Worker rights

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. ...

More than 70 workers fainted over three days at a garment factory in Kompong Speu province after complaining of difficulty breathing, a unionist and employee said Monday. ...

In an effort to encourage literacy among garment factory workers, the Garment Manufacturers Association in Cambodia (GMAC) and NGO Sipar are working together to open libraries in 15 factories in the Kingdom in the next three years. ...

Following a meeting at the Labor Ministry’s conflict resolution department Thursday, the Capitol Tours bus company and five of its drivers—who claim they were fired for attempting to organize a union—remained deadlocked over their reinstatement. ...

More than 40 drivers for the Capitol Tours bus company went on strike Wednesday, protesting outside the company’s headquarters in Phnom Penh’s Prampi Makara district to demand the reinstatement of five employees they claim were fired for trying to unionize. ...

About 200 workers from a factory that supplies sportswear giant Puma delivered a petition to Prime Minister Hun Sen’s cabinet on Friday calling attention to their demands that five-year employment contracts be replaced by one-year contracts, a union leader said. ...

At least 500 workers from three garment factories in Cambodia demonstrated on Tuesday outside the Labor Ministry in the capital Phnom Penh, demanding that government officials intervene in their quest for better working conditions and food and transportation subsidies. ...

After about 200 workers protested in Phnom Penh on Tuesday morning, a CPP lawmaker said she traveled to a Chinese-owned garment factory in Kandal province to lobby management to rehire seven workers, including six who say they were fired earlier this month for taking part ...

About 100 striking workers from a Phnom Penh garment factory yesterday delivered a letter to the Ministry of Labour, asking for intervention in their industrial dispute.  ...

The International Labour Organization (ILO) on Thursday will launch a news bulletin focusing on Cambodia’s garment and shoe sector, aimed at providing data for Cambodian policymakers during annual minimum wage talks. ...

When hundreds of fishermen were rescued from a life of slavery on Thai fishing boats off the coast of Indonesia earlier this year, the world took notice. ...

As Free Trade Union officials were putting together a list of demands for striking workers at a factory in Kompong Speu province on Tuesday, the union’s president, Chea Mony, was in Kampot province inspecting a plot of land for a Chinese firm looking to set ...

The International Labor Organization (ILO) has found a slight improvement in Cambodia’s garment factory working conditions, although issues of overtime and occupational safety and health continue, according to its latest report released on Wednesday. ...

The UN plans to devote resources to improving the sexual and reproductive health of young women working in garment factories. ...

The Garment Manufacturers Association in Cambodia (GMAC), which represents most of the country’s export-oriented garment factories, will establish a training institute with the aim of replacing more than 8,000 jobs in the garment industry held by foreign  workers with a highly skilled local workforce. ...

A South Korean-owned garment factory bowed to union pressure Thursday and agreed to pay its former workers wages they are owed, following a meeting with the Ministry of Labor. ...

The president of one of Cambodia’s largest labor unions representing the apparel sector expressed concern on Thursday about the growing number of garment factory workers fainting from overwork and harsh factory conditions during the past few days. ...

Some 82 Cambodian garment workers at two different factories fainted on Tuesday morning, and a labor official cited poor health for the cause of their fainting. Mass fainting has subsequently occurred in Cambodian garment factories. According to the NSSF, some 557 workers got fainted in ...

Eight more rescued Cambodian fishermen were repatriated Tuesday from Indonesia’s Ambon Island, according to the Foreign Affairs Ministry, following the return of 230 others two weeks ago. ...

Police in Takeo province on Tuesday arrested nine union officials during a protest outside an electronics factory where workers have been striking for almost three weeks, demanding wages equal to their peers in the garment sector. ...

A lawyer for a garment factory in Phnom Penh’s Pur Senchey district, where four women were injured last week when a truck driver slammed into a group of protesters, said Monday the factory was not responsible because the workers had thrown themselves in front of ...

A group of nine trade unions representing some of the country’s 700,000 garment workers agreed on Monday to push for a $177 monthly minimum wage for the sector during fast-approaching negotiations, matching the figure they unsuccessfully lobbied for last year. ...

Three Chinese nationals were jailed by the Phnom Penh Municipal Court on Monday for attempting to smuggle four teenage Cambodian girls to China, while the sentences of two Cambodians involved in the trafficking operation were reduced to time served. ...

The Moldovan manager of an Italian pizzeria and wine shop in Phnom Penh was on Monday charged with the “unlawful removal” of a 19-year-old girl from her home country whom she allegedly forced to work without pay and subjected to sexual exploitation, according to officials ...