Manufacturing
Garments and textiles
Ocean loses case: Bosses told to pay out lost wages
The Arbitration Council Foundation yesterday ruled that a Phnom Penh garment factory that announced it was closing for a month must pay employees 100 per cent of the wages they would have earned during that period. ...
Mom Kunthear
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/ocean-loses-case-bosses-told-pay-out-lost-wages
Workers continue strike over change to pay day
About 1,000 workers from the Canteran factory in Phnom Penh’s Dangkao district continued to strike on Saturday over a decision to push back the day they are paid. The workers have been on strike since Thursday after being told they will be paid on the 10th ...
Mech Dara
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/workers-continue-strike-over-change-to-pay-day-63314/
Registration of garment factories up in first half
The number of garment factories registered in Cambodia reached 1,200 at the end of June, an 8 per cent increase over six months ago, according to data released by the Ministry of Industry and Handicraft. The report also showed that the garment sector employed 733,300 workers ...
Daniel de Carteret
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/registration-garment-factories-first-half
ILO says shaming factories leading to improved standards
Naming and shaming factories that fail to ensure a basic standard of conditions for their workers is starting to improve standards in the crucial garment sector, according to the International Labor Organization (ILO), but persistent offenders remain. Nine factories are included in the “lowest compliance” category ...
Holly Robertson and Sun Heng
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/ilo-says-shaming-factories-leading-to-improved-standards-63202/
Labor committee details schedule for wage talks: report
The Labor Advisory Committee has asked unions and employers to start separate internal talks on wages this month under a schedule it approved in June, an industry source says. In a report late Wednesday, Fibre2fashion.com said the 28-member committee had agreed that the talks would be ...
The Cambodia Herald News Staff
http://www.thecambodiaherald.com/cambodia/detail/1?page=13&token=MzMxODViNmRhMzh
200 workers protest against forced overtime
About 200 workers from the Chinese-owned Pollysa (Cambodia) Home Textile factory in Sihanoukville protested Wednesday against the overtime they were being forced to work and the firing of 20 employees earlier this week who refused the extra hours, workers and a union representative said. Starting at ...
Ben Sokhean
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/200-factory-workers-protest-against-forced-overtime-63085/
Workers win seniority pay
A six-month standoff that eventually halted a box factory’s production ended on Friday, when managers of the factory in the capital’s Por Sen Chey district paid seniority bonuses to almost 150 former employees. Harta Packaging Industries paid bonuses of between $500 and $4,000 to a total ...
Mom Kunthear
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/workers-win-seniority-pay
Garment workers continue protest after factory owner flees
About 400 garment workers who lost their jobs when their factory abruptly closed earlier this month blocked access to Canadia Industrial Park on Saturday to demand full severance pay. Workers from the Hongkong Yufeng factory, which unexpectedly closed on June 9, are demanding that management of ...
Ben Sokhean
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/garment-workers-continue-protest-after-factory-owner-flees-62738/
Workers faint en masse at coat factory in Bavet
Nearly 50 workers fainted on Saturday at a coat factory in the Tai Seng Special Economic Zone in Bavet City, Svay Rieng, a factory representative said Sunday. The incident was precipitated by one worker who fainted because she was already sick, setting off a chain reaction ...
Hay Pisey
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/workers-faint-en-masse-at-coat-factory-in-bavet-62748/
Factory reopens amid strike
A packaging factory is back in business, opening its doors after about 200 former employees stopped blocking shipments, which they had been doing since Saturday. Factory management at Harta Packaging Industries acquiesced to a negotiation session with the group, which has been protesting against the company ...
Mom Kunthear
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/factory-reopens-amid-strike
Ocean Garment to stay shuttered until July 9
A garment factory will prolong its monthlong closure until at least July 9, when the Arbitration Council Foundation rules on a case brought by its workers. ...
Sean Teehan and Mom Kunthear
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/ocean-garment-stay-shuttered-until-july-9
Union boss to appeal $25k bail
Union leader Ath Thorn has been granted an Appeal Court appearance on July 1, in which he will argue against conditions that required him to pay $25,000 bail over an ongoing court case. The Coalition of Cambodian Apparel Workers’ Democratic Union (C.CAWDU) president is due to ...
