Ministries and other national bodies
Ministry of Labour and Vocational Training
Capitol tours bus company, 5 drivers remain deadlocked
Following a meeting at the Labor Ministry’s conflict resolution department Thursday, the Capitol Tours bus company and five of its drivers—who claim they were fired for attempting to organize a union—remained deadlocked over their reinstatement. ...
Sek Odom
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/capitol-tours-bus-company-5-drivers-remain-deadlocked-89321/
Cambodia grants work cards to 25,000 foreigners in six months
Cambodia’s Ministry of Labor granted about 25,000 work permits to foreigners in the first six months of 2015, about 5,000 more than the total of last year, a local newspaper reported Friday. ...
Global Post News Staff
http://www.globalpost.com/article/6617771/2015/07/17/cambodia-grants-work-cards-25000-foreigners-six-months
More than 7,000 pass Korean language test
The results of a Korean proficiency test for would-be migrant workers were released Wednesday, with more than 7,000 Cambodians qualifying as prospective laborers in South Korea’s agriculture, manufacturing and construction sectors, according to officials. ...
Kang Sothear and Tsz-kwan Ho
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/more-than-7000-pass-korean-language-test-88560/
ILO launching new garment newsletter
The International Labour Organization (ILO) on Thursday will launch a news bulletin focusing on Cambodia’s garment and shoe sector, aimed at providing data for Cambodian policymakers during annual minimum wage talks. ...
Sean Teehan
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/ilo-launching-new-garment-newsletter
Factory agrees to pay wages to former workers
A South Korean-owned garment factory bowed to union pressure Thursday and agreed to pay its former workers wages they are owed, following a meeting with the Ministry of Labor. ...
Ben Sokhean
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/factory-agrees-to-pay-wages-to-former-workers-87257/
Cambodia sends 11,529 laborers abroad in first half of 2015
Cambodia had dispatched some 11, 529 workers to five countries in the first six months of 2015, according to a report from the Ministry of Labor on Thursday. ...
Khmer Times News Staff
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/12574/cambodia-sends-11-529-laborers-abroad-in-first-half-of-2015/
Cambodia struggling to curb child labor
On the southern outskirts of Cambodia’s capital, a ramshackle factory turns out tens of thousands of bricks each month. Pale rows of freshly fired bricks wait for buyers under the corrugated iron roof, while a 50-meter-long oven leaks a dull heat as it bakes a ...
Robert Carmichael
http://www.voanews.com/content/cambodia-struggling-to-curb-child-labor/2833593.html
Child garment workers not a problem, minister says
The labor minister said Tuesday there were so few underage workers in the garment industry that “we can count them on our fingers,” but a unionist and an NGO countered that child labor was still rife in the country’s smaller garment factories. ...
Mech Dara
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/child-garment-workers-not-a-problem-minister-says-85699/
More wage negotiations set, as workers maintain demands
The government has released a schedule for minimum wage discussions with unions and factories this year, as workers continue to demand $177 per month to keep up with the rising cost of living. More talks are scheduled from July through January. ...
Hul Reaksmey
http://www.voacambodia.com/content/more-wage-negotiations-set-as-workers-maintain-demands/2822361.html
Government announces start of garment sector wage talks
The Labor Ministry on Friday announced that formal negotiations to set a new minimum wage for the country’s all-important garment sector—now at $128 a month—will begin in July, reviving the same schedule for talks it used with unions and employers for the first time last ...
Mech Dara
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/government-announces-start-of-garment-sector-wage-talks-85550/
New draft of trade Union Law adds guilt by association
An updated version of the draft Trade Union Law gives the Labor Ministry the power to suspend unions that “cooperate” or hold joint activities with groups the government deems to have caused economic sabotage or “damaged” the national interest, according to a copy of the ...
Zsombor Peter
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/new-draft-of-trade-union-law-ad
Rights workers want transparency in Qatar labor recruitment
Human rights activists are calling for more transparency in any potential agreement to send Cambodian workers to Qatar. ...
