Industries
Manufacturing
Labor Ministry ignored its own research on minimum wage
The Labor Ministry on Tuesday defended its failure to act on the results of its own study, which in November found that the minimum livable wage for garment factory workers is between $157 and $177. In its annual report, the ministry listed its wage study, carried ...
Aun Pheap and Matt Blomberg
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/labor-ministry-ignored-its-own-research-on-minimum-wage-51977/
Unions threaten nationwide strike if 21 prisoners not released
Sixteen unions threatened Monday to organize a nationwide strike if the 21 activists and protesters jailed following garment industry protests on January 2 and 3 are not released on bail Tuesday. The unions also called for charges against the 21 prisoners, 16 of whom began a ...
Mech Dara and Alice Cuddy
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/unions-threaten-nationwide-strike-if-21-prisoners-not-released-51864/
Unions, opposition ‘hindering wage talks’
Labour Minister Ith Sam Heng and ministry spokesman Heng Sour yesterday accused unions and the opposition of derailing the government’s efforts at minimum wage reform by striking and stirring up violence for their own political gain. “The government has set up a committee to study the ...
Sen David
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/unions-opposition-%E2%80%98hindering-wage-talks%E2%80%99
Victorian MP Hong Lim urges Australia to push Cambodia over garment worker crackdown
A Victorian MP born in Cambodia says Australia should put pressure on the country of his birth over a crackdown on protesting garment workers which left five people dead. Hong Lim, the Member for Clayton, says he was in Cambodia earlier this month, when five protesting ...
ABC News Staff
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-02-10/an-victorian-mp-hong-lim-wants-more-australian-engagement-with-/5249570
Bailed Garment Workers Speak of Injustice Ahead of March
In the weeks that 17-year-old garment worker Yon Chea languished in prison, he spent hours staring out of the window at a concrete wall, certain that he would never see his home or his family again. The Phnom Penh Municipal Court on Friday morning granted ...
Mech Dara and Alice Cuddy
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/bailed-garment-workers-speak-of-injustice-ahead-of-march-51759/
Two of 23 jailed protesters granted bail; release date unknown
The Phnom Penh Municipal Court on Friday morning granted bail to two of the 23 union activists and protesters jailed following the lethal suppression of garment worker strikes by military police on January 3. Municipal court presiding Judge Leang Samnatt held an unscheduled hearing on Friday ...
Kuch Naren
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/two-of-23-jailed-protesters-granted-bail-release-date-unknown-51734/
Garment workers to receive USD 100 per month from February
The Government already issued a Decision to require the employers to increase the minimum wage for the factory workers to USD 100 per month, starting from February 2014, said a government official. Vong Savann, a senior official of the Labor Ministry added that the Decision was ...
The Cambodia Herald News Staff
http://thecambodiaherald.com/cambodia/detail/1?page=13&token=NmY5MTVmYTZhMzE
Missing boy presumed dead after protest shooting
The father of a 16-year-old boy who went missing during last month’s labor protest crackdowns says he now presumes his son dead. The boy, Khim Sophat, was caught up in demonstrations at the Canadia Industrial Zone in early January. He was not listed among the four ...
Khoun Theara
http://www.voacambodia.com/content/missing-boy-presumed-dead-after-protest-shooting/1845735.html
Groups tell ILO to retract ‘right to strike’ claim
An employers and businesses federation that took out paid newspaper advertisements claiming Cambodia’s workers have no fundamental right to strike has hit back at the International Labour Organization (ILO), asking it to retract comments it made in response to the ads. Last week, the Cambodian Federation ...
Shane Worrell
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/groups-tell-ilo-retract-%E2%80%98right-strike%E2%80%99-claim
Workers From 2011 Shooting Still Dealing With Medical Problems
Two women wounded in the 2011 protest shooting in Svay Rieng province have seen their conditions worsen. A total three women were shot during worker strikes by the former governor of Bavet city, Chhouk Bandith, during worker strikes in February 2011. ...
Heng Reaksmey
http://www.voacambodia.com/content/workers-from-2011-shooting-still-dealing-with-medical-problems/1845710.html
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
Cambodia’s Kampong Chhnang region home to traditional pottery
When talking about fine clay pottery in Cambodia, one always thinks of pottery products made in Kampong Chhnang province. The province, located some 91 kilometers north of the country’s capital Phnom Penh, is well known for its clay pottery. The name of the province “Kampong Chhnang” ...
Global Times News Staff
http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/839478.shtml#.UuYNShD-LIV
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