Labor
Workers protest at ministry
About 100 workers from First Gawon Apparel gathered in front of the Ministry of Labour in Phnom Penh on Wednesday asking for intervention on their behalf in a dispute with their employer. The workers claim the company has not paid their salaries for more than ...
Yon Sineat
https://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/workers-protest-ministry
All factories need infirmaries by year’s end
The Labour Ministry has announced that all factories across the country must have their own infirmary completed by the end of this year, noting that 88 percent of factories having built infirmaries already. ...
Khuon Narim
https://www.khmertimeskh.com/50487734/all-factories-need-infirmaries-by-years-end/
Thailand to improve processing of migrant workers
Cambodian and Thai Labour Ministry officials met once again in Siem Reap province over the weekend and asserted their commitment to strengthen cooperation by agreeing to accelerate the legal identification process of Cambodian workers in Thailand. ...
Mom Kunthear
https://www.khmertimeskh.com/50484751/thailand-to-improve-processing-of-migrant-workers/
PM warns unions ahead of poll
In a closed-door meeting with garment industry union leaders on Sunday, Prime Minister Hun Sen ordered his audience to ensure that factory workers don’t organise political protests or associate with the remnants of the now-dissolved opposition party. While no audio from the speech was released ...
Yon Sineat, Ben Sokhean and Andrew Nachemson
https://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/pm-warns-unions-ahead-poll
Unpaid workers planning procession
Workers at the First Gawon Apparel factory in Phnom Penh’s Meanchey district are planning a procession to many different institutions as well as Prime Minister Hun Sen’s house next week to request intervention in a dispute over wages. ...
Mom Kunthear
https://www.khmertimeskh.com/50303356/unpaid-workers-planning-procession/
Korea grants Labour Ministry $3.1 million
During a Khmer New Year visit to South Korea, Labour Minister Ith Samheng on Monday signed a $3.1 million agreement with his South Korean counterpart to empower Cambodia’s public employment services over the next four years. ...
Mom Kunthear
https://www.khmertimeskh.com/50303054/korea-grants-labour-ministry-3-1-million/
Healthcare MoU signed for garment workers
A memorandum of understanding between the National Social Security Fund and the Techo Volunteer Youth Doctor Association was signed on Wednesday in order to improve healthcare for garment workers. The MoU was signed by TYDA chairman Hun Manet and NSSF director Ouk Samvithya. ...
Mom Kunthear
https://www.khmertimeskh.com/50302776/healthcare-mou-signed-for-garment-workers/
Garment workers to be reimbursed
The Ministry of Labour on Tuesday released the names of four factories whose workers will be compensated after their employers absconded owing back pay and severance. Labour Minister Ith Sam Heng said abandoned workers at Benoh Apparel, Yu Fa Garment Industry, Great Honour Textile Factory ...
Yon Sineat and Daphne Chen
https://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/garment-workers-be-reimbursed
Mondulkiri police detain undocumented Vietnamese workers
Police in Mondulkiri province detained 27 Vietnamese who crossed the border illegally in Sen Monorom city. Deputy provincial police chief Tieng Saoroth said they were detained for questioning on Saturday in Sen Monorom city where they were selling clothes. ...
Khuon Narim
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/50298197/mondulkiri-police-detain-undocumented-vietnamese-workers/
Government pays $1.2 million to garment workers who gave birth
The government has paid about $1.2 million to nearly 12,000 female garment workers who have had babies so far this year. According to a report released yesterday by the National Social Security Fund, 11,706 female garment workers delivered babies in January, February and the first 22 ...
Mom Kunthear
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/50115636/government-pays-1-2-million-to-garment-workers-who-gave-birth/
PM vows to halt surprise factory closings
Prime Minister Hun Sen on Wednesday pledged his commitment to preventing garment factory owners from escaping their obligations to workers by closing their factories without warning, even as the current lack of a formal system for dealing with such situations has left at least one ...
Yon Sineat
https://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/pm-vows-halt-surprise-factory-closings
Migrants get Thai warning
The Cambodian Embassy in Thailand has warned migrant workers that Thai authorities will begin punishing them in April if they fail to renew their work permits. Holders of temporary documents would need to get them extended by March 31. ...
