Labor
Garment workers march for higher wages
More than 1,000 garment workers gathered in Phnom Penh and marched through the city center Sunday, demanding a “decent wage” from their factories, the largest garment-sector demonstration in the capital since military police fatally suppressed a protest for higher wages in January. ...
Mech Dara and Zsombor Peter
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/garment-workers-march-in-push-for-higher-wages-69635/
Latest garment export figures show growth
Garment and footwear exports earned $3.92 billion over the first eight months of 2014, up more than 7 percent year-on-year, according to new figures from the Ministry of Commerce. The latest numbers show a slowdown after year-on-year earnings for the first six months of the year ...
Hul Reaksmey and Zsombor Peter
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/business/latest-garment-export-figures-show-growth-69546/
Factories up but new jobs on the decline
Despite a noticeable increase in the number of factory registrations during the first nine months of the year, new job creation has declined, according to the latest government data. Figures from the Ministry of Industry and Handicraft released yesterday showed that 149 factories registered during the ...
Hor Kimsay
http://phnompenhpost.com/business/factories-new-jobs-decline
Six labor unions to hold public forum on minimum wage this weekend
At least six labor unions to be led by Pav Sina, president of the Collective Union of Movement of Workers, will hold public forum at the Freedom Park on October 12 to discuss minimum wage demand for footwear and garment workers. A plan to hold the ...
The Cambodia Herald News Staff
http://thecambodiaherald.com/cambodia/six-labor-unions-to-hold-public-forum-on-minimum-wage-this-weekend-7464
Cambodia unveils regulation to protect entertainment workers
Cambodia’s Ministries of Labour and Tourism on Wednesday jointly launched a new regulation for protecting the occupational safety, health and labour rights of entertainment workers. “The regulation aims to improve working conditions, occupational safety and health rules of entertainment service enterprises, establishments and companies,”said a ...
Xinhuanet News Staff
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/world/2014-10/08/c_133699392.htm
Wage decision delayed
Minister of Labour Ith Sam Heng yesterday postponed his ministry’s Labour Advisory Committee’s decision on Cambodia’s garment sector minimum wage from Friday until next month, leaving some optimistic and others dubious. In the original schedule, the minimum wage for 2015 was slated to be set in ...
Sean Teehan and Sen David
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/wage-decision-delayed
Poverty line $120, gov’t says
Workers in Cambodia’s capital earning less than $120 per month are living below the poverty line, according to the Ministry of Planning’s own calculation. At a September 17 workshop on the garment industry minimum wage, International Labor Organization Cambodia national director Tun Sophorn cited Ministry of ...
Sean Teehan
http://phnompenhpost.com/national/poverty-line-120-gov%E2%80%99t-says
Migrants’ kids at risk: CDRI
Fuelled by poverty and debt, more than a quarter of Cambodian adults migrate, and, in the process, many are leaving behind their children, a new report finds. Part of a four-year research project on child labour, the Cambodian Independent Research Institute’s The Impacts of Adult Migration ...
Laignee Barron and Cheang Sokha
http://phnompenhpost.com/national/migrants%E2%80%99-kids-risk-cdri
US retailers express support for Cambodian living wage
As a new round of Cambodian wage negotiations approaches this month, major U.S. and European retailers who source from the country say they will be watching the talks carefully and want to see fair pay for workers. Representatives of the brands like Gap, Levi Strauss, and ...
Kimseng Men
http://www.voanews.com/content/us-retailers-express-support-for-cambodian-living-wage/2470747.html
Child labourer injuries rife
Over 85 per cent of child domestic workers in Phnom Penh are injured in the course of their employment, research into child labour released yesterday revealed. The Cambodian Development Research Institute and World Vision International are jointly examining child labour practices in the Kingdom, and the ...
Laignee Barron and Sen David
http://phnompenhpost.com/national/child-labourer-injuries-rife
Workers strike over sacking of unionists
About 500 workers who have been on strike at a Chinese-owned footwear factory in Phnom Penh for the past two weeks protested in front of the Ministry of Labor yesterday asking for the government’s help in resolving the dispute. On September 15, more than 1,000 employees ...
Ben Sokhean
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/business/workers-strike-over%E2%80%88sacking-of-unionists-68663/
Cambodian garment workers suffer from anemia, food insecurity: study
A new study indicated that 43. 2 percent of Cambodian garment workers suffered from anemia and 15. 7 percent of workers are underweight, the International Labor Organization (ILO) said Monday. The study also found that garment workers spent approximately 1. 3 U.S. dollars per day on ...
