Labor
Still no motion on union law
As the latest draft of Cambodia’s long-awaited trade-union law sits idly at the Council of Ministers, Ministry of Labour officials have turned to outsiders to help hasten its enactment, a union advocate said yesterday. Dave Welsh, country director of the American Center for International Labor Solidarity, said ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012090458479/National-news/still-no-motion-on-union-law.html
Garment Factory Monitoring Needs to Improve
The International Labor Organization’s (ILO) Better Factories Cambodia (BFC) program must overhaul its monitoring practices before it can meaningfully improve working conditions in the garment sector, accoring to the authors of a new report. the new report by Community Legal Education Center and the Netherlands-based ...
Human Trafficking Rise Prompts Action
Human and sex trafficking complaints had increased markedly this year, with police vowing to redouble their resources to fight the rampant crimes, officials said at a summit on Friday. Mok Chito, head of the General Secretariat of the National Police Commissioner’s central judicial department, said 113 ...
US, Cambodia Agree to Explore Investment Pact
U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk announced Friday that the U.S. and Cambodia have agreed to explore the creation of a bilateral investment treaty that would regulate the rules of foreign direct investment between the two countries, the U.S. Embassy said in a statement. According to the Embassy, such a treaty ...
Fainting workers blame fumes
Almost 150 garment factory workers from two Phnom Penh factories fainted late last week after inhaling toxic fumes used to treat clothes, workers and union leaders said yesterday. The mass faintings came as the Clean Clothes Campaign and Community Legal Education Center released an evaluation report ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012090358448/National-news/fainting-workers-blame-fumes.html
Report Urges Better Factories to do more
Better Factories Cambodia must name and shame garment factories that abuse the labour law if it is to transform Cambodia into an ethical sourcing option, a report on the International Labor Organization initiative says. Better Factories should make monitoring reports public, according to the 10 Years ...
Youths seek to create jobs
With different talents but similar passions, Small World is a small enterprise that brings talented young Cambodians together to learn, work and network in the new world of business. Small World is a collaborative workplace created to ensure that young people passionate about business have access ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012083158396/Business/youths-seek-to-create-jobs.html
Families Seek Missing Relatives in Malaysia
Ten months after the government suspended sending Cambodian women to work as maids in Malaysia, following numerous reports of abuse by employers and recruitment companies, families say they have completely lost contact with their loved ones who continue to work in Malaysian households. Local rights group Adhoc has recorded ...
One Garment Worker Killed, 24 Injured in Truck Accident
A female garment worker died and 24 other workers were injured when the truck in which they were traveling careened into a pond in Phnom Penh’s Sen Sok district Wednesday morning, police said. More than 30 garment workers were on board a small, open-backed truck in Prek ...
Firm's 'hostage' awaits justice
Heng Hak wore a blank expression yesterday, her hair recently dyed a shade of blonde. Though her appearance suggested composure, a lift of her pant leg revealed the manifestation of the trauma she tried to escape last year. In March 2011, Hak jumped from the third ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012083158412/National-news/firms-hostageawaits-justice.html
Angkor Restorers ink first bargaining pact
Under the shade of Angkor’s canopies and twisted Banyan trees, more than 100 restoration workers watched yesterday afternoon as union delegates signed their first collective bargaining agreement, in what union advocates say should set a precedent for Cambodia’s construction industry. Over the past two years, the ...
Claire Knox and Mom Kunthear, P. 5
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012083158404/National-news/angkor-restorers-ink-first-bargaining-pact.html
Incitement Charge for Chhun
Global brands Levi’s and Gap had continued slashing orders at the Tai Yang and Camwell factories in Kandal province, costing the company that owns them about US$6 million, its manager claimed yesterday. Tai Yang Enterprises manager Wu Minghuor said the brands had reduced their orders from ...
Malaysia called out on MoU
Malaysia needs to start “paying attention” to a worker protection agreement with Cambodia that has languished for almost two years, a Ministry of Interior official said at a meeting yesterday. The meeting, which included officials from the ministries of Interior, Women’s Affairs, Tourism, Foreign Affairs and ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012082958343/National-news/malaysia-called-out-on-mou.html
Beer Promoters 'banished' for striking
Angkor Beer promoters involved in last August’s strike over unpaid overtime have been banished to less popular restaurants and beer gardens in the past year, a report on the profession says. According to Promoting Decency? Report on the Situation of Beer Promotion Workers in Cambodia, released this ...
Garment Demonstrators Request to Hold Protest
Workers from the Ocean Garment factory, who have been protesting outside the plant in Pur Senchey district for weeks, will file a request with Phnom Penh City Hall today to allow them to continue their demonstrations in front of the Ministry of Social Affairs and ...
Union Leader Called to Court for Inciting Garment Workers
The Kandal Provincial Court has summoned outspoken labor activist Rong Chhun to be questioned over accusations that he incited garment workers to strike illegally, a court official said yesterday. Deputy provincial prosecutor Tep Monin said that he called Mr. Chhun, president of the Cambodian Confederation of ...
Carlsberg promises support
Danish brewer Carlsberg has vowed to improve the working conditions of Angkor and Carlsberg beer promoters in Cambodia as it tries to stamp out coerced workplace drinking. The company announced late last week it had joined forces with the Danish Confederation of Trade Unions (LO) to ...
Provocative Posters Spark Renewed Protests
More than 2,000 garment factory workers protested Saturday and plan to strike today in support of union organizers who face prosecution in court for alleged “incitement” over demonstrations at the plant, a union representative said yesterday. The workers at Ocean Garment factory began demonstrating on Aug. ...
Money machines
The secong Cambodia International Textile and Garment Exhibition from August 17 to 20 aimed to boost the Kingdom’s all-important garment sector by highlighting high-tech machinery which could boost factories’ productivity and bottom lines. Over 2,700 square meters at the Diamond Island Convention and Exhibition Center, the ...
Carlsberg for Better Beer Promoter Working Conditions in Cambodia
Women sales promoters working in bars in Cambodia are occasionally exposed to harassment by customers varying from being coerced into drinking and in some cases, being subjected to sexual abuse. Cambodia Carlsberg Group and The Danish Confederation of Trade Unions (LO) have joined forces in a ...
http://www.scandasia.com/viewNews.php?coun_code=dk&news_id=11060
Thai Insurgency Claims Outrage Cham Muslims
Cambodia’s Muslim community hit back on Friday at claims made in the media this week by Thailand’s army chief Prayuth Chanocha that members of the Cham minority group were joining the insurgency that has raged in Thailand’s southern provinces since 2004. Speaking at a press conference ...
Strikes lead to cut in orders
Global brands Levi’s and Gap had slashed their orders from the Tai Yang and Camwell garment factories by 20 per cent, the factories’ boss said yesterday, amid the longest strike in the industry’s recent history. Tai Yang Enterprises manager Wu Minghuor said his company had shuttered ...
Garment Workers Rally for Third Day to Sack Factory Manager
More than 2,00 female workers from a factory in Phnom Penh that makes clothes for the U.S. brand Gap protested yesterday for a third straight day demanding that the firm sack a manager at the factory for allegedly abusing workers. Lining Russian Boulevard near the Ocean ...