Khouth Sophak Chakrya
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/migrants-get-thai-warning
Brands including H&M and Gap urge Cambodia garment industry reform, seek meeting with Hun Sen
A group representing some of the largest apparel brands in the US and Europe – including Gap, H&M and ASOS – expressed “growing concern” on Tuesday over several controversial labour laws and ongoing court cases against unionists described as restrictive and unjust. ...
Minister agrees to final talk on draft minimum wage law
The government has accepted a request from a senior officer of the US State Department to hold another discussion on the draft minimum wage law before it is approved. After meeting with Sarah Morgan, an official with the US Office of International Labour Affairs, Labour Minister ...
Mom Kunthear
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/50114873/minister-agrees-to-final-talk-on-draft-minimum-wage-law/
Canada praises progress in factory labour conditions
Donica Pattie, Canada’s Ambassador to Thailand, Cambodia and Laos, on Friday lauded Cambodia’s recent advancements in factory labour conditions, which she said might prompt Canada to increase purchases from Cambodian textile manufacturers, according to a high-ranking Cambodian official. ...
May Kunmakara
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/50114733/canada-praises-progress-in-factory-labour-conditions/
Workers to be informed of their labour rights
The Labour Ministry will send more than 200 trainers to factories and relevant institutes to educate workers about labour rights. Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, Soeung Sarsochetta, secretary of state at the Labour Ministry, said 250 trainers from the Labour Ministry would go to factories, businesses ...
Mom Kunthear
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/50114377/workers-to-be-informed-of-their-labour-rights/
Strikes down, but advocates, officials differ on significance
Strikes in Cambodia plummeted by more than half last year, according to the Ministry of Labour’s annual report – a statistic lauded by the government as evidence that worker conditions had improved but rejected by labour advocates as a sign that dissent was being suppressed. ...
Yon Sineat and Daphne Chen
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/strikes-down-advocates-officials-differ-significance
Workers fired after trying to unionise
For Peng Phalla, a sewing machine repairman by trade, the beginning of the end was December 8 – the day he filed the paperwork to form a union. Phalla had spent the past two years helping a factory in Kampong Cham province churn out baby ...
Yon Sineat and Daphne Chen
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/workers-fired-after-trying-unionise
Spike in migrant worker numbers
Nearly 100,000 Cambodians were sent to work overseas last year, an increase of 12.6 percent compared with the previous year that saw about 85,000 workers migrate, according to a Ministry of Labour report. The report, issued yesterday, said that last year Cambodia sent 96,338 labourers ...
Mom Kunthear
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/113661/spike-in-migrant-worker-numbers/
Cambodian fishermen in Thailand face abuses: ILO
Cambodian and Myanmar fishermen in Thailand are often paid below the minimum wage, see their payment withheld and face abuses, according to a new International Labour Organisation study. For the baseline study Ship to Shore Rights the ILO interviewed 434 mostly Myanmar and Cambodian fishermen ...
Leonie Kijewski
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/cambodian-fishermen-thailand-face-abuses-ilo
Working group created to study fainting phenomenon
The Labour Ministry has created a technical working group to study and investigate what causes fainting in an attempt to reduce episodes of fainting at factories nationwide. Labour Minister Ith Samheng, who is also chairman of the National Committee for Health and Work Safety, said the ...
Mom Kunthear
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/50111447/working-group-created-study-fainting-phenomenon/
Analysis: The government has announced plans to cover workers’ severance, but is it the best solution to factory disputes?
The government will begin to pay out of pocket for severance wages for labourers at abruptly shuttered factories whose owners have fled, effectively enacting a pro-worker policy without further burdening private businesses – albeit at the risk of discouraging good corporate citizenship, experts say. ...
Yon Sineat and Brendan O’Byrne
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/post-depth-business/analysis-government-has-announced-plans-cover-workers-severance-it-best-solution
Groups call for charges against activists to be dropped
A group of 35 international labour and human rights advocacy groups yesterday called for charges against a trio of Cambodian civil society activists to be dropped. “We, the undersigned global unions and international human rights and workers’ rights organizations, call for the charges against Cambodian human ...
Andrew Nachemson
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/groups-call-charges-against-activists-be-dropped
UN unemployment project expanded
The Ministry of Labour and United Nations yesterday pledged to continue working on a project that is aiding young women and men in their search for decent and productive employment opportunities. ...
Sen David
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/50109497/un-unemployment-project-expanded/