Labor
Costs don’t top brands’ concerns
In their latest bid for a $160 minimum monthly wage for the garment industry, independent unions will lead a “stay at home” strike late next week. While the chances of that figure being approved anytime soon seem slight – the government has only just announced a ...
Sean Teehan
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/costs-don%E2%80%99t-top-brands%E2%80%99-concerns
Kampot Cement Company workers on strike
About 200 workers employed by a sub-contractor of Kampot Cement Company went on strike for several hours Tuesday, demanding better wages as well as annual leave, a union representative said. “The reason they went on strike is that they want Banjamag company to implement five points” ...
Hay Pisey
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/kampot-cement-company-workers-on-strike-56168/
Union leader in West seeking release of jailed activists
Rong Chhun, head of the Cambodian Confederation of Unions, is making a trip through the US, seeking support to help free 21 labor activists who have been in jail since deadly crackdowns on demonstrations in January. His visit comes as another labor leader, Ath Thun, was ...
Sok Khemara
http://www.voacambodia.com/content/union-leader-in-west-seeking-release-of-jailed-activists/1888813.html
Unions press ahead with strike plans despite arrest threats
Union leaders planning a stay-at-home strike to demand a higher minimum wage for the country’s garment workers say they will press on with the strike after the Khmer New Year, despite the threat of arrest for anyone handing out leaflets promoting their plans. On Sunday, a ...
Mech Dara
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/unions-press-ahead-with-strike-plans-despite-arrest-threats-56012/
Factories not monitoring chemicals, says ministry
Following the mass fainting of hundreds of workers at garment factories last week, an official at the Ministry of Labour has raised concerns over the control of toxic chemicals. Leng Tong, director of the Labour Ministry’s occupational health and safety department, said factories should be providing ...
Sen David
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/factories-not-monitoring-chemicals-says-ministry
World Bank raises growth forecast for Cambodia in 2014
The World Bank upwardly revised Monday its GDP growth forecast for Cambodia this year to 7.2 percent, up from its October projection of 7.0 percent. In explaining the higher forecast, the bank’s East Asia and Pacific Economic Update pointed to “the expectation of renewed confidence and ...
The Cambodia Herald News Staff
http://thecambodiaherald.com/cambodia/detail/1?page=13&token=YjY5Zjc3MTUwZDg
Cambodia leads doubts over AEC
In a rare moment of honesty a Cambodian official has admitted his doubts about his country’s ability to meet regional expectations in time for the launch of the much vaunted ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) by the end of 2015. “If you talk about short-term: Yes, we ...
Luke Hunt
http://thediplomat.com/2014/04/cambodia-leads-doubts-over-aec/
Leaflets get unionist in hot water
Police in Svay Rieng province yesterday afternoon arrested a union worker who was delivering flyers supporting a stay-at-home strike scheduled to begin after Khmer New Year. While delivering about 1,100 fliers to union members at Full Fortune Knitting, Kem Chamroeun, a 25-year-old Collective Union of Movement ...
Mom Kunthear and Khouth Sophak Chakrya
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/leaflets-get-unionist-hot-water
Linking the worst factories with the labels
The building that housed USA Fully Field Garment factory in Phnom Penh’s Meanchey district stands empty now. The grounds are littered with garbage and boxes full of dusty brand labels that were stitched onto clothes by almost 400 workers before the factory owner fled in ...
Simon Henderson and Khy Sovuthy
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/linking-the-worst-factories-with-the-labels-55839/
Labor Ministry, ILO set out plan for minimum wage reforms
Facing public pressure from major garment brands and labor unions, the Ministry of Labor and the International Labor Organization (ILO) will cooperate in the coming months to reform the current system of setting the minimum wage in the garment sector. The reform process will begin with ...
Aun Pheap and Colin Meyn
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/labor-ministry-ilo-set-out-plan-for-minimum-wage-reforms-55869/
Union leader: Workers to hold protest after New Year
Labor union leader expressed pleasure and welcomed the study of minimum wage for footwear and garment factory workers. However, he said that the workers will hold protest after the New Year. ...
The Cambodia Herald News Staff
http://thecambodiaherald.com/cambodia/detail/1?page=13&token=OGFhNDE1N2Q3ZTZ
More than 100 workers faint at Shenzhou garment factory
More than 100 workers of Shenzhou garment factory in Phnom Penh fainted Thursday, one day after a similar mass fainting at the same factory. The first workers fainted at about 8 a.m., setting off a chain reaction that sent the entire workforce running from the factory ...
