Manufacturing
Garments and textiles
A lesson in caution
After nearly 50 garment workers were killed last year while travelling to or from their respective factories, the Ministry of Labour has urged truck drivers who cram dozens into the back of vehicles each day to take more care on the roads. In an information session ...
Sen David
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/lesson-caution
Unionists remain in hospital
Blinded, bloodied and barely conscious, two unionists who were nearly beaten to death after passing out pro-union literature in front of a Phnom Penh garment factory remained in their hospital beds yesterday, awaiting a possible transferral to Vietnam. The vicious attack in front of Dayup ...
Mom Kunthear
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/unionists-remain-hospital
SL strikers go back to work today
Thousands of striking garment workers are set to return to work today, as more than two weeks of demonstrations at one of Asia’s largest garment factories come to a close. Meas Sotha, a shareholder at SL Garment Processing (Cambodia) Ltd, and Kong Athit, vice president of ...
Sean Teehan and Mom Kunthear
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/sl-strikers-go-back-work-today
Commune officials to solve factory disputes
In response to a growing number of strikes in the country’s highly profitable garment sector, the government trained 15 handpicked commune officials yesterday to mediate and resolve factory disputes. The training was designed to teach commune councillors to defuse and resolve conflict, Buth Ji, director of ...
Phak Seangly
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/commune-officials-solve-factory-disputes
Strikers descend on ministry
Shouting their demands and trying to force their way through the gate, thousands of striking garment workers rallied in front of the Ministry of Social Affairs to no avail yesterday. The strikes came the morning after management posted a notice saying some 6,000 striking workers ...
Mom Kunthear and Sean Teehan
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/strikers-descend-ministry
Union reps claim factory beatdown
Union representatives who claim they were beaten to within an inch of their lives yesterday after they handed out pro-union leaflets in Phnom Penh’s Por Sen Chey district have vowed to take legal action. The 10 union members, who represent four different unions – the Union ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/union-reps-claim-factory-beatdown
Still at Large, Chhouk Bundith Has Case Sent to Appeal Court
Although the Svay Rieng Provincial Court announced the ex-governor’s sentence in June and ordered his immediate arrest, he has remained elusive to the authorities. His lawyers filed an appeal in July to the Appeal Court challenging the provincial court’s verdict. Sun Bunnarith, Chhouk Bundith’s lawyer, claimed ...
Khy Sovuthy and Dene-Hern Chen
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/still-at-large-chhouk-bundith-has-case-sent-to-appeal-court-40914/
Cambodia PM says garment firms may quit over wage rows
Cambodia’s strongman Prime Minister Hun Sen on Wednesday warned garment workers that protests demanding higher wages could push manufacturers to quit the country. His appeal came after unions last week said hundreds of workers had been fired from a factory making sportswear for US giant Nike ...
Unions Trade Barbs Over Violent Factory Strike
Two rival workers unions continued to trade barbs Thursday, each blaming the other for a violent clash between striking garment workers and police at a factory in Kompong Speu province on Monday that saw eight people arrested. The Free Trade Union (FTU) has led strikes for ...
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/business/unions-trade-barbs-over-violent-factory-strike-29833/
National silk board planned
A national silk board (NSB) under the Ministry of Commerce is being planned to weave tighter regulations into the Kingdom’s silk industry, the lack of which has deterred investors and hurt its export potential, according to industry representatives. Minister of Commerce Cham Prasidh said last week ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013060366008/Business/national-silk-board-planned.html
Cambodian police clash with thousands of garment workers, 23 hurt
At least 23 workers were hurt in Cambodia on Monday when police using stun batons moved in to end a protest over pay at a factory that makes clothing for U.S. sportswear company Nike , a worker and a trade union representative said. Police with riot ...
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/05/27/cambodia-garments-workers-idUSL3N0E829T20130527
Factory Dining Hall Collapses in Phnom Penh; 23 injured
The dining hall of a garment factory in Phnom Penh’s Meanchey district that supplies clothes to U.S. brand Gap collapsed into a pond Monday, injuring more than 20 workers who were eating lunch, workers and officials said. The hall, which is part of Top World Garment ...
