Labor
Unions
Garment wage talks fall apart
The tripartite working group set up to negotiate and advise the Ministry of Labour’s Labour Advisory Committee (LAC) on next year’s minimum wage in Cambodia’s garment sector has stopped meeting after reaching a stalemate. Made up of 27 members – nine each from employers, the government ...
Sean Teehan and Mom Kunthear
http://phnompenhpost.com/national/garment-wage-talks-fall-apart
Strikers to be held in prison
The Kampong Cham Provincial Court yesterday ordered that five workers who were arrested during a violent protest at Juhui Footwear on Saturday be held in prison while charges against them are investigated. Two of them, Khun Sokhom and Mon Sarem, officials from the Coalition of Cambodian ...
Mom Kunthear and Sean Teehan
http://phnompenhpost.com/national/strikers-be-held-prison
Union leaders called to court for questioning
The Phnom Penh Municipal Court has summoned two prominent union leaders for questioning on Friday over charges that they incited violence and property damage at a garment worker protest in Phnom Penh in January during which military police fatally shot at least five people. ...
Aun Pheap
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/union-leaders-called-to-court-for-questioning-71123/
Kompong Cham court releases five arrested at strike protest
The Kompong Cham Provincial Court on Monday released five of the 10 people who were arrested Saturday after clashes between police and about 1,000 sacked workers from the Taiwanese-owned Juhui Footwear factory. The protest on Saturday turned violent when Juhui Footwear administrative director Teng Sambath ...
Ben Sokhean
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/kompong-cham-court-releases-five-arrested-at-strike-protest-71108/
Malaysia workers organise
Dissatisfied by wages at home, thousands of Cambodians have been lured to Malaysia by the promise of bigger pay cheques, but while many have found themselves subjected to long hours, unpaid wages, unsafe working conditions and even physical abuse, they have – until now – ...
Alice Cuddy and Sen David
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/malaysia-workers-organise
Workers blockade highway in protest of pay and conditions
Thousands of workers from the Grand Twins International garment factory—one of two companies listed on the Cambodia Stock Exchange (CSX)—blocked a major highway leading out of Phnom Penh on Friday morning to protest for better working conditions and higher wages. ...
Ouch Sony and Holly Robertson
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/workers-blockade-highway-in-protest-of-pay-and-conditions-70971/
Labor groups press ministry on new union registration rules
About 100 workers representing eight trade unions and labor associations rallied in front of the Ministry of Labor on Sunday demanding that the government relax registration requirements that they say are being used to stifle efforts to increase their memberships. ...
Mech Dara
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/labor-groups-press-ministry-on-new-union-registration-rules-71009/
10 Cambodian workers arrested in violent wage protest
Ten striking workers were arrested in eastern Cambodia on Saturday after more than 200 protesters burned a factory gate and hurled stones at the police, leaving eight officers injured, a local police chief said. ...
Xinhuanet News Staff
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/world/2014-10/25/c_133742054.htm
US will not interfere in Cambodia's wage negotiation for workers: US Official
Mrs. Julie Chung, deputy chief of mission at the US embassy in Phnom Penh, said Thursday that US will not interfere in Cambodia’s wage negotiation for workers. ...
The Cambodia Herald News Staff
http://www.thecambodiaherald.com/cambodia/us-will-not-interfere-in-cambodias-wage-negotiation-for-workers:-us-official-7537
Wage talks remain in deadlock
The third day of negotiations between members of a working group trying to reach a consensus on the minimum monthly garment wage remained stagnant yesterday, as manufacturers refused to budge from their $110 offer. ...
Mom Kunthear and Sean Teehan
http://phnompenhpost.com/national/wage-talks-remain-deadlock
Factory OKs only part of pay advance
About 600 employees of a Phnom Penh garment factory were to return to work today after walking out with the demand of receiving their salaries before next month’s Water Festival. Ginwin Industry (Cambodia) Co yesterday agreed to pay workers a portion of their wages ahead of ...
