodia boasts one of the youngest populations in Southeast Asia, with youth under 30 making up nearly 68 percent of the total number of people in the country, according to the United Nations. And its young demographics and relatively cheap labor are just a few of ...
Park Eun-Jee
http://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/news/article/Article.aspx?aid=2990542
Cambodian garment workers, bloodied in crackdown, continue wage struggle
Just over a month after a brutal police crackdown on striking Cambodian garment workers left at least five people dead, the country’s unions are calling for another strike in march, increasing the likelihood of further violence. At issue is the still-unresolved question of the workers’ minimum monthly wage. Roughly 700,000 ...
Christina Larson
http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2014-02-20/cambodian-garment-workers-bloodied-in-crackdown-continue-wage-struggle
Clash erupts at SL factory
Security guards clashed yesterday with workers from two SL Garment factories that supply Levi’s, Gap and H&m, as the number of employees protesting exceeded 5,500 – or more than 90 per cent of the staff. Protester Kim Voeun, 32, said security guards, in the presence of ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012052456366/National-news/clash-erupts-at-sl-factory.html
Demand for cheap rentals outnumbers supply
The boom in high-rise buildings in Phnom Penh indicates the robust economic growth of the Kingdom, but this trend does not include the lower-end accommodation where most economic migrants to Phnom Penh rent.“Cheap rental accommodation plays a crucial role in providing appropriate settlements to those ...
Sam Sopanharith
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/real-estate/demand-cheap-rentals-outnumbers-supply
UK: Cambodia worker health part of M&S Plan A progress
UK retailer Marks &aMp; Spencer (M&aMp;S) is trialling a new caMpaign aiMed at helping 14,000 garMent workers in CaMbodia deal with coMMon health issues, as part of its Plan A ethical prograMMe. The coMpany, which aiMs to becoMe the world’s Most sustainable Major retailer by 2015, ...
Katie Smith
http://www.just-style.com/news/cambodia-worker-health-part-of-ms-plan-a-progress_id119714.aspx
Baffling Mass Faintings in Cambodia
It sounds like something from a Victorian novel – hundreds of young women falling, en masse, into a swoon. But this phenomenon has become a bafflingly common occurrence in modern-day Cambodia. The incidents have been limited to women working in a small number of the country’s ...
Union boss adds another strike to plate
With a court date hanging over his head for his involvement in the Tai Yang factories strike in Kandal province, Cambodian Confederation of Unions president Rong Chhun yesterday intervened in another garment dispute, this time in Kampong Speu province. About 1,000 workers entered day five of ...
H&M under fire for low Cambodia wages
H&m workers in Cambodia are only paid 3 kronor ($0.45) an hour, forcing many into debt to feed their families, according to a report on the TV4 documentary Kalla Fakta (The Cold Facts) many textile workers therefore borrow money for food, leading to considerable debts with ...
SL Garment Protesters Gain Little From Talks at Labor Ministry
A two-day meeting between union leaders, senior government officials and representatives of the SL Garment Factory failed Tuesday to reach a solution for factory workers, who have been on strike since early August and on monday demonstrated in front of Prime minister Hun Sen’s Phnom ...
Ben Woods and Khy Sovuthy
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/sl-garment-protesters-gain-little-from-talks-at-labor-ministry-45708/
Ministry Meets Striking Union Representatives
Ministry of Social Affairs officials yesterday conducted a Meeting between the owners of a factory, which produces clothing for H&aMp;M, Gap and Levi Strauss, and its workers, but threatened to file a coMplaint against the Coalition of CaMbodian Apparel Workers DeMocratic Union (CCAWDU), union representatives ...
No deal in SL Garment factory face-off
A long day of negotiations failed to resolve a factory dispute yesterday at a company that supplies to major international brands Gap, Levi’s and H&m. After more than 1,500 workers from SL Garment Processing (Cambodia) factories in the capital’s meanchey district marched to the ministry of ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012052356325/National-news/no-deal-in-factory-face-off.html
Brands tell GMAC to dial it down
Some of the world’s largest clothing brands have warned the Garment manufacturers Association in Cambodia of possible business ramifications should the factory representative continue with plans to impede labour monitoring. Thirteen major buyers, including Gap, H&m, Levi’s, Nike and Puma, have signed a letter to GmAC ...
Daniel de Carteret
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/brands-tell-gmac-dial-it-down
ILO doubts bleak garment outlook
The International Labour Organization (ILO) yesterday cast doubt on the Garment manufacturers Association in Cambodia’s (GmAC) bleak outlook for the rest of 2014, after the association claimed that deadly violence sparked by wage disputes would result in clothing brands reducing future orders. Speaking from Bangkok, maurizio ...
Daniel de Carteret
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/ilo-doubts-bleak-garment-outlook