Labor
Labor policy and administration
Angkor beer factory strike hits production
A workers’ strike escalated on Monday at Sihanoukville’s Angkor Beer-producing Cambrew factory, protesters said, with the company acknowledging that the work stoppage was causing major disruptions. ...
Chhorn Phearun
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/business/angkor-beer-factory-strike-hits-production-117037/
Judge calls meeting in US seafood case
A California judge has ordered lawyers representing two US seafood companies to appear in court for a scheduling conference following a lawsuit filed on behalf of seven Cambodians who claim they were duped into a life of servitude working in factories that supply the firms. ...
Men Kimseng
http://www.voacambodia.com/a/judge-calls-meeting-in-us-seafood-case/3472048.html
Government orders search for prisoners in Malaysia
Foreign Affairs Minister Prak Sokhonn has ordered Cambodian Embassy staff in Malaysia to find out whether more nationals are being held in any of the country’s detention facilities after 18 Cambodians were released from a prison in Kuala Lumpur last week. ...
The Cambodia Daily
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/brief/government-orders-search-prisoners-malaysia-116588/
Officials helping migrants in Thailand
Cambodian embassy officials in Thailand are now assisting migrant workers in Thai prisons by providing lawyers for them. Embassy officials also announced they are looking for relatives of a Cambodian man who died in Thailand late last month to take his body, which is being ...
Mom Kunthear
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/28418/officials-helping-migrants-in-thailand/
Insurance continues to grow
Insurance sales have grown by 37 percent in the first half of the year, totaling $56 million, the Insurance Association of Cambodia (IAC) announced in a report Tuesday. The increase, up from $40.9 million for the same period last year, has been driven by a ...
Sok Chan
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/28318/insurance-continues-to-grow/
Thailand asked to stop abuse
The abuse of Cambodians employed in Thailand’s fishing industry was raised yesterday in a letter from the government’s Cambodian Human Rights Committee (CHRC) to their Thai counterparts, calling for improved monitoring of the much criticized and troubled industry. ...
May Titthara
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/28271/thailand-asked-to-stop-abuse/
Unions tout ‘living wage’ ahead of minimum wage talks
Unions meeting on Friday arrived at an estimated cost-of-living salary for garment workers ahead of minimum wage talks, one remarkably similar to the monthly wage they’ve demanded two years running, though suggested the final number they push for will be higher. ...
Sen David and Erin Handley
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/unions-tout-living-wage-ahead-minimum-wage-talks
As garment minimum wage talks begin, other sectors want in
As unions, employers and government officials met for the first time in the run-up to the annual battle over the garment industry’s minimum wage yesterday, another group of labour and advocacy groups were asking when they would be part of those discussions. ...
Sen David and Ananth Baliga
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/garment-minimum-wage-talks-begin-other-sectors-want
Inside the corporate utopias where capitalism rules and Labor Laws don’t apply
Under Cambodian law, the right to organize is supposed to be ironclad. No employer, government agent or citizen may impede union activity. Inside the walls of Cambodia’s largest special economic zones (SEZs), however, In These Times’ reporters saw a system designed to tightly control the workforce by ...
Matt Kennard and Claire Provost
http://inthesetimes.com/features/special-economic-zones-corporate-utopia-capitalism.html
Workers at two factories rally for their rights
Almost 100 workers from the Chung Fai Knitwear FTY factory in Phnom Penh’s Meanchey district gathered in front of the Municipal Courthouse again yesterday, demanding the court issue an arrest warrant for the owner of their factory, who fled the country last month and has ...
Mom Kunthear
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/27652/workers-at-two-factories-rally-for-their-rights/
LG workers claim they have been mistreated
About 300 workers from South Korean firm LG Electronics gathered at the Ministry of Labor yesterday morning to protest against alleged mistreatment by their South Korean boss under Cambodian law. ...