Xinhuanet News Staff
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/world/2014-09/29/c_133682574.htm
Vocational training to get $30M ADB boost
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) announced last week a $30 million loan aimed at overhauling Cambodia’s technical and vocational education system (TVET). According to a September 26 statement issued by the ADB, the new funding will go towards launching a “competency-based” assessment and certification process, and ...
Eddie Morton
http://phnompenhpost.com/business/vocational-training-get-30m-adb-boost
Protests continue at Kompong Cham factory
About 2,000 workers from the Chinese-owned Juhui Footwear factory in Kompong Cham province began a fresh round of protests on Friday and Saturday over claims that the factory is refusing to rehire unionists who were fired during a strike earlier this month, a provincial official ...
Ben Sokhean
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/protests-continue-at-kompong-cham-factory-68565/
Minister says wage agreement must be reached next month
Negotiations held on Friday between garment factory owners, union leaders and government officials failed to set a new industry minimum wage for next year, but a final decision will be reached by October 10, according to Labor Minister Ith Sam Heng. The tripartite Labor Advisory Council ...
Sek Odom and Holly Robertson
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/minister-says-wage-agreement-must-be-reached-next-month-68532/
Prey Veng workers protest for Pchum Ben advance
About 1,000 workers protested outside the Chinese-owned Komchay Mear Trading factory in Prey Veng province on Saturday morning after managers refused to give them a government-mandated salary advance for the Pchum Ben holiday, officials and unionists said on Sunday. The protest was short-lived, however, ending Saturday ...
Ben Sokhean
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/prey-veng-workers-protest-for-pchum-ben-advance-68283/
Inditex, H&M agree to pay more for clothes from Cambodia
Fashion brands, including Europe’s biggest clothing retailer Inditex SA (ITX) and Hennes & Mauritz AB (HMB), said they are willing to pay more for clothes made in Cambodia, backing a trade union campaign for higher wages. The chains are among eight clothing retailers that include Next Plc (NXT) and Primark that have ...
Gabi Thesing
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-09-19/inditex-h-m-agree-to-pay-more-for-clothes-from-cambodia.html
Union leader re-elected despite deputy’s protest
Vorn Pao was re-elected president on Thursday of the Independent Democracy of Informal Economy Association (IDEA), a labor group comprised mostly of tuk-tuk drivers and moto-dops, in an uncontested ballot after his vice president withdrew from the race over allegations of irregularities. Sok Chhun Oeung, who ...
Ben Sokhean
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/union-leader-re-elected-despite-deputys-protest-68223/
Court places more restrictions on union leader
Ath Thorn, the head of the country’s largest independent union, was placed yesterday under judicial supervision by the Phnom Penh Municipal Court a day after he joined demonstrations calling for a $177 monthly minimum wage for garment workers. Mr. Thorn, president of the Coalition of Cambodian ...
Mech Dara
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/court-places-more-restrictions-on-union-leader-68225/
Fired factory workers refuse severance, vow more protests
More than 5,000 employees of the Juhui Footwear Factory in Kompong Cham province who were fired on Tuesday after joining strikes to demand bonus pay and better benefits Wednesday rejected their severance packages and vowed to continue protesting. “We reject the full severance pay because we ...
Ben Sokhean
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/fired-factory-workers-refuse-severance-vow-more-protests-68171/
NA asks Labor Ministry to provide Korean-language test for free to workers
The National Assembly asked Labor Minister Ith Sam Heng to provide Korean-language test paper for free to or sell in the lowest price for workers as the current test paper costs USD 24. ...
The Cambodia Herald News Staff
http://thecambodiaherald.com/cambodia/detail/1?page=13&token=OGE2NzA0MmI5OTg
Workers start wage battle a day early
About 1,000 workers from a Phnom Penh footwear factory got an early start on Tuesday on a cross-union campaign for a $177 minimum wage, set to start today, protesting in front of their factory over internal workplace grievances. ...
Mech Dara
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/workers-start-wage-battle-a-day-early-68119/
Thousands of workers go on strike in Prey Veng
Some 3,000 workers protested in front of a garment factory in Prey Veng province Monday, calling for larger bonuses and better working conditions, according to unionists and factory representatives. Employees of the Chinese-owned Komchay Mear Trading factory, which produces clothing for U.S. brand Gap, have been ...
Ben Sokhean
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/thousands-of-workers-go-on-strike-in-prey-veng-68069/
Six Cambodian women to be returned from China
Six Cambodian women trafficked to China to become brides and seven Cambodian victims of labor exploitation in Saudi Arabia will be repatriated by the end of the month, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced Monday. ...
Kuch Naren
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/six-cambodian-women-to-be-returned-from-china-68087/