Labor
Labor policy and administration
Cambodian workers in limbo as Qatar drags heels on safety standards
The Cambodian government is working on an agreement with the Qatari government that would allow Cambodians to join the thousands of migrant workers helping to build the infrastructure for the 2022 World Cup. As a safety measure, the Cambodian government has requested that Qatar guarantee ...
Jonathan Cox
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/14391/cambodian-workers-in-limbo-as-qatar-drags-heels-on-safety-standards/
Girls returned from begging in Thailand
Eight young girls were placed in the care of the Social Affairs Ministry on Thursday after Thai authorities found them begging and selling flowers in Thailand and sent them back to Cambodia, according to the ministry. ...
Sek Odom
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/girls-returned-from-begging-in-thailand-91658/
Cambodia unions warn of strikes as factories indicate no wage raise
Cambodia’s garment factories have indicated they will reject demands for an increase in the minimum wage next year, angering unions and risking upheaval in a crucial economic sector for years dogged by unrest. ...
Prak Chan Thul
http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/08/12/cambodia-garment-idUSL3N10N1W620150812
Limousine drivers strike deal with company
A group of 55 drivers who briefly went on strike last month settled their dispute with the Royal Cambodian Limousine Service over unpaid overtime wages on Monday, agreeing to accept between $600 and $700 per driver, according to a representative of the drivers. Chhay Buntha, ...
Kang Sothear
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/business/limousine-drivers-strike-deal-with-company-91462/
Garment factories vote to freeze minimum wage
A majority of members of the Garment Manufacturers Association in Cambodia, which represents the country’s more than 500 exporting garment factories, have voted against any raise to their workers’ minimum wage next year. ...
Zsombor Peter
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/garment-factories-vote-to-freeze-minimum-wage-91436/
Families seek help for workers in Thai jail
The families of six Cambodian migrant workers arrested in Thailand for crossing illegally into the country two months ago have appealed to Cambodian authorities to intervene after being informed they need to raise 8,000 baht ($230) per head to bail them out. ...
Sen David
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/families-seek-help-workers-thai-jail
Sex workers risk their lives with home abortions, study finds
Fear of social reprisal may be causing Phnom Penh’s sex workers to seek abortions in the privacy of unregistered private clinics or at home. ...
Jonathan Cox
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/14218/sex-workers-risk-their-lives-with-home-abortions--study-finds/
Employers unfazed by work-permit crackdown
Sixteen undocumented Vietnamese migrants were arrested yesterday at a construction site in Preah Vihear, the latest in a spate of arrests of workers without papers. This summer has seen a spike in arrests, fines, and deportations of expat workers – with police saying that more ...
Jonathan Cox
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/14130/employers-unfazed-by-work-permit-crackdown/
Beer promoters stage demonstration, as labor official barred from company
Staff of Anco Brother beer company, owed by a senator of the ruling Cambodian People’s Party, barred labor officials from entering the company Wednesday, as workers staged a demonstration outside. ...
Hul Reaksmey
http://www.voacambodia.com/content/beer-promoters-stage-demonstration-as-labor-official-barred-from-company/2903051.html
GMAC no fan of union law
The Garment Manufacturers Association of Cambodia says it will push for revisions made on the draft trade union law last week to be changed.During a meeting on July 28, the Ministry of Labour said it had revised a number of provisions in the law, which ...
Charles Rollet
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/gmac-no-fan-union-law
Beer promoters to demonstrate over unpaid firing
A group of beer promoters plan to stage a demonstration Wednesday to demand payment for eight women who were fired by a beer company owned by a ruling party senator. ...
Hul Reaksmey
http://www.voacambodia.com/content/beer-promoters-to-demonstrate-over-upaid-firing/2900558.html
Capitol bus drivers reject employment letters
More than 40 Capitol Tours bus drivers who were ordered by the Phnom Penh Municipal Court on Friday to end a nearly two-weeklong strike are refusing to sign a company letter agreeing to new employment conditions. ...
