Ministries and other national bodies
Ministry of Labour and Vocational Training
Cambodia Govt denies factory closure rumours
Cambodia’s Labour Ministry has denied rumours that factories would be closed in December and has called for the arrest of the “mastermind” for spreading the rumour, Cambodian newspapers have reported. ...
Fibre2fashion News Staff
http://www.fibre2fashion.com/news/apparel-news/cambodia-govt-denies-factory-closure-rumours-176134-newsdetails.htm
Labor ministry seeking arrests over factory closure rumors
The Labor Ministry has called on authorities to find the source of rumors that the country’s garment factories were planning to close for the month of December and arrest those responsible, according to a statement issued Saturday. ...
Aun Pheap
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/labor-ministry-seeking-arrests-over-factory-closure-rumors-101457/
Takeo factory dispute negotiations prove fruitless
Unionists, factory representatives and Labor Ministry officials on Thursday failed to find a solution for about 1,600 employees of a garment factory in Takeo province who were fired for striking last month, and the case will be passed along to the Arbitration Council, a ministry ...
Sek Odom
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/takeo-factory-dispute-negotiations-prove-fruitless-100231/
Work permit applications surge amid crackdown
Since the government began its crackdown nearly one year and a half ago on foreigners without work permits, it has seen applications for work permits skyrocket alongside revenues from fines. ...
Ros Chanveasna
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/17213/work-permit-applications-surge-amid-crackdown/
Deadline for wage negotiations missed; Labor Ministry to decide
The tripartite Labor Advisory Committee (LAC) on Monday missed its provisional deadline to decide on a new minimum wage for the garment sector, with employers and trade unions making little progress in coming to an agreement. ...
Khuon Narim
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/deadline-for-wage-negotiations-missed-labor-ministry-to-decide-96513/
Labor law violators to face stiffer daily fines
Companies that violate the Labor Law will now face a five-fold increase in fines following a new order from the justice and labor ministries intended to encourage more compliance. ...
Mech Dara
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/labor-law-violators-to-face-stiffer-daily-fines-96054/
Unions come to consensus on wage proposal
A disparate group of independent and pro-government trade unions on Tuesday agreed to make $168 their proposal for the garment sector’s new monthly minimum wage in ongoing negotiations with employers, bridging weeks of differences. ...
Khuon Narim and Zsombor Peter
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/unions-come-to-consensus-on-wage-proposal-95949/
Gov’t tells Unions to pick a minimum wage or lose their say
The Labor Ministry on Tuesday warned unions that if they failed to reach a consensus on a new minimum wage for the garment sector ahead of Friday’s Labor Advisory Committee meeting on the issue, the committee would not consider any proposal from the unions at ...
Mech Dara and Zsombor Peter
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/govt-tells-unions-to-pick-a-minimum-wage-or-lose-their-say-95155/
Myanmar and Cambodia to trade labor arbitration experiences
Cambodia’s Arbitration Council will share its experiences in settling labor disputes at a series of workshops in Myanmar, a nation with a growing garment industry. ...
Pav Suy
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/15816/myanmar-and-cambodia-to-trade-labor-arbitration-experiences/
Informal workers find jobs easy, conditions poor
Young workers employed in Phnom Penh’s expansive informal economy may find it easy to get a job, but they face a high likelihood of labor abuses and receive significantly less pay than their peers in the formal sector, according to a study released over the ...
Aun Chhengpor and Janelle Retka
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/business/informal-workers-find-jobs-easy-conditions-poor-93174/
Thirty Unions call on Labor Ministry to rethink draft law
Thirty labor unions and associations appealed to the Labor Ministry on Friday to redraft its planned Trade Union Law, which they say will suppress industrial action and facilitate union busting, despite significant concessions in the latest draft. ...
Khuon Narim
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/thirty-unions-call-on-labor-ministry-to-rethink-draft-law-91748/
Union law could cost CPP the next election, labor leader warns
Draft legislation on trade unions will undermine the hard-won progress of labor unions here as well as violate fundamental rights enshrined in the Constitution, labor law and UN conventions, labor leaders said yesterday. ...
