Manufacturing
Garments and textiles
Cambodian Panel Begins to Grapple With Minimum Wage Reforms
Cambodia’s newly established government panel to investigate minimum wage reform held its first meeting Thursday to lay out a strategy for addressing the hot button issue, as union leaders announced plans to protest to back their demand for monthly salary increases for footwear and garment ...
Radio Free Asia News Staff
http://www.rfa.org/english/news/cambodia/committee-02062014185924.html
Unions argue over wage committee reforms
Meeting for a minimum wage workshop on Tuesday, the country’s independent and government-aligned unions argued over reforms to the Labor Advisory Committee (LAC), the body in charge of setting the minimum wage in the garment sector, which employs some 600,000 workers. The LAC, which is composed ...
Aun Pheap
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/unions-argue-over-wage-committee-reforms-51452/
Garment Workers Injured in Svay Rieng Crash
At least 86 garment workers were injured when the 3-ton truck in which they were traveling overturned on National Road 1 in Svay Rieng province Tuesday morning, police and health officials said. In November, seven people were killed and 17 others seriously injured when a ...
Ben Sokhean
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/garment-workers-injured-in-svay-rieng-crash-51454/
Illegal factory floor removed
The illegally built second storey of the Siu Quinh garment factory in Phnom Penh has been destroyed, factory officials and workers said yesterday. Bun Leng, administrative manager at the factory in Dangkor district, said his company had demolished the floor after inspection from a private company ...
Mom Kunthear
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/illegal-factory-floor-removed
No Results in Protest Shooting Investigations
At 10 a.m. on January 3, about 2,000 members of the security forces, mostly military police, advanced down Phnom Penh’s factory-lined Veng Sreng Street, spraying AK-47 assault rifle fire into a crowd of about 100 protesters who had been throwing stones and crude Molotov cocktails. ...
Khuon Narim and Colin Meyn
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/no-results-in-protest-shooting-investigations-51325/
Monks, Workers Hold Vigil for Slain Protesters
About 100 monks, activists and workers returned on Saturday evening to the Canadia Industrial Park, where garment workers clashed with military police on January 3, to pray for the five protesters who were shot dead in the violence and call for the release of 23 ...
Mech Dara
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/monks-workers-hold-vigil-for-slain-protesters-51222/
Tours aimed at attracting workers
As cooks prepped for lunch yesterday at an outdoor cafeteria for workers employed by the Japanese-owned Taica factory, more than a dozen commune-level officials inspected the premises. Seemingly satisfied with the dining operation, they moved into a recreational room with a large, flat-screen television. Taica ...
Daniel de Carteret
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/tours-aimed-attracting-workers
Two thousand strike over factory firings
More than 2,000 garment workers at a Vattanac II Industrial Park protested in front of the complex, threatening to block National Road 3 and demanding the reinstatement of 11 union officials and the firing of the manager who allegedly dismissed them. ...
Mom Kunthear
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/two-thousand-strike-over-factory-firings
Witnesses speak for CC3 detainees
Four witnesses appeared at Phnom Penh Municipal Court yesterday to testify on behalf of 13 of the 23 men detained in Kampong Cham’s Correctional Centre 3 since crackdowns on striking garment workers at the beginning of this month, a lawyer representing the 13 said. ...
Meas Sokchea
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/witnesses-speak-cc3-detainees
Union reps fired after strike
Despite Cambodia’s labour law forbidding employers from taking action against workers for engaging in union activity, more than 100 labour union representatives have been fired from at least 12 factories this month for encouraging workers to strike for a $160 monthly minimum wage. The firings came ...
Sean Teehan and Mom Kunthear
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/union-reps-fired-after-strike
Union Reps Questioned Over Violent Protests
The Interior Ministry’s penal department on Monday questioned two representatives of the Cambodian Alliance of Trade Unions (CATU) over claims that they incited violence during protests at a Kandal province garment factory in late December. Jack Liu, director-general of Tainan Enterprises (Cambodia) Co. Ltd., filed a ...
Aun Pheap and Khuon Narim
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/union-reps-questioned-over-violent-protests-51076/
Cambodian garment export earns 5.53 bln USD in 2013
Garment industry, Cambodia’s largest foreign currency earner, reported a 20 percent rise in exports last year, according to the figures of the Ministry of Commerce on Monday. The Southeast Asian nation exported apparel products in equivalent to 5.53 billion U.S. dollars last year, up 20 percent ...
Xinhuanet News Staff
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/world/2014-01/27/c_133078498.htm
Labor Leaders Say Negotiations Should Continue
International trade leaders say Cambodia’s workers and managers should continue to negotiate for an increase in wages, despite a deadly crackdown on worker protests earlier this month. Workers want a raise in the minimum wage to $160 per month to keep up with the rising cost ...
