Labor

More than 40 Capitol Tours bus drivers who were ordered by the Phnom Penh Municipal Court on Friday to end a nearly two-weeklong strike are refusing to sign a company letter agreeing to new employment conditions. ...

The Garment Manufacturers Association in Cambodia on Monday urged unions to moderate their demands in current negotiations over next year’s minimum wage for the garment industry, given the low productivity of Cambodian workers and their many paid days off compared with competing countries. ...

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has asked the country’s ambassador to Malaysia, Princess Norodom Arunrasmey, to investigate reports that hundreds of Cambodian migrant workers have been jailed in the country’s Selangor state. ...

Starting in August, the Labor Ministry plans to focus its work permit crackdown on “Western companies.” ...

The Department of Employment (DOE) will allow foreign ship workers to apply as technicians, in a move to deal labor shortages in the fishing industry. ...

Cambodia remains on a watch list at the US State Department, for failing to do enough to combat human trafficking. In its annual Trafficking in Persons report, the State Department kept Cambodia a “tier 2” country. ...

Cambodian human trafficking authorities charged a Chinese national on Thursday with attempting to illegally transport 18 men to work in China in what one government official said was the first such case of trafficking Cambodian men to the country. ...

The Arbitration Council on Wednesday ordered 40 Capitol Tours bus drivers to end a strike that began on July 22 over claims that five other drivers were fired for attempting to organize a union at the company. ...

More than 50 illegal Vietnamese migrant workers were arrested Wednesday while working on the construction site of luxury estates in Phnom Penh’s Sen Sok district, police said. ...

Another group of 33 Cambodian laborers, who were trafficked to work as illegal fishermen on fishing boats in Indonesia, returned home on Tuesday afternoon, Xinhua quoted Cambodian foreign ministry spokesman Chum Sounry said. ...

Amid numerous reports of Cambodian women being trafficked to China and men being used as forced labor on fishing boats, the U.S.’ latest Trafficking in Persons report again said Cambodia is not doing enough to combat human trafficking. ...

Nearly 60 drivers employed by the Royal Cambodian Limousine Service—a subsidiary of tycoon Kith Meng’s Royal Group that transports foreign delegates and other VIPs visiting the country—have agreed to return to work today after two days of striking failed to net them unpaid overtime wages. ...

Several of the more contentious points from Cambodia’s draft trade union law have been dropped, a pro-government union leader said yesterday, although at least one major union remains unsatisfied with the pending legislation. ...

Sok Ren lives in a tiny room in a rented house in Phnom Penh. She has not been home in two years, having decided to leave a child behind and find work in the city’s garment sector.  Unions say workers need at least $177 ...

For the third straight year in a row, Cambodia has found itself on the Tier 2 Watch List of the US State Department’s annual Trafficking in Persons Report, a ranking reflective of a seeming inability to fully implement the country’s own anti-trafficking plan. ...

Hoping to help fill the void in reliable data that has stymied past negotiations on the minimum wage for the country’s garment workers, an international team of labor rights groups Monday hired a local research firm to find out exactly how much the workers are ...

The president of the Free Trade Union is slated to boycott this morning’s final meeting to discuss the trade union law, held at the Ministry of Labour. ...

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. ...

Union leaders have sent a request to the Ministry of Labor to make changes in a draft law to regulate unions, which experts say could be used to severely limit the freedom of assembly for workers. Earlier this month, some 200 union members met to ...

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. ...

Youth vocational training may be the key to curbing migration and combating poverty in Cambodia’s most vulnerable communities, according to child welfare NGO Pour un Sourire d’Enfant (PSE), which is helping to roll out a technical skills program for high school dropouts. ...