Manufacturing
Garments and textiles
Out with the old: factory
Amid concerns of legal violations on the part of their employer, about 400 workers at the USA Fully Field garment factory in the capital’s Meanchey district accepted payouts for their factory closing – even though it hasn’t. Workers protested last week in fear that the factory ...
Mom Kunthear
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/out-old-factory
Stones, bottles traded at SL Garment protest
Broken bottles and stones flung by security guards at striking garment workers who blocked the road in front of the factory yesterday morning injured about 10 people, worker representatives said. The attack allegedly occurred at around 7:30 am, after about 500 employees at SL Garment Processing ...
Mom Kunthear, P.5
http://www.phnompenhpost.com
Garment exports up, margins down
Despite concerns that political uncertainty would be a drag on the economy, Cambodia’s garment exports continued on an upward trend in the first nine months of the year, the latest data show. Though volume increased, factory profit margins were squeezed due to labour disputes and demands ...
Hor Kimsay
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/garment-exports-margins-down
USA garment factory workers block national road
Nearly 400 workers at the USA Fully Field (Cambodia) Garment factory blocked National Road 2 in Phnom Penh’s Meanchey district yesterday after fears spread that the factory was winding down operations and that management wouldn’t pay necessary wages once it closed. Soy Nakri, a worker representative ...
Mom Kunthear
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/usa-garment-factory-workers-block-national-road
SL Garment Protesters Gain Little From Talks at Labor Ministry
A two-day meeting between union leaders, senior government officials and representatives of the SL Garment Factory failed Tuesday to reach a solution for factory workers, who have been on strike since early August and on Monday demonstrated in front of Prime Minister Hun Sen’s Phnom ...
Ben Woods and Khy Sovuthy
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/sl-garment-protesters-gain-little-from-talks-at-labor-ministry-45708/
Cambodia sees 22 pct rise in garment exports in 9 months
Garment industry, Cambodia’s largest income earner, reported a 22-percent increase in exports in the first nine months of 2013, showed the data of the Ministry of Commerce released on Tuesday. During the January-September period this year, the country had exported garment products in equivalent to $4.2 ...
Global Times News Staff
http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/819443.shtml#.UmaRFflgd8E
Sabrina workers out after months in jail
Eight unionists locked in prison in Kampong Speu province since violent clashes at the Sabrina Garment factory in May and June were released on bail yesterday, court and union officials said. Cheum Rithy, a provincial judge, said he had decided to release the eight Free Trade ...
Mom Kunthear
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/sabrina-workers-out-after-months-jail
Cambodian trade unions urge garment workers not to join opposition’s mass protest next week
A Cambodian trade unions leader on Saturday called on garment workers not to participate in the opposition party-planned mass demonstration next week against the results of July’s election that handed victory to Prime Minister Hun Sen’s ruling party. “I would like to appeal to all workers ...
Nzweek News Staff
http://www.nzweek.com/world/cambodian-trade-unions-urge-garment-workers-not-to-join-oppositions-mass-protest-next-week-90198/
Brands tell GMAC to dial it down
Some of the world’s largest clothing brands have warned the Garment Manufacturers Association in Cambodia of possible business ramifications should the factory representative continue with plans to impede labour monitoring. Thirteen major buyers, including Gap, H&M, Levi’s, Nike and Puma, have signed a letter to GMAC ...
Daniel de Carteret
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/brands-tell-gmac-dial-it-down
Labour Ministry told to keep SL talks alive
In a letter sent to the Ministry of Labour and Vocational Training last week, the Council of Ministers encourages the ministry to facilitate talks between garment factory management and the union representing thousands of workers on strike for nearly two months. The letter, written by Council ...
Sean Teehan and Mom Kunthear
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/labour-ministry-told-keep-sl-talks-alive
Cambodia’s Manufacturers Shift to Higher-Value Clothing
Cambodia’s factories are moving away from producing the most basic clothing items and diversifying to manufacture more intricate products for international buyers. As the garment sector has grown over the past decade, most garment factories have stuck to producing items such as T-shirts and jeans due ...
Dene-Hern Chen
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/business/cambodias-manufacturers-shift-to-higher-value-clothing-44792/
Court Hears Garment Heist Case Involving Port Workers
The Phnom Penh Municipal Court on Tuesday heard the case of two port workers and a military police officer charged with stealing more than 8,000 articles of clothing from a shipping container while it was being driven to the Phnom Penh Autonomous Port. The three suspects—Sorn ...