Matt Blomberg and Sek Odom
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/more-than-100-workers-faint-at-shenzhou-garment-factory-55766/
Mass faintings in Cambodia sicken over 200 garment workers
More than 200 Cambodian garment workers have been hospitalized after episodes of mass fainting at three factories this week, highlighting problems within an industry that is critical to the kingdom’s fledgling economy. The plants all make clothes for brands such as sportswear giants Puma SE and Adidas. Both ...
Aljazeera America News Staff
http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2014/4/3/over-200-cambodiangarmentworkersfaintonthejob.html
Insecticides blamed for faintings
Nearly 100 garment workers employed by the New Wide garment factory in Phnom Penh’s Dangkor district have fainted since Tuesday evening after company representatives’ allegedly sprayed insecticide throughout the factory, a local official and a worker said. ...
Sen David
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/insecticides-blamed-faintings
Child labor probe on Preah Vihear sugar plantation moves forward
Police in Preah Vihear province say they have uncovered more evidence of child labor on a Chinese-owned sugarcane plantation and will send the case to court if further investigation confirms their preliminary findings. A former employee of the Lan Feng plantation filed a complaint last month ...
Khy Sovuthy
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/child-labor-probe-on-preah-vihear-sugar-plantation-moves-forward-55643/
Taiwanese firm in court over trafficking fishermen to Africa
A Taiwanese woman and five associates charged with trafficking Cambodians to work in slave-like conditions on fishing boats off the coast of Africa had their case heard by the Phnom Penh Municipal Court on Wednesday. Lin Yu Shin, the 54-year-old owner of the now defunct Giant ...
Eang Mengleng
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/taiwanese-firm-in-court-over-trafficking-fishermen-to-africa-55673/
CCAWDU leaders deny corruption during questioning at court
The Phnom Penh Municipal Court on Wednesday questioned three senior officials from the Coalition of Cambodian Apparel Workers’ Democratic Union (CCAWDU) who stand accused of embezzling $92,929. Speaking after questioning under the court’s deputy prosecutor Ek Chheng Huot, union president Ath Thorn denied siphoning off the ...
Khuon Narim
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/ccawdu-leaders-deny-corruption-during-questioning-at-court-55670/
Unions, GMAC tussle over New Year strike
Garment worker unions have tangled with factory owners over the unions’ plan to use the coming Khmer New Year holiday to launch a nationwide strike. A coalition of eight unions will send a letter today to the Garment Manufacturers Association in Cambodia (GMAC) stating that workers ...
Mech Dara and Matt Blomberg
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/unions-gmac-tussle-over-new-year-strike-55543/
Ministry reiterates holiday pay
The Ministry of Labour has announced that factory managers must allow employees three days off for Khmer New Year, even as some union leaders encourage workers to extend that time. In a letter to factory owners dated March 25, Labour Minister Ith Sam Heng reminds owners ...
Mom Kunthear
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/ministry-reiterates-holiday-pay
CNRP official ejected from Freedom Park
Opposition lawmaker-elect Mu Sochua and five CNRP youth supporters were ejected Tuesday from Phnom Penh’s Freedom Park after they gathered to film a video for a foundation named after Free Trade Union founder Chea Vichea, who was assassinated in 2004. “We did not come to ...
Mech Dara
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/cnrp-official-ejected-from-freedom-park-55551/
ADB predicts slower growth for 2014
The Asian Development Bank on Tuesday said it expects Cambodia’s economic growth to slow slightly in 2014. In its annual “Asian Development Outlook,” the bank said it expects to see a drop in the rate from about 7.2 percent last year to 7 percent this year ...
Suy Heimkhemra
http://www.voacambodia.com/content/adb-predicts-slower-growth-for-2014/1883732.html
Workplace deaths up
Workplace deaths shot up more than 60 per cent last year when compared with 2012, while injuries and payouts to those injured also saw dramatic increases, according to data released yesterday by the National Social Security Fund (NSSF). Speaking during a conference at the Ministry of ...
Sen David and Sean Teehan
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/workplace-deaths
Social Security Fund starts new insurance scheme
The National Social Security Fund (NSSF) on Monday launched an initiative to provide health insurance to the nation’s workforce, a plan that the country’s largest employers’ associations said was premature. NSSF director Ouk Samvithya said that by the middle of this year, enterprises in the country ...
Aun Pheap and Matt Blomberg
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/social-security-fund-starts-new-insurance-scheme-55375/
Union bosses called in
Phnom Penh Municipal Court on Friday summonsed three senior leaders of Cambodia’s largest independent garment union for questioning over claims they embezzled money meant to be paid to workers in compensation following an industrial dispute, a court official has said. ...
Buth Reaksmey Kongkea
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/union-bosses-called