Labor policy and administration

Ten pro-government unions on Friday released statements in support of Cambodia’s recently passed Trade Union Law, just days after two independent unions held a meeting to discuss hoped-for changes to the contentious legislation. The independent unions met last week to compile a list of amendments to ...

The Cambodian Independent Teacher Association (CITA), along with about 100 teachers from various provinces, gathered at Freedom Park in Phnom Penh yesterday to mark International Teachers’ Day and demanded the government further increase their minimum wage to at least $370, not including additional bonuses. CITA acting ...

In the first nine months of the year, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cambodian embassies abroad have helped nearly 600 Cambodians who went to live and work abroad, legally or illegally, to return home. Foreign Ministry spokesman Chum Sounry said yesterday that the ministry and ...

Unions are still seething at the new minimum wage figure for garment and footwear industry workers – which the government decided to raise by only $13 per month last Thursday – but stopped short of saying they would organize protests out of a fear for ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen announced yesterday that the minimum wage for teachers is set to exceed $230 (about 950,000 riel), not including additional bonuses, come April next year. During a graduation ceremony for Cambodia University for Specialties students at Koh Pich, Mr. Hun Sen said the ...

Representatives for garment sector employers and employees will vote on Wednesday for their respective final proposals for the new minimum wage next year.​ Two weeks ago, members of the tripartite minimum wage negotiations began a series of meetings to discuss their various salary proposals. The Garment Manufacturers ...

In the midst of annual minimum wage negotiations, Minister of Labour Ith Samheng used a visit from members of the Southeast Asian Youth Programme to reiterate that the minimum wage for garment workers would reach at least $160 a month by 2018, state media reported. ...

Unions decided to lower their demand for $179.60 per month as the new minimum wage for the garment, footwear and textile industries in 2017, telling employers yesterday that they were dropping the figure by $2 – matching the $2 employers added to their figure earlier ...

Employer representatives and trade unions sat down across from each other for the first time yesterday for head-to-head negotiations over next year’s garment sector minimum wage, with factory owners reluctantly offering a small $2 increase to their earlier proposal of $144.20. ...

Cambodian migrant workers in Thailand will have to pay 950 baht (about $27) to receive a travel card or Overseas Cambodian Worker Card (OCWC), the Labor Ministry announced yesterday. From September 26, workers will be able to apply for the documents, under a bilateral agreement signed ...

The Ministry of Labour yesterday met with the Garment Manufacturers Association in Cambodia, the industry trade group, to discuss the reasons behind the latter’s proposal of a $144 monthly minimum wage. ...

Female workers are still being paid less than their male counterparts on construction sites, while building companies value male construction workers as more skilled than women, according to a CARE Cambodia report released Friday. CARE’s research paints a comprehensive picture of the situation of women working ...

The government revealed its favored figure for the new garment and footwear industry minimum wage in 2017 during a Technical Working Group meeting on Friday, telling attendees that they believed it should be raised by about $8 per month – representing only a five percent ...

Employers released their starting figure for the new minimum wage yesterday, saying in an open letter that they planned to enter tripartite negotiations with $144.20 per month as their goal for 2017. In a letter from the Garment Manufacturers Association in Cambodia (GMAC) signed by secretary-general ...

The Foreign Ministry last Thursday secured the release of 23 Cambodians who had been arrested and detained last month for overstaying their visas and working illegally in Malaysia. Another 16 Cambodians detained by Thai authorities for lacking passports were released as well. ...

A group of 17 union leaders will demand $179.60 when they sit down for the latest round of negotiations this week to determine the minimum wage in the garment sector, which employs more than 600,000 Cambodians. The monthly minimum wage is currently $140. The new figure ...

Labour Minister Ith Samheng yesterday told stakeholders involved in the upcoming minimum wage negotiations to base their demands on the country’s economic situation, and not to try to influence the process through protests or demonstrations. Talks over the 2017 minimum wage for the garment sector are ...

A workers’ strike escalated on Monday at Sihanoukville’s Angkor Beer-producing Cambrew factory, protesters said, with the company acknowledging that the work stoppage was causing major disruptions. ...

A California judge has ordered lawyers representing two US seafood companies to appear in court for a scheduling conference following a lawsuit filed on behalf of seven Cambodians who claim they were duped into a life of servitude working in factories that supply the firms. ...

Foreign Affairs Minister Prak Sokhonn has ordered Cambodian Embassy staff in Malaysia to find out whether more nationals are being held in any of the country’s detention facilities after 18 Cambodians were released from a prison in Kuala Lumpur last week. ...

Cambodian embassy officials in Thailand are now assisting migrant workers in Thai prisons by providing lawyers for them. Embassy officials also announced they are looking for relatives of a Cambodian man who died in Thailand late last month to take his body, which is being ...

Insurance sales have grown by 37 percent in the first half of the year, totaling $56 million, the Insurance Association of Cambodia (IAC) announced in a report Tuesday.  The increase, up from $40.9 million for the same period last year, has been driven by a ...

The abuse of Cambodians employed in Thailand’s fishing industry was raised yesterday in a letter from the government’s Cambodian Human Rights Committee (CHRC) to their Thai counterparts, calling for improved monitoring of the much criticized and troubled industry. ...

Unions meeting on Friday arrived at an estimated cost-of-living salary for garment workers ahead of minimum wage talks, one remarkably similar to the monthly wage they’ve demanded two years running, though suggested the final number they push for will be higher. ...