Labor
Unions
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
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/
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/
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/
After mass firing, union considers new protests
More than 100 workers who were fired by a Taiwanese-owned garment factory this week for striking over demands for further benefits will meet with union leaders “as soon as possible” to discuss potentially launching protests, a union representative said Tuesday. The workers were fired by the ...
Ben Sokhean
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/after-mass-firing-union-considers-new-protests-67806/
Mass firing at Xin Fang factory
In a mass firing the scale of which has not been seen since January, Phnom Penh’s Xin Fang garment factory yesterday terminated 106 employees for protesting in front of the factory. Management at the Por Sen Chey district factory on Thursday already sacked nearly 30 striking ...
Mom Kunthear
http://phnompenhpost.com/national/mass-firing-xin-fang-factory
Sorya bus hullabaloo at an end
A five-month protest aimed at a Phnom Penh bus company came to an end on Thursday when Sorya Transportation Company reinstated three of 17 drivers it fired in April. ...
Mom Kunthear
http://phnompenhpost.com/national/sorya-bus-hullabaloo-end
A busy week at court expected for union leader Ath Thorn
The Phnom Penh Municipal Court will be seeing a lot of union leader Ath Thorn next week. From next Monday through Thursday, it has summonsed the president of the country’s largest independent union to three rounds of questioning over three separate cases in which Mr. Thorn ...
Mech Dara
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/a-busy-week-at-court-expected-for-union-leader-ath-thorn-67650/
Cambodian labor unions lower minimum wage demands
Cambodian labor unions this week lowered their demands for a 60 percent increase to the country’s $100 minimum wage, as talks loom next month on setting a new wage.Unions agreed to call for $150 a month during a meeting with officials from the Garment Manufacturers’ ...
Lauren Crothers
http://www.turkishweekly.net/news/171407/cambodian-labor-unions-lower-minimum-wage-demands.html
Factory at center of January strikes under review
The Yakjin Trading Corporation, a South Korean company whose factory was at the center of major demonstrations earlier this year, has begun a review of its operations. ...
Heng Reaksmey
http://www.voacambodia.com/content/factory-at-center-of-january-strikes-under-review/2439828.html
Rights group urges Cambodia to drop case against six unionists
A human rights group on Thursday urged authorities in Cambodia to end the prosecution of six trade unionists accused of stoking violent clashes between protesting workers and security forces, calling the case against them “politically motivated.” New York-based Human Rights Watch said prominent activists Pav Sina, ...
Joshua Lipes
http://www.rfa.org/english/news/cambodia/unionists-09042014181530.html
Union leader says charges baseless
One of six union leaders charged and summonsed for questioning over a strike that ended in government forces shooting dead at least five people in January has sent a message to authorities to hurry up and get his hearing over with. ...
Mom Kunthear
http://phnompenhpost.com/national/union-leader-says-charges-baseless
Thousands strike over pay at Kompong Cham garment factory
More than 5,000 workers from a footwear factory in Kompong Cham province went on strike Monday, calling on factory management to increase their benefits. The lively crowd rallied outside the Taiwanese-owned Juhui Footwear factory in Choeung Prey district, dancing to music pumped out of loudspeakers as ...
Ben Sokhean
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/thousands-strike-over-pay-at-kompong-cham-garment-factory-67397/
Tempers flare at bus protest
Resolution continued to elude 17 former bus drivers for the Phnom Penh Sorya Transportation Company yesterday when a demonstration at the company’s headquarters was roughly dispersed by company security after the ex-staffers tried to block buses from leaving. Sambath Vorn, president of the union whose founding ...
Mom Kunthear and Tat Oudom
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/tempers-flare-bus-protest
Workers take pay dispute to ministry of labor
Hundreds of garment workers traveled from a Kompong Chhnang factory to Phnom Penh on Monday to petition the Ministry of Labor to intervene in their dispute with factory management. About 3,000 workers from the Chinese-owned Jiun Ye Garment factory have been striking since August 18, accusing ...
Ben Sokhean
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/workers-take-pay-dispute-to-ministry-of-labor-67148/
Factories ask gov’t to punish strike leaders
The Garment Manufacturers Association in Cambodia (GMAC) over the weekend released a statement condemning an ongoing strike at a Kompong Chhnang garment factory and urging authorities to “punish the perpetrators.” About 3,000 employees of the Chinese-owned Jiun Ye Garment factory have been on strike since August ...
Ben Sokhean
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/factories-ask-govt-to-punish-strike-leaders-67103/
Striking factory workers thwart police arrests
Police in Kompong Chhnang province on Thursday were prevented from arresting workers and union officials outside a Samakki Meanchey district garment factory by a mob of irate protesters who pulled two of their colleagues out of a police car to thwart their arrests. About 3,000 employees ...
Ben Sokhean
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/striking-factory-workers-thwart-police-arrests-66997/