Garments and textiles

Ten union representatives were yesterday suspended from the Southland garment factory in Phnom Penh’s Por Sen Chey district after more than a thousand workers went on strike to protest the factory’s decisions about time taken off for voting in Sunday’s commune elections. ...

Exports grew at a solid pace in 2016, rising by 7.2 percent to $7.3 billion, but the number of registered exporting factories fell by 10.4 per cent, while the number of workers declined by 2.9 per cent, compared to 2015.   ...

While Cambodia’s garment sector exhibited solid growth last year, employment levels declined, raising concerns about a potential rise in unregulated subcontracting, the International Labour Organization (ILO) said in a report released yesterday. ...

Cambodia’s garment factories appear to be ramping up their use of subcontractors, which tend to get the least attention from regulators and raise the most fears of abuse among labor rights groups, according to a report released on Monday. ...

Cambodia’s garment manufacturing industry has eclipsed rival Vietnam as a supplier of products to the European Union and is on course to overtake India, a visiting industry insider said yesterday. ...

Germany-based apparel industry trade fair organiser Messe Frankfurt France signed a memorandum of understanding with the Garment Manufacturers Association in Cambodia yesterday to offer discounted exhibitor fees to Cambodian manufacturers in a deal valued at €400,000 ($450,000). ...

Cambodia’s upgrade to lower-middle income status and looming competition from an E.U.-Vietnam trade deal pose major risks to the country’s garment and footwear export industry, a European business representative said on Thursday. ...

Two of the country’s biggest garment workers’ unions have asked the government to make factories give their workers three days of paid leave and provide loans for travel expenses to allow them to return to their hometowns to vote in the upcoming local elections. ...

Exports to the United States rebounded in the first quarter of the year, an increase of almost two percent on the same period last year, despite fears over protectionist trade policies to be ushered in by US President Donald Trump. ...

More than 1,000 garment workers from a factory in Kandal province’s Takhmao City blocked a public road on Wednesday in protest over unpaid wages that have left them struggling to afford food and pay their rents, a union official said. ...

Cambodia’s minister of labour applauded the strong growth and employment levels for the garment and footwear sector yesterday, though industry representatives noted a slight slowdown due to increased competition from regional players. ...

A Japanese beauty company is to invest in Cambodian silk production to supply the local market and export to Asia and the United States. Il Brille, which runs two beauty salons and a shop in Phnom Penh, uses silk in cosmetic treatments and products for customers. ...

Taiwanese-owner garment manufacturer Grand Twins International (GTI), which posted a 44 percent surge in revenue and a massive 390 percent in net profit last year, attributed the surge to an increase in orders and the decrease of raw material costs, administration costs and total commissions, ...

According to the official announcement, manufacturers in the textile, garment and footwear industry must do more to stop employees from fainting and suffering ill health as a result of working under excessive temperatures. ...

Today, mulberry trees are a rarity in Cambodia – most of them having been destroyed during the Khmer Rouge era – and silk weavers in Phnom Penh’s main silk producing area in Koh Dach, an island on the Mekong river, have no choice but to ...

Plans to pay garment workers twice a month will be difficult for employers to implement, industry representatives have warned. The Labor Ministry is amending laws so companies will be required to pay staff twice a month, in a bid to protect workers from being abandoned by ...

More than 600 workers from the capital’s Bodykids Fashion Wear factory protested on Friday and Saturday after management failed to pay them their February wages. ...

Labor dispute complaints in the garment and textile sector declined last year compared with 2015, according to the Arbitration Council, which attributed the drop to the Trade Union Law. ...

The Phnom Penh Municipal Court has issued a warrant for the temporary seizure of Top World Garment Cambodia Ltd’s property in order to get the employer to appear and find a solution for workers still owed their December salaries. ...

Cambodia’s total exports to the United States declined last year compared with 2015, due to uncertainties in the US presidential race and rising exports from Vietnam and new market player Myanmar. ...

About 100 workers from the Chung Fai Knitwear factory in Phnom Penh’s Meanchey district protested in front of the capital’s municipal court yesterday, demanding a judge remove a fee they are unable to pay. ...

The Labor Ministry is considering constructing a railway line connecting Phnom Penh and select provinces to special economic zones (SEZ) or industrial areas in response to the high number of road accidents involving commuting workers. ...

Cambodia’s critical garment export sector could face major risks in both the short and long term from the U.K.’s surprise vote last year to exit the E.U., the International Labor Organization (ILO) has warned. ...

Nearly 1,700 garment factory workers in Svay Rieng province’s Bavet town entered day five of their protest yesterday against a factory over wage cuts as well as allegations that the factory was responsible for the assault of a union representative. Protestors accused Lu Thai (Cambodia) of ...