Ministries and other national bodies
Ministry of Labour and Vocational Training
Negotiations Fail as Worker, Opposition Protests Continue
Tens of thousands of workers protested in front of the Ministry of Labor on Monday, after negotiations between labor leaders and the government failed to find a resolution to demands of higher wages in the face of a rising cost of living. Labor Minister Ith ...
Kong Sothanarith
http://www.voacambodia.com/content/negotiations-fail-as-worker-opposition-protests-continue/1820038.html
Gov’t Unveils Legal Plan to Break Garment Industry Strike
As mass demonstrations by garment factory workers continued Monday, the government laid out plans to bring an end to the labor unrest within the next three days, including suing union leaders in the courts and mobilizing security forces to take unspecified action. Signed by Council ...
Aun Pheap and Colin Meyn
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/govt-unveils-legal-plan-to-break-garment-industry-strike-49763/
Factories Closed Until Safety Guaranteed
The Garment Manufacturers Association of Cambodia (GMAC) on Sunday said all of the country’s 400-plus garment factories will remain closed until the government and striking trade unions can guarantee the safety of the factories and all employees who want to work. The decision, outlined in an ...
Aun Pheap
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/factories-closed-until-safety-guaranteed-49749/
Cambodia Factories Grapple With Issue of Underage Workers
SIHANOUKVILLE, Cambodia—In this quiet beach town, Lim Loeung says she spends up to 80 hours a week gluing soles onto shoes at a factory that does work for companies including Japanese sneaker-maker Asics Corp. 7936.TO +0.95% The factory believes Ms. Lim is at least 18 ...
Kate O' Keeffe
http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702303799404579287353595133592
Cambodian labor minister holds urgent talk with pro-opposition trade unions over strikes
Cambodian Minister of Labor Ith Samheng on Friday afternoon held an urgent talk with the representatives of six pro-opposition trade unions after they have led tens of thousands of workers off work in protest against low wage increase for 2014. As the meeting was going on, ...
Xinhuanet News Staff
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/world/2013-12/27/c_133002053.htm
Factories to lose millions
The economic fallout from garment worker protests and the industry’s response is expected to cost the key sector millions of dollars while tarnishing the country’s reputation among international buyers, interviews with suppliers and figures from previous periods of labour unrest show. Disputes over wages came to ...
Eddie Morton and Hor Kimsay
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/factories-lose-millions
Protest against new wage of $95 is illegal: Labor Ministry
The Ministry of Labor and Vocational Training on Wednesday said that any activities made by the unions against the minimum wage of $95, agreed upon by the Labor Council, are against the law. After the wage talks yesterday, the Labor Council agreed to raise ...
The Cambodia Herald News Staff
http://www.thecambodiaherald.com/cambodia/detail/1?page=11&token=Y2RjMDY1MWE5NTl
Malaysia Fails to Guarantee Cambodian Maids’ Human Rights
The Ministry of Labor hopes that a new Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) will see Cambodia resume sending domestic workers to Malaysia by February, but negotiations on the document have stalled after Malaysia recently rejected 90 percent of proposed provisions to protect workers’ rights. Most strikingly, Malaysia ...
Matt Blomberg and Khy Sovuthy
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/malaysia-fails-to-guarantee-cambodian-maids-human-rights-49629/
Turmoil marks year in labour
When unions and the Garment Manufacturers Association in Cambodia (GMAC) signed a memorandum of understanding in October last year, both sides were confident strikes in the Kingdom’s biggest export sector could be kept to a minimum. Not counting December, GMAC has recorded 131 strikes this ...
Shane Worrell
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/turmoil-marks-year-labour
Keep striking for $160, Rainsy urges
Ahead of today’s Ministry of Labour announcement of a minimum wage increase for Cambodia’s apparel sector, opposition leader Sam Rainsy yesterday urged striking workers in Svay Rieng province to hold out until their monthly salary is raised to $160. “[Garment] workers should not return to work ...
Mom Kunthear, Sean Teehan and James Hall
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/keep-striking-160-rainsy-urges
No End in Sight for Svay Rieng SEZ Strikes
A union official at the center of a strike that started last Monday and involves an estimated 30,000 workers from two special economic zones (SEZs) in Svay Rieng province said Sunday that he has no control over the strikers, and does not know when or ...
Aun Pheap and Alex Willemyns
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/no-end-in-sight-for-svay-rieng-sez-strikes-49560/
CAMBODIA: Better Factories programme renewed
The Better Factories Cambodia programme has been renewed after a new, three-year Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) was agreed. The new agreement, aimed at furthering the initiative’s mission to improve working conditions in Cambodian garment factories, was signed by the International Labour Organization (ILO), the Cambodian Ministry ...