Huot Chanpav
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/business/capitol-bus-drivers-reject-employment-letters-90610/
Garment factories say low productivity should temper raise
The Garment Manufacturers Association in Cambodia on Monday urged unions to moderate their demands in current negotiations over next year’s minimum wage for the garment industry, given the low productivity of Cambodian workers and their many paid days off compared with competing countries. ...
Zsombor Peter
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/garment-factories-say-low-productivity-should-temper-raise-90608/
Gov’t requests probe into prisoners in Malaysia
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has asked the country’s ambassador to Malaysia, Princess Norodom Arunrasmey, to investigate reports that hundreds of Cambodian migrant workers have been jailed in the country’s Selangor state. ...
Kuch Naren
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/govt-requests-probe-into-prisoners-in-malaysia-90388/
Work permit crackdown: Westerners next
Starting in August, the Labor Ministry plans to focus its work permit crackdown on “Western companies.” ...
Emmanuel Scheffer
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/13889/work-permit-crackdown--westerners-next/
Workers from Myanmar, Laos and Cambodia allowed to be ship technicians
The Department of Employment (DOE) will allow foreign ship workers to apply as technicians, in a move to deal labor shortages in the fishing industry. ...
NNT News Staff
http://thainews.prd.go.th/CenterWeb/NewsEN/NewsDetail?NT01_NewsID=WNECO5807300010004
Arbitration body orders capitol tours bus drivers back to work
The Arbitration Council on Wednesday ordered 40 Capitol Tours bus drivers to end a strike that began on July 22 over claims that five other drivers were fired for attempting to organize a union at the company. ...
Huot Chanpav
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/arbitration-body-orders-capitol-tours-bus-drivers-back-to-work-90014/
Over 50 illegal vietnamese workers arrested in capital
More than 50 illegal Vietnamese migrant workers were arrested Wednesday while working on the construction site of luxury estates in Phnom Penh’s Sen Sok district, police said. ...
Saing Soenthrith
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/over-50-illegal-vietnamese-workers-arrested-in-capital-90035/
Human trafficking still rife in Cambodia, US report says
Amid numerous reports of Cambodian women being trafficked to China and men being used as forced labor on fishing boats, the U.S.’ latest Trafficking in Persons report again said Cambodia is not doing enough to combat human trafficking. ...
Chris Mueller
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/human-trafficking-still-rife-in-cambodia-us-report-says-89840/
Drivers demand OT wages from tycoon’s firm
Nearly 60 drivers employed by the Royal Cambodian Limousine Service—a subsidiary of tycoon Kith Meng’s Royal Group that transports foreign delegates and other VIPs visiting the country—have agreed to return to work today after two days of striking failed to net them unpaid overtime wages. ...
Kang Sothear
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/business/drivers-demand-ot-wages-from-tycoons-firm-89856/
Gov’t revises trade union law
Several of the more contentious points from Cambodia’s draft trade union law have been dropped, a pro-government union leader said yesterday, although at least one major union remains unsatisfied with the pending legislation. ...
Mom Kunthear
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/govt-revises-trade-union-law
Factory wages remain a potential flashpoint for workers
Sok Ren lives in a tiny room in a rented house in Phnom Penh. She has not been home in two years, having decided to leave a child behind and find work in the city’s garment sector. Unions say workers need at least $177 ...
Survey of garment workers’ expenses to come
Hoping to help fill the void in reliable data that has stymied past negotiations on the minimum wage for the country’s garment workers, an international team of labor rights groups Monday hired a local research firm to find out exactly how much the workers are ...
Zsombor Peter
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/survey-of-garment-workers-expenses-to-come-89657/
Capitol tours bus protesters skirmish with tuk-tuk drivers
A group of Capitol Tours bus drivers—five of whom claim they were fired for attempting to form a union—say they were attacked Monday by a group of more than 50 tuk-tuk drivers while protesting outside the transport company’s headquarters in Phnom Penh’s Prampi Makara district. ...
Sek Odom
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/capitol-tours-bus-protesters-skirmish-with-tuk-tuk-drivers-89641/