Pav Suy
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/27423/lg-workers-claim-they-have-been-mistreated/
Increasing number of labour provisions in trade agreements don't hamper business: UN study
Trade-related labour provisions, such as ones that address labour relations or minimum working conditions for employees, do not harm business or make trade provisions less popular, according to a study released today by the United Nations labour agency. ...
UN News Centre Team
http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=54481
Ministry looking to close pension gap for officials
The Ministry of Social Affairs is looking for ways to bring old pension plans into line with pensions offered to more recently retired government workers. ...
Sen David and Yesenia Amaro
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/ministry-looking-close-pension-gap-officials
Protest at Pursat’s monkey business factory
More than 100 striking workers at the Vanny Bio-Research company in Pursat town agreed to go back to work yesterday after mediators promised to find an adequate resolution to their demands for a wage hike. The company breeds and cares for 30,000-40,000 monkeys they sell to ...
Mom Kunthear
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/27154/protest-at-pursat---s-monkey-business-factory/
Factory ceiling collapse leaves three injured
At least three garment workers were hospitalized yesterday after a ceiling collapsed at a garment factory in Kampong Chhnang town, according to officials. ...
Chea Vannak
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/27152/factory-ceiling-collapse-leaves-three-injured/
Unionists freed after strike called off in Kampot
The Kampot Provincial Court on Thursday released three union leaders without charge after the Cambo T.D.G. garment factory dropped its complaint against the trio in return for an end to a two-week strike. ...
Khuon Narim
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/unionists-freed-after-strike-called-off-in-kampot-115168/
Labor court to be ready next year
The Labor Court will be ready to hear cases by the end of next year, according to officials from the Ministry of Labor and Vocational Training. The court is being optimistically designed to effectively resolve labor disputes in the garment sector, Labor Minister Ith Samheng said ...
Chea Vannak
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/26901/labor-court--to-be-ready--next-year/
Labor Leaders Speak Out Against Union Law
Labor leaders in Cambodia have expressed concerns over pressures placed on their freedom to organize and mobilize garment workers following the implementation of a contentious law governing unions earlier this year. ...
Neou Vannarin
http://www.voacambodia.com/a/labor-leaders-speak-out-against-union-law/3403414.html
South Korea seeking more migrant workers in ’16
The number of migrant workers who will travel to South Korea this year will nearly double compared with last year, according to the Labour Ministry. ...
Kong Meta
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/south-korea-seeking-more-migrant-workers-16
Maid tells of abuse faced in Saudi Arabia
After two weeks stuck inside an immigration office in Saudi Arabia’s capital Riyadh, a Cambodian domestic worker returned to Phnom Penh yesterday without assistance from the Cambodian government – on a plane ticket she says was paid for by Saudi immigration police. ...
Vandy Muong and Audrey Wilson
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/maid-tells-abuse-faced-saudi-arabia
Cost of state healthcare announced
According to a Labor Ministry prakas, or official statement, both employers and employees will be responsible for paying 1.3 percent of an employees’ monthly salary to the government for state-supplied health insurance guaranteed to all workers under the Labor Law. ...
Mom Kunthear
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/26176/cost-of-state-healthcare-announced/
Government wage hikes depend on cost cutting
Slashing unnecessary spending by ministries will allow the government to guarantee a monthly minimum wage of $250 for civil servants in time for the 2018 national election, a secretary of state at the Finance Ministry said on Tuesday. ...
Kang Sothear
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/government-wage-hikes-depend-on-cost-cutting-114142/
Int’l Union report ranks Kingdom in bottom ten
Cambodia made the list of the 10 worst countries in terms of labour rights, according to a report released last week by the International Trade Union Confederation. ...
Bun Sengkong and Igor Kossov
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/intl-union-report-ranks-kingdom-bottom-ten
Talks over garment factory’s closure bear no fruit
The Ministry of Labour met with Malaysian-owned Global Apparels Limited factory representatives, union officials and workers yesterday, to negotiate an agreement for compensation as the company closes down. ...
Sen David
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/talks-over-garment-factorys-closure-bear-no-fruit