Labor
Labor policy and administration
Phnom Penh Trash Collectors Dance for Demands
Piles of garbage festered on the streets of Phnom Penh on Tuesday as hundreds of workers employed by the city’s refuse collection company, Cintri, continued to strike for higher wages and better working conditions. At the company’s truck depot in Dangkao district Tuesday morning, more than ...
Ben Sokhean and Alice Cuddy
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/phnom-penh-trash-collectors-dance-for-demands-51432/
Messy strike comes to an end
Phnom Penh’s sanitation workers are expected back on the job today after a two-day strike that saw garbage beginning to pile up in neighbourhoods across the city. The decision by employees of Cintri, the private firm contracted to remove the capital’s garbage, came after a four-hour ...
Phak Seangly
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/messy-strike-comes-end
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/
Garbage workers protest for better pay
Some 300 workers from CINTRI, a garbage collection company, protested on Monday to ask for better pay and working condition. The workers demanded the minimum wage shall be increased to $150 per month. They also asked for other benefits such as bonuses for health care, rent, ...
The Cambodia Herald News Staff
http://www.thecambodiaherald.com/cambodia/detail/1?page=15&token=NDE4Zjc0YTI0ODV
Cambodian-Americans Protest at UN Headquarters
Hundreds of Cambodian-Americans rallied at UN headquarters in New York on Tuesday, demanding the release of 23 labor activists still being held following deadly protest crackdowns last month. Protesters also called for a recall election, following July’s polls that opposition leaders say were marred by fraud. ...
Men Kimseng
http://www.voacambodia.com/content/cambodian-americans-protest-at-un-headquarters/1844171.html
No Government Meetings for International Trade Unions
International buyers and trade union representatives have been unable to meet with Prime Minister Hun Sen or other government officials, despite a request following deadly worker demonstration crackdowns last month. Major international buyers signed on to a joint letter condemning the violence and urging the government ...
Kong Sothanarith
http://www.voacambodia.com/content/no-government-meetings-for-international-trade-unions/1844164.html
CAMBODIA: Unions plan day of action for arrested workers
International labour organisations Industrial Global Union, UNI Global Union and ITUC are seeking international support for a day of action in support of garment workers arrested during recent strikes in Cambodia. The groups are calling on people to demonstrate outside Cambodian embassies and deliver protest letters ...
Richard Woodard
http://www.just-style.com/news/unions-plan-day-of-action-for-arrested-workers_id120577.aspx
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/
Right to strike ‘Fundamental’
A labour law expert from the International Labour Organization yesterday rejected claims made by Cambodian factories and employers associations that workers in the Kingdom have no fundamental right to strike. In a paid advertisement in the Post yesterday, the Garment Manufacturers Association in Cambodia (GMAC) and ...
Shane Worrell and Mom Kunthear
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/right-strike-%E2%80%98fundamental%E2%80%99
NGOs say bank must remain to clean mess
Rights groups yesterday called on ANZ bank to help address alleged labour and environmental violations at Phnom Penh Sugar Company instead of walking away from the problem. A joint statement released yesterday by Equitable Cambodia and Inclusive Development International said it would be wrong for the ...
Daniel de Carteret
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/ngos-say-bank-must-remain-clean-mess
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/
Ministry Questions Unions Over Role in Kandal Garment Protest
The Interior Ministry has summoned six union representatives for questioning following a complaint from Jack Liu, director-general of Tainan Enterprises (Cambodia) Co., Ltd., alleging that they incited violence at his Kandal province garment factory in late December. A letter dated Thursday, signed by the Interior Ministry’s ...
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
Interior Ministry Says No to Freedom Park Rally
The government will consider a planned union rally on Sunday of several thousand people at Freedom Park in Phnom Penh an attempt to “overthrow the government,” Interior Ministry spokesman Khieu Sopheak said on Friday. Phnom Penh municipality rejected the request to hold the rally, but ...
Sinary Sany
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/interior-ministry-says-no-to-freedom-park-rally-51032/
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/