Labor policy and administration

The Ministry of Labor has instructed employers and unions in the country’s crucial garment sector to begin preparations for the next round of minimum wage negotiations. ...

Vietnam and Cambodia support Indonesia’s proposal for minimum wage standards which will be applicable to ASEAN member states, Indonesian Vice President Jusuf Kalla said. ...

A series of talks will be held next month to discuss the future of minimum wages in the footwear and garment industries, with their findings to be announced and enforced early next year, according to Ministry of Labor officials. ...

Asia’s economic success has been carried on the shoulders of poor women, whose higher load of work has been unequally compensated and undervalued, according to an Oxfam report released on Tuesday.   ...

A senior official at the Labor Ministry said strikes and protests were “disrupting” investment in the garment sector and claimed that some unions, and even some employers, were not respecting the rights and freedoms afforded to workers by the Labor Law and international labor conventions. ...

In an attempt to protect the interests and safety of Cambodian maids who travel to Malaysia, the Association of Cambodian Recruitment Agencies (ACRA) signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Malaysia National Association of Employment Agencies (PIKAP) last week, according to officials. ...

Cambodia has the third-highest prevalence rate for modern slavery in the world, trailing only North Korea and Uzbekistan, according to the Global Slavery Index 2016, released this morning by the Walk Free Foundation.   ...

Labour rights abuses are taking place at Cambodian supplier factories for US clothing retailer Gap Inc, according to a new report, the latest in a series aimed at bringing attention to perennially poor conditions in the Kingdom’s garment industry ahead of the International Labour Organization’s ...

Negotiations between former drivers of the Capitol Bus Company and their ex-employer, mediated by Prampi Makara district authorities, yielded no settlement yesterday, although both parties agreed to continue talks.   ...

Fifty Dangkor district security guards removed their uniforms in front of the district hall yesterday morning in protest for better pay and conditions.   ...

Officials at the Ministry of Justice will join members of the Labor Ministry, local authorities, police and provincial governors on the Committee for the Settlement of Strikes and Demonstrations after a union leader requested they be included. ...

Swedish apparel giant H&M yesterday responded to a new report that alleged labour rights abuses in its Cambodian supplier factories by saying such issues plagued the entire industry and were difficult for any one company to fix.   ...

A new report has alleged labour rights abuses at Cambodian supplier factories for apparel giant H&M, as more than 500 garment workers gathered in Phnom Penh yesterday to air some of the same concerns over working conditions during a workers’ forum.   ...

Garment workers across the Kingdom will receive health insurance from the National Social Security Fund (NSSF) by 2018, according to officials. ...

The Labor Ministry has called for improvements to workplace safety in response to an International Labor Organization (ILO) report stating that 181 workers died in more than 30,000 workplace accidents across the Kingdom last year, according to officials. ...

In order to promote and protect the rights of migrants and migrant workers, Cambodia and the Philippines held their first bilateral roundtable meeting over migration earlier this week. ...

Fifty-four illegal migrant workers who were kept in Pontianak in Indonesia after being rescued from three Thai fishing boats in mid-April will return home soon, officials said. ...

The labor minister has ordered workers’ identities to be re-registered with the National Social Security Fund (NSSF), according to a statement released yesterday and signed by Ith Samheng, the Minister for Labor. ...

Thousands of workers and unions gathered yesterday to celebrate the 130th International Labor Day, once again demanding the government raise the minimum wage in the garment and footwear industries to $207 a month. ...

More than a dozen employees fired from a Phnom Penh eatery on Monday after a dispute over pay during the Khmer New Year holiday were rehired on Tuesday following a protest that prompted negotiations with their employer, according to union representatives and Labor Ministry officials. ...

More than 400 workers at the South Korean-owned Dae Kwang Garment factory protested at the Canadia Industrial Park yesterday demanding unpaid salaries after the factory’s owner disappeared. ...

Preah Vihear’s deputy governor has vowed not to let protesters near Prime Minister Hun Sen as he cuts the ribbon on a $360 million sugar mill in Tbeng Meanchey district today. ...

Following the National Assembly’s passage of the draft trade union law last week, the Senate is set to take up the law today, with the permanent committee scheduled to discuss it followed by a vote on Tuesday, said the Senate’s secretary-general Oum Sarith.   ...

The Free Trade Union has asked Labour Minister Ith Samheng to intervene in the case of two union leaders it alleges were illegally fired by Horizon Outdoor (Cambodia), a Kampong Chhnang province bag and accessories factory. ...