France looks to increase exports to the Kingdom
France said it plans to boost its exports to Cambodia as French foreign direct investment in the country – worth $3.18 million in 2012 – continues to rise, officials said on Wednesday. Among this year’s investments, concessions and construction company group Vinci, the largest building ...
Bountiful work, but scant wages angers Cambodia
As night falls in Phonm Penh, thousands of weary workers stream from textile factories, reflecting the abundance of jobs created by the clothing industry’s desire for cheap labor. However, as the number of international clothes companies tapping into Cambodia’s workforce grows, so does anger at the ...
http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/biz/archives/2013/03/17/2003557254
Low pay fuels anger among Cambodia's garment workers
As night falls thousands of weary workers stream from textile factories that fan out across Phnom Penh’s outskirts. The clothing industry’s desire for cheap labour having created an abundance of jobs but as the number of international clothes companies tapping into Cambodia’s workforce grows, so does ...
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/afp_asiapacific/view/1259888/1/.html
Wal-Mart and H&M Pay $200,000 to Cambodian Workers in Historic Settlement
When tales emerge from the retail supply chain, they’re usually tragic, like the alleged sweatshop conditions at the Foxconn (HKG:2038) plants that churn out Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) products, or the 112 Bangladeshi workers who died when their factory, where clothes for Wal-Mart (NYSE:WMT), Sears Holdings (NASDAQ:SHLD), ...
Limited yarn supply troubles Cambodian silk industry
The silk industry of Cambodia is in rapid decline due to limited domestic supply of silk yarn and high cost of imported raw materials. According to the latest data released by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)-Cambodia, the Southeast Asian nation imports 395 tonnes of raw ...
http://www.fibre2fashion.com/news/textile-news/newsdetails.aspx?news_id=122102
Foreign activists detained
Police arrested five activists from labour-rights group Clean Clothes Campaign yesterday outside the E Garment factory in Kandal province. Neuv Sakhan, deputy director of the Kandal provincial immigration police, told the Post four women and one man, from Norway, Belgium, England and Austria, had been taken ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013030661780/National/foreign-activists-detained.html
Demand for wage increases rejected
Cambodia, with over 400 garment and footwear factories, has become an Asian clothes manufacturing center, and hugely profitable for the factory owners They have rejected a demand by the Cambodian Confederation of Unions to double the minimum monthly wage of factory workers from $61. The ...
http://www.vancouversun.com/business/Demand+wage+increases+rejected/8044435/story.html#ixzz2MYys4mpC
Unpaid Garment Workers Continue Protests
Some 200 garment factory workers protested at the Ministry of Social Affairs on Friday, a day after they held a demonstration in front of the Swedish Embassy in Phnom Penh and urged diplomats to intervene in a labour dispute involving unpaid wages from a factory ...
Investment Or Imperialism? Tracking China's Big Ambitions In Cambodia
A few years ago this scene would have played out in China. More specifically, it would have played out in a Chinese coastal region to which millions of rural folks had arrived looking for work. A huge hangar, piles of fabrics of all colors at both ...
Officials Draft Sub-Decree to Develop the Silk Sector
Officials at the Ministry of Commerce met on Friday to draft a sub-decree for the promotion and development of the Cambodian silk sector, but industry experts say the draft does not do enough for the local products used in the production of silk. The main ...
More regional flights to be available in Cambodia
Regional flights to Cambodia will rise next year with the news that Philippines Airlines is eyeing flights to the Kingdom and Singapore’s SilkAir announced it would increase the frequency of flights to Siem Reap. The regional wing of Singapore Airlines, SilkAir, announced on Tuesday an increase ...
ITC defends its use of funds, claiming silk weavers profiting
The International Trade Centre (ITC) yesterday rejected criticisms over the misuse of expenses and funds for a sector-wide Cambodian silk project, saying its approach was appropriate and well managed. Mao Thora, secretary of state for the Ministry of Commerce, publicly criticised the ITC during a seminar ...