Labor

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. ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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. ...

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 ...

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. ...

Research has shown some staff in the garment sector can now earn up to $480 each month as unions and the Garment Manufacturers Association in Cambodia congratulated workers for taking home the new minimum monthly wage of $170 for the first time. ...

The Labour Ministry’s National Committee for Health and Work Safety held its first meeting yesterday pledging to investigate the reasons for faintings amongst factory workers. ...

Officials from the Ministry of Labour met with former workers from three garment factories in the capital’s Por Senchey district this morning after the owner absconded without warning last week, leaving 2,000 workers without their severance or salary for the month of January. ...

The Labour Minister led a delegation to visit Malaysia last week to discuss sending migrant labourers and maids there with the country’s Minister of Human Resources. The Ministry of Labour issued a statement on Friday saying that Labour Minister Ith Samheng met with Human Resources Minister ...

Anti-human trafficking police are seeking the arrest of prominent Cham Muslim community leader and former Social Affairs Ministry official Ahmad Yahya for sending roughly 20 women to Saudi Arabia to work as maids more than a decade ago, after arresting his nephew last week. ...

Health Minister Mam Bun Heng yesterday announced the formation of a working group to address mass fainting, a day after the premier raised the issue at a meeting with garment workers, though relevant officials had few details on the group’s objectives. ...

Former Cambodia National Rescue Party member Ismail Pin Osman was arrested in Phnom Penh on Wednesday for alleged human trafficking, though police officials offered little detail on why he was taken into custody. ...

Nearly 1,000 workers from three factories in Phnom Penh’s Por Senchey district yesterday protested after learning that their employer has fled without paying their January wages. ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen today said there is in fact no need to set up labour courts to solve workplace disputes – despite the Labour Law stipulating their creation – and expressed hope that existing mechanisms, including the government, unions and employers could act in ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen said yesterday that the country does not need a labour court to solve disputes because the current trilateral mechanism in place is sufficient. Speaking to garment factory workers in Phnom Penh, Mr Hun Sen explained that the current mechanism, which brings employer ...

Phnom Penh City Hall yesterday said that demonstrations, strikes and protests increased last year when compared to 2016. A report released yesterday said that 2017 saw 1,760 demonstrations, strikes and protests, an increase of 162 compared to 2016. Last year, there were 613 protests by citizens and ...

Interior Minister Sar Kheng said yesterday that the government will establish an inter-ministerial working group in Banteay Meanchey province to resolve issues for illegal migrant workers deported from Thailand. ...

The National Social Security Fund of the Ministry of Labour said more than 1,600 workers fainted in 22 factories in 2017, an increase of more than 400 from the previous year. According to a Facebook post that published the conclusion of the 2017 annual results and ...

The government paid about $390,000 to female garment workers who delivered babies in January as part of new benefits launched this year.According to a report from the National Social Security Fund obtained yesterday, 3,881 female workers delivered babies in January. ...

A tripartite group consisting of employers, unions and the government finished discussing the draft law on minimum wage yesterday. Labour Minister Ith Samheng said yesterday’s talks were the last public workshop to discuss the draft law on minimum wage after two workshops had already taken place. ...

Cambodian workers may soon be headed to Lebanon, the latest country that the Ministry of Labour is targeting as a destination for thousands of underemployed Cambodians looking for work amid stagnant job opportunities at home. ...