Sean Teehan
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/union-boss-appeal-25k-bail
Ocean reps take case to arbitration
Twenty representatives of workers locked in a monthlong dispute with management at the Ocean Garment factory appeared before the Arbitration Council yesterday, a union official said. A spokesman from the Arbitration Council yesterday told the Post that such cases are typically sorted out within 15 working days. ...
Mom Kunthear
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/ocean-reps-take-case-arbitration
Six unions call for pay, acquittals
Union leaders made another appeal for the Cambodian government to raise the minimum wage to $160 and rescind convictions of 25 workers arrested during deadly demonstrations in November and January. ...
Sean Teehan
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/six-unions-call-pay-acquittals
Arbitration’s cost and value
The Arbitration Council Foundation, credited with helping resolve about 1,700 industrial disputes, has reached verbal agreement with a Swedish aid agency to receive funding until the end of 2016, a spokesman said yesterday. But members of the labour-dispute resolution body desire a more permanent solution that ...
Sean Teehan
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/arbitration%E2%80%99s-cost-and-value
Workers block gates, burn tires at Japanese-owned box factory
About 80 workers protesting against a Japanese factory in Phnom Penh that produces cardboard boxes blocked the gates Friday after managers refused to hold a meeting with employees. Workers burned tires in front of the Harta Packaging factory, which they have been protesting against since February, ...
UN envoy meets employers over labor unrest
U.N. human rights envoy Surya Subedi met with representatives of the country’s businesses and employers Thursday for talks that focused on the protection of workers’ rights and measures that can be taken to ensure that strained industrial relations do not once again erupt into violence. In ...
Lauren Crothers
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/un-envoy-meets-employers-over-labor-unrest-61951/
Bank pays out after factory boss ‘flees’
Workers at a garment factory that closed without warning last week received payment yesterday for nearly a month and a half of work, but some are still waiting for bonuses owed to them. More than 400 workers lined up at the Canadia Industrial Park gates, behind ...
Mom Kunthear
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/bank-pays-out-after-factory-boss-%E2%80%98flees%E2%80%99
Cambodia: Garment and textile exports grow in Q1
Despite lapses in factory safety and ongoing labour unrest, Cambodian exports of garments and textiles grew 9% in the first three months of the year. According to data from the Garment Manufacturers Association in Cambodia (GMAC), Cambodia exported US$1.17bn worth of garments and textiles between January ...
Katie Smith
http://www.just-style.com/news/garment-and-textile-exports-grow-in-q1_id122051.aspx
Wage group agrees on January 1 raises
The group in charge of determining the national minimum wage for the garment sector yesterday agreed to increase salaries annually on January 1, determined by discussions that are to take place in the final quarter of each preceding year, officials said. The agreement was signed during ...
Mom Kunthear
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/wage-group-agrees-january-1-raises
Two’s company at CSX
It may not have all the glitter, adrenaline or the iconic tolling bell of Wall Street, but today, the usually deserted Cambodian Stock Exchange (CSX) will be a hive of activity. After first hinting at an initial public offering more than two years ago, garment manufacturer ...
Eddie Morton
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/two%E2%80%99s-company-csx
Despite Employer’s Concessions, Workers Vow to Continue Protest
Workers at the Beautiful Spring Footwear factory in Takeo province refused to end a two-day protest on Saturday after management ceded to most of their demands but refused to raise their good-attendance bonus. The factory’s roughly 1,000 workers started protesting outside the building on Friday, two ...
Union leader to face another day in court
The leader of Cambodia’s largest independent garment union is due to appear in court this afternoon for a third round of pretrial questioning over a case stemming from a strike that ended more than six months ago. Coalition of Cambodian Apparel Workers’ Democratic Union (C.CAWDU) president ...
Sean Teehan
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/union-leader-face-another-day-court
H&M, ILO Form New Industrial Relations Initiative
In an effort to bring stability back to the country’s embattled but crucial garment industry, the Ministry of Labor has joined forces with the International Labor Organization (ILO) and Swedish clothing giant H&M in a campaign for unions and factories to sign direct agreements to ...
Lauren Crothers
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/hm-ilo-form-new-industrial-relations-initiative-61424/