Hul Reaksmey
http://bit.ly/1HLfbQr
Cambodia has 1,087 garment, shoe factories with 700,000 workers: minister
Cambodian Labor Minister Ith Samheng said on Sunday that the country’s garment and footwear industries, the kingdom’s largest foreign currency earner, are comprised of 1,087 factories with 700,000 direct jobs. ...
Global Post News Staff
http://bit.ly/1D4gXdw
Vietnam, Cambodia trade unions deepen ties
A delegation from the Vietnam General Confederation of Labour (VGCL) met with Cambodia’s trade unions this week to strengthen ties, Vietnam News Agency (VNA) reported. ...
Bernama News Staff
http://bit.ly/1FAtAAi
Officials work to evacuate Cham students from Yemen
As Yemen slides further into violence and chaos, officials are attempting to extricate eight Cambodian students studying there and send them back home, Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesman Koy Kuong said Sunday. ...
Ouch Sony
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/officials-work-to-evacuate-cham-students-from-yemen-81431/
Foreigners reminded to get their work permits
The head of the Interior Ministry’s general department of immigration issued a statement on Wednesday reminding foreigners working in Cambodia that they are required to hold a work permit—and will face fines if they do not. ...
Chris Mueller
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/business/foreigners-reminded-to-get-their-work-permits-81328/
Maid agencies want deal with Cambodia approved
Recruitment agencies are pressing for an MoU on Cambodian domestic maids to be approved, saying it had been stuck at the Malaysian side for several months. They said the Cambodian government was ready to lift the ban imposed in 2011, but lamented that Malaysian authorities were ...
P. Aruna
http://bit.ly/1OXuegx
Cambodia rebukes "labor abuse" report
Cambodia has rejected a U.S.- based Human Rights Watch’s “labor abuse” report, saying the report is groundless, according to a statement released by the Ministry of Labor late on Friday. ...
The Cambodia Herald News Staff
http://thecambodiaherald.com/cambodia/cambodia-rebukes-%22labor-abuse%22-report-8301
Environment officials to monitor conditions
The Ministry of Environment is set to join the Ministry of Labour in the monitoring of garment factory workplaces, after creating a working group that will probe the environmental safety of all plants in Cambodia. At a press conference at the ministry yesterday, Minister of Environment ...
Mom Kunthear and Sean Teehan
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/environment-officials-monitor-conditions
High number of migrant workers create political, economic challenges
There are now more than 1 million estimated Cambodian migrant workers in Thailand. This could be a threat to Cambodia’s economy and politics in the future, an analyst says. ...
Men Kimseng
http://www.voacambodia.com/content/high-number-of-migrant-workers-create-political-economic-challenges/2667562.html
PM takes to stump on legal limit to overtime
Prime Minister Hun Sen broached the long-running issue of excessive overtime worked by garment factory employees in a speech yesterday, in what at least one analyst saw as a possible play for garment worker support. During his commencement speech at the National University of Management, the ...
Mom Kunthear and Sean Teehan
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/pm-takes-stump-legal-limit-overtime
Senior garment workers also want salary raise
Thousands of garment workers at one Phnom Penh factory, and about 100 more at another, protested Thursday over the new minimum wage set for the garment sector late last year, upset that those already earning higher salaries were overlooked. ...
Mech Dara and Sek Odom
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/senior-garment-workers-also-want-salary-raise-78391/
Three more women faint as factory reopens
The Labor Ministry official in charge of garment factory faintings declared Wednesday’s reopening of a Svay Rieng province factory—where 100 workers fainted in the past week due to chemical fumes—a relative success, with only three more women collapsing while working. ...
Ben Sokhean
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/three-more-women-faint-as-factory-reopens-78276/
Labour Ministry vows to investigate recruiter
Responding to parliament’s order to investigate allegations against a recruitment agency with a record of mistreating its workers, the Ministry of Labour dispatched a team today to meet with a group of defrauded labourers. ...
Pech Sotheary and Laignee Barron
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/labour-ministry-vows-investigate-recruiter