Eang Mengleng
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/court-hears-garment-heist%E2%80%88case-involving-port-workers-44718/
Cambodia's trade with Japan up 24 pct in 8 months
The two-way trade between Cambodia and Japan has hit $503 million in the first eight months this year, up 24 percent over the same period last year, the figures from the Japan External Trade Organization said Tuesday. Cambodian exports to Japan rose 39 percent to $358 ...
Global Times Staff
http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/816224.shtml#.UlS3adKBmN8
World Bank says Cambodian political uncertainty has 'Unclear' impact
The World Bank said Monday that the impact of Cambodia’s political uncertainty was “unclear” but left its growth forecasts unchanged for this year and next year. “The Cambodian economy remains robust amidst a challenging global economic environment,” the bank said in its East Asia and Pacific ...
The Cambodia Herald Staff
http://www.thecambodiaherald.com/cambodia/detail/1?page=13&token=OTBjN2JiMjBlMzI
ILO Initiative Could Unravel Cambodia’s Garment Industry: Manufacturers
A move by the International Labour Organization to name and shame garment producers in Cambodia that flout workers’ rights and safety standards could damage the industry’s reputation and result in a drastic reduction in orders from buyers abroad, according to a senior manufacturing official. Last week, ...
Radio Free Asia News Staff
http://www.rfa.org/english/news/cambodia/initiative-10042013150820.html
Monitor, GMAC at odds over plan
The head of the Better Factories Cambodia (BFC) program said yesterday that consultations on its new public-disclosure initiative have been going on for more than a year, contrary to claims by a garment factory representative who characterised the process as hasty. Jill Tucker, chief technical adviser ...
Daniel de Carteret and May Kunmakara
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/monitor-gmac-odds-over-plan
GMAC Urges Factories to Resist New Monitoring
Following the International Labor Organization’s (ILO) announcement that its Better Factories Cambodia (BFC) program will from January name and shame firms that contravene Cambodian labor laws, the Garment Manufacturers Association in Cambodia (GMAC) has urged factory operators to refuse entry to ILO monitors, unless they ...
Matt Blomberg
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/gmac-urges-factories-to-resist-new-monitoring-44006/
Home for the holidays
Still agitated 20 minutes after the rally in front of SL Garment Processing (Cambodia) Ltd had dispersed yesterday, Choem Som Im held up seven fingers as she jerked her arms forward and spoke in an equally sharp tone. The dilemma, faced by many garment workers, ...
Sean Teehan and Mom Kunthear
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/home-holidays
Levi Strauss Pulls Out From Embattled SL Garment Factory
A Singaporean-owned garment factory whose workers have been on strike since early August is no longer producing clothes for American denim giant Levi Strauss, a brand representative and a factory worker said Monday. The workers of SL Garment Factory in Meanchey district—which still makes clothes for ...
Aun Pheap and Dene-Hern Chen
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/levi-strauss-pulls-out-from-embattled-sl-garment-factory-44015/
Union wary of possible crackdown
Preparing for a demonstration expected to draw thousands of garment workers this morning, Ath Thorn, president of the Coalition of Cambodian Apparel Workers Democratic Union (C.CAWDU), said yesterday that he feared the possibility of a heavy-handed military police response. About 4,000 workers gathered at SL ...
Sean Teehan
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/union-wary-possible-crackdown
Factory management agrees on pay advance for holiday
Management at the Chhin Chin garment factory yesterday agreed to meet workers’ demands to receive their wages before the Pchum Ben holiday after a 150-worker demonstration briefly blocked National Road 4 in front of the factory. Workers at the factory, which is located in Phnom Penh’s ...
Mom Kunthear and Sean Teehan
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/factory-management-agrees-pay-advance-holiday
Workers Say Large Military Police Presence at SL Factory
More than 100 military police officers stood guard outside a garment factory in Phnom Penh’s Meanchey district on Monday and prevented workers from returning to work, employees and local officials said. Workers from Singaporean-owned SL Garment Factory—which makes clothing for U.S. brands Levi’s and Gap—have been ...
Aun Pheap
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/workers-say-large-military-police-presence-at-sl-factory-43060/
Cambodian Garment Factories Come Under Scrutiny
A monitoring group backed by the United Nations said it would begin to publicize garment factories’ compliance with worker rights and safety standards in Cambodia, a controversial program that its organizers say will be the world’s most extensive initiative to improve working conditions at plants. The ...
Kate O'keeffe
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303818704579089810120675896.html
Riot at Garment Factory Leaves 11 Injured
Nine garment workers and two Chinese managers were injured on Friday in Phnom Penh’s Meanchey district after a riot broke out among 300 workers protesting for higher wages and improved working conditions, officials said Sunday. Commune police chief Mao Sovann said workers at the SL Garment ...
Aun Pheap
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/riot-at-garment-factory-leaves-11-injured-42917/