Sok Khemara, VOA Khmer
http://www.voacambodia.com/content/labor-leaders-say-negotiations-should-continue/1837064.html
Garment IPO to pay for factory
Taiwanese garment factory Grand Twins International (GTI) has carefully laid out a schedule so it can go public on Cambodia’s stock exchange after the dust settles from unrest tied to minimum wage disputes, according to the company’s chief financial controller, Henry Chen. GTI received approval from ...
Eddie Morton and Hor Kimsay
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/garment-ipo-pay-factory
Workers strike again to demand strike pay
About 2,000 workers at Takeo province’s I-Cheng (Cambodia) Cooperation remain on strike today, after management held steady in its refusal to pay employees for days they joined in a national garment worker strike in December and this month. ...
Mom Kunthear
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/workers-strike-again-demand-strike-pay
Unions take big picture view
Union leaders yesterday said that despite having held strikes calling for a doubling of the minimum wage that were supported and encouraged by the country’s opposition party, they did not feel betrayed that the wage hike was taking a backseat in political negotiations. Following a government ...
Mom Kunthear and Kevin Ponniah
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/unions-take-big-picture-view
The Plight of Cambodia's Garment Workers, On Display on a Manhattan Sidewalk
Last week, on a busy sidewalk in Times Square, a hunched figure in a surgical mask labored at a hand-operated sewing machine. This anonymous worker was Khmer-American artist Kat Eng. According to her website, she sat in front of the flagship location of clothing giant H&M ...
Sarah Goodyear
http://www.theatlanticcities.com/arts-and-lifestyle/2014/01/plight-cambodias-garment-workers-laid-bare-manhattans-sidewalks/8187/
Chea Vichea Remembered 10 Years After Slaying
Ten years ago Wednesday, union leader Chea Vichea walked to his favorite newsstand in front of Wat Lanka to read the day’s headlines: Prime Minister Hun Sen had ordered spending cuts, health officials were trying to handle the first outbreak of bird flu in Southeast ...
Khy Sovuthy and Denise Hruby
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/chea-vichea-remembered-10-years-after-slaying-50962/
Cambodia bourse to get second IPO in April
Taiwanese garment factory Grand Twins International will be the second company to go public on Cambodia’s fledgling stock exchange, the Securities and Exchange Commission of Cambodia (SECC) confirmed yesterday. ...
Daniel de Carteret
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/cambodia-bourse-get-second-ipo-april
Cambodia's new business registrations drop 12 pct in 2013
Cambodia had issued operating licenses to 2,988 new companies last year, down 12 percent from 3, 386 in a year earlier, according to the Ministry of Commerce on Wednesday. Of the 2013 new business registrations, foreign businesses registered 1,448, down 9 percent, while local registrations fell ...
Xinhuanet News Staff
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/business/2014-01/22/c_133065203.htm
Cambodian police in new protest crackdown
Cambodian police broke up a rally in the capital on Tuesday and briefly detained 11 activists who were calling for international assistance to secure the release of protesters arrested in a recent crackdown. The detentions came as the country’s main opposition party called off a planned ...
Channel News Asia News Staff
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/asiapacific/cambodian-police-in-new/962534.html
Beyond Chea Vichea, Many Cases Lack Accountability, Justice
Ahead of the 10-year anniversary on Wednesday of the assassination of Free Trade Union (FTU) President Chea Vichea, police said Monday that despite their inability to bring anyone to justice for the high-profile slaying, the case remains open. However, Chea Mony, the brother of Chea Vichea, ...
Khy Sovuthy and Lauren Crothers
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/eu-ambassador-distances-local-delegation-from-resolution-50914/
Trade hurt by political and labour turbulence
Cambodian trade reached a total of $15.9 billion in 2013, equaling an 18 per cent rise from 2012, according to the Ministry of Commerce. Exports were valued at $6.9 billion, up from $5.5 billion a year earlier, with garment and textiles accounting for more than 80 ...
Eddie Morton
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/trade-hurt-political-and-labour-turbulence
Major Brands Confront Cambodian Leader Over Use of Force
A coalition of 30 brands and three global unions have sent a letter to Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen calling for an investigation into the recent use of deadly force against striking garment-sector workers. The letter, dated Friday, urged the government to launch a new process ...
Kate O'keeffe and Sun Narin
http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304027204579330201431431652?mg=reno64-wsj&url=http%3A%2F%2Fonline.wsj.com%2Farticle%2FSB10001424052702304027204579330201431431652.html