Chea Takihiro
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/14396/union-law-could-cost-cpp-the-next-election--labor-leader-warns/
Cambodian workers in limbo as Qatar drags heels on safety standards
The Cambodian government is working on an agreement with the Qatari government that would allow Cambodians to join the thousands of migrant workers helping to build the infrastructure for the 2022 World Cup. As a safety measure, the Cambodian government has requested that Qatar guarantee ...
Jonathan Cox
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/14391/cambodian-workers-in-limbo-as-qatar-drags-heels-on-safety-standards/
Cambodian Muslims see opportunities in ASEAN integration
The government wants Cambodia’s Muslim community to start its own bank to cater to the 600,000 Muslims living here, Labor and Vocational Training Ministry’s secretary of state Datuk Othsman Hassan said yesterday. ...
Va Sonyka
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/14055/cambodian-muslims-see-opportunities-in-asean-integration/
Work permit crackdown: Westerners next
Starting in August, the Labor Ministry plans to focus its work permit crackdown on “Western companies.” ...
Emmanuel Scheffer
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/13889/work-permit-crackdown--westerners-next/
Capitol tours bus company, 5 drivers remain deadlocked
Following a meeting at the Labor Ministry’s conflict resolution department Thursday, the Capitol Tours bus company and five of its drivers—who claim they were fired for attempting to organize a union—remained deadlocked over their reinstatement. ...
Sek Odom
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/capitol-tours-bus-company-5-drivers-remain-deadlocked-89321/
Cambodia grants work cards to 25,000 foreigners in six months
Cambodia’s Ministry of Labor granted about 25,000 work permits to foreigners in the first six months of 2015, about 5,000 more than the total of last year, a local newspaper reported Friday. ...
Global Post News Staff
http://www.globalpost.com/article/6617771/2015/07/17/cambodia-grants-work-cards-25000-foreigners-six-months
More than 7,000 pass Korean language test
The results of a Korean proficiency test for would-be migrant workers were released Wednesday, with more than 7,000 Cambodians qualifying as prospective laborers in South Korea’s agriculture, manufacturing and construction sectors, according to officials. ...
Kang Sothear and Tsz-kwan Ho
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/more-than-7000-pass-korean-language-test-88560/
ILO launching new garment newsletter
The International Labour Organization (ILO) on Thursday will launch a news bulletin focusing on Cambodia’s garment and shoe sector, aimed at providing data for Cambodian policymakers during annual minimum wage talks. ...
Sean Teehan
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/ilo-launching-new-garment-newsletter
Factory agrees to pay wages to former workers
A South Korean-owned garment factory bowed to union pressure Thursday and agreed to pay its former workers wages they are owed, following a meeting with the Ministry of Labor. ...
Ben Sokhean
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/factory-agrees-to-pay-wages-to-former-workers-87257/
Cambodia sends 11,529 laborers abroad in first half of 2015
Cambodia had dispatched some 11, 529 workers to five countries in the first six months of 2015, according to a report from the Ministry of Labor on Thursday. ...
Khmer Times News Staff
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/12574/cambodia-sends-11-529-laborers-abroad-in-first-half-of-2015/
Cambodia struggling to curb child labor
On the southern outskirts of Cambodia’s capital, a ramshackle factory turns out tens of thousands of bricks each month. Pale rows of freshly fired bricks wait for buyers under the corrugated iron roof, while a 50-meter-long oven leaks a dull heat as it bakes a ...
Robert Carmichael
http://www.voanews.com/content/cambodia-struggling-to-curb-child-labor/2833593.html
Child garment workers not a problem, minister says
The labor minister said Tuesday there were so few underage workers in the garment industry that “we can count them on our fingers,” but a unionist and an NGO countered that child labor was still rife in the country’s smaller garment factories. ...
Mech Dara
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/child-garment-workers-not-a-problem-minister-says-85699/
More wage negotiations set, as workers maintain demands
The government has released a schedule for minimum wage discussions with unions and factories this year, as workers continue to demand $177 per month to keep up with the rising cost of living. More talks are scheduled from July through January. ...
Hul Reaksmey
http://www.voacambodia.com/content/more-wage-negotiations-set-as-workers-maintain-demands/2822361.html