Mom Kunthear
http://phnompenhpost.com/national/factory-oks-only-part-pay-advance
Gov’t sets ground rules for ongoing wage talks
The Labor Ministry laid out the ground rules for unions and factories Monday at the first meeting of a new working group charged with getting the two sides to agree on a new minimum wage for garment workers, including a condition that they address each ...
Mech Dara
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/govt-sets-ground-rules-for-ongoing-wage-talks-70409/
S Korean farming industry slammed
Long considered the friendlier and less exploitative option for overseas Cambodian migrants, South Korea is now being slammed by Amnesty International for a number of abuses afflicting its migrant-dominated agriculture sector. The 20,000 foreign workers fuelling South Korea’s farming industry regularly encounter intimidation, violence, excessive working ...
Laignee Barron
http://phnompenhpost.com/national/s-korean-farming-industry-slammed
Cambodia factories snub workers arrested in January strikes
While the smoke has long cleared on January’s violent garment strikes, for many of the 23 workers and unionists arrested and tried on charges widely considered to be baseless, the ordeal is far from over. Nine months after security forces used deadly violence to end strikes ...
Alice Cuddy, Chhay Channyda & Mom Kunthear
http://www.ucanews.com/news/cambodia-factories-snub-workers-arrested-in-january-strikes/72213
Free Trade Union proposes $130 garment worker minimum wage
One of the country’s largest unions on Sunday came out in favor of a new minimum wage for garment workers far lower than what many of its counterparts have been agitating for over the past several months, bolstering prospects for a compromise with factories. ...
Mech Dara
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/free-trade-union-proposes-130-garment-worker-minimum-wage-70304/
No breakthrough in new talks for Cambodian minimum wage increase
Cambodian authorities have held two rounds of talks with garment factory owners and unions under a new mechanism to help break a deadlock over increasing the workers’ monthly minimum wage but to no avail. But Labor Minister Ith Sam Heng said that he expected the Garment ...
Roseanne Gerin
http://www.rfa.org/english/news/cambodia/working-group-10162014181856.html
Another wage body to form
Following a meeting with parliamentarians at the National Assembly yesterday, Minister of Labour Ith Sam Heng announced the ministry would form a 27-member committee to study technical aspects of raising the minimum wage in Cambodia’s garment sector. The new committee will comprise nine representatives each from ...
Pech Sotheary and Sean Teehan
http://phnompenhpost.com/national/another-wage-body-form
More negotiations planned ahead of minimum wage decision
Labor officials say they plan to put together an ad hoc group to discuss the contentious minimum wage for factory workers as they move toward a final decision next month. The announcement Tuesday came after meetings between Labor Minister Ith Sam Heng and Ker Sovannaroath, ...
Kong Sothanarith
http://www.voacambodia.com/content/more-negotiations-planned-ahead-of-cambodia-minimum-wage-decision/2483320.html
Unionists summoned over factory strike
Five union representatives have been summoned to appear in court later this month for questioning following a clash between workers and managers at a factory in Kompong Cham province last week that left three supervisors injured. ...
Ben Sokhean
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/unionists-summoned-over-factory-strike-69766/
Labor minister to face lawmakers’ questions
Labor Minister Ith Sam Heng has agreed to appear before lawmakers today to answer questions about ongoing minimum wage negotiations for garment workers, a controversial draft union law and other pressing labor issues, according to the opposition CNRP. ...
Mech Dara
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/labor-minister-to-face-lawmakers%e2%80%88questions-69768/
Cambodian trade unions lead protest to demand higher wage for garment workers
Six Cambodian trade unions led around 1,000 garment workers to march through streets here on Sunday to demand a higher minimum wage as annual talks on a wage hike are scheduled for next month. ...
Global Post News Staff
http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/xinhua-news-agency/141012/cambodian-trade-unions-lead-protest-demand-higher-wage-garme
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/
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
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