Richard Woodard
http://www.just-style.com/news/better-factories-programme-renewed_id120127.aspx
Labor Unions agree to one time hike in wage
Around 40 Labor Unions in Cambodia have all agreed to pursue the third formula given by the Ministry of Labor, of a one time hike in minimum wage for footwear and garment factory employees in 2014. The Labor Unions agreed to pursue the hike in salary ...
The Cambodia Herald News Staff
http://www.thecambodiaherald.com/cambodia/detail/1?page=13&token=MWNmYzg4Yjc2YjJ
Garment workers’ patience wearing thin
Taking part in daily demonstrations outside the shuttered factory where she once worked is beginning to weigh on Bou Narith and her co-workers. Government officials this morning will sit down with representatives of employees and a representative from USA Fully Field (Cambodia) Garment factory, which, ...
Mom Kunthear and Sean Teehan
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/garment-workers%E2%80%99-patience-wearing-thin
Government Proposes 100% Hike in Minimum Wage by 2018
The government proposed doubling the minimum wage for garment workers—from $80 to $160—within five years during a meeting with labor unions and garment manufacturers on Monday at the Ministry of Labor. “We have a plan to raise the minimum wage up to $160 for garment workers, ...
Aun Pheap
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/government-proposes-100-hike-in-minimum-wage-by-2018-49396/
ILO hails better protection for Cambodian migrant workers
The International Labour Organisation (ILO) Country Office for Thailand, Cambodia and Lao People’s Democratic Republic for is pleased to support the official launch of measures to better protect Cambodian migrant workers. On 16 December 2013, ahead of International Migrants Day on 18 December, the Cambodian Ministry ...
Fibre2Fashion News Staff
http://www.fibre2fashion.com/news/apparel-news/newsdetails.aspx?news_id=157264
Cambodian garment manufacturers, trade unionists talk over pay rise with no agreement
Cambodia’s garment manufacturers and trade unionists on Monday began a negotiation on pay rise for garment workers in 2014 but reached no any agreement because the union representatives demanded to double the current wage. The talk was made between the employers represented by Nang Sothy, co-chair ...
Xinhuanet News Staff
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/world/2013-12/16/c_132972280.htm
Factory Owners Slam Government Over Handling of Strikes
Members of the Garment Manufacturers Association of Cambodia (GMAC) said during a conference Sunday that they are “fed up” with the government for not controlling strikes by labor unions. “All of us have the same issue: illegal strikes,” Van Porphin, a member of GMAC’s executive committee, ...
Colin Meyn and Aun Pheap
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/factory-owners-slam-government-over-handling-of-strikes-49352/
Domestic workers seek cap on working hours
In a letter to three government ministries, a local domestic worker rights group last week demanded wage increases and limitations on work hours. Von Samphous, president of the fledgling Cambodian Domestic Worker Network (CDWN), sent the letter to the Ministry of Women’s Affairs and the Ministry ...
Mom Kunthear, P.5
http://www.phnompenhpost.com
NGO pair sought over Korea work scam
Authorities issued an arrest warrant last week for the director of a local NGO involved with an operation that allegedly bilked thousands out of money by claiming the company could find them work in South Korea. Warrants for the arrests of Theun Samnang, head of NGO ...
Sen David
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/ngo-pair-sought-over-korea-work-scam
Maid scheme off to ‘slow start’
A pilot scheme sending 400 Cambodian maids to Singapore has made a spluttering start, according to local media reports, with agencies in Singapore reportedly growing frustrated at the slow pace of maid arrivals and “sceptical” about the reliability of Cambodia as a source. Only about 100 ...
Kevin Ponniah
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/maid-scheme-%E2%80%98slow-start%E2%80%99
CNRP Requests Migrant Worker Draft Agreement
The opposition CNRP has written to the embassies of Singapore and Malaysia requesting copies of draft agreements with the Cambodian government on sending migrant workers to the countries that they say they were not privy to. A Ministry of Labor official last month said the government ...
Alex Willemyns and Kuch Naren
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/cnrp-requests-migrant-worker-draft-agreement-48622/
SL reps, unionists to sign deal to end strike
A nearly four-month strike, punctuated by a violent clash between unionists and police that left one bystander dead, could come to an end this afternoon. Officials from SL Garment Processing (Cambodia) Ltd and the Coalition of Cambodian Apparel Workers’ Democratic Union (C.CAWDU) – which represents a ...
Sean Teehan and Mom Kunthear
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/sl-reps-unionists-sign-deal-end-strike
SL to reinstate fired unionists
The chief executive of SL Garment Processing (Cambodia) yesterday said the factory has agreed to reinstate 19 dismissed union leaders and activists, a sticking point which could end a strike that has lasted more than three months. Hours after the Ministry of Labour announced the garment ...
Sean Teehan and Mom Kunthear
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/sl-reinstate-fired-unionists