Labor
Labor policy and administration
Workers say shuttered factory managers took them hostage
A Chinese-owned garment factory in Phnom Penh’s Chbar Ampov district locked up about 300 workers for two hours on Wednesday morning to force them to accept reduced salary payouts before it shuttered operations due to financial losses, union officials and the former workers said Thursday. ...
Mech Dara
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/workers-say-shuttered-factory-managers-took-them-hostage-77469/
GMAC calls for law enforcement to ensure garment sector stability
The Garment Manufacturers Association in Cambodia (GMAC) has called on all trade unionists to respect the law and halt violence if they want stability in Cambodia’s garment sector. ...
The Cambodia Herald News Staff
http://thecambodiaherald.com/cambodia/gmac-calls-for-law-enforcement-to-ensure-garment-sector-stability-8160
Rights groups ask World Bank to hold meeting with evictees
Rights groups have asked the World Bank to schedule a “special meeting” with evictees before deciding whether to lift a freeze on new loans to Cambodia, and to hold it in Thailand so that participants can speak their minds without fear of reprisal from the ...
Zsombor Peter
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/rights-groups-ask-world-bank-to-hold-meeting-with-evictees-77417/
Municipal Court questions arrested union head
The Phnom Penh Municipal Court on Wednesday began questioning union leader Seang Rithy, who was arrested outside a garment factory in Pur Senchey district on Tuesday while leading what police said was an illegal strike. ...
Ben Sokhean
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/municipal-court-questions-arrested-union-head-77411/
Six unionists arrested, released in Bavet City over incitement
Six union organizers were arrested in Svay Rieng province Wednesday while distributing letters to workers in an attempt to refute rumors that their union had taken cash in exchange for not protesting over the firing of eight of their members, according to the union and ...
Ben Sokhean
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/six-unionists-arrested-released-in-bavet-city-over-incitement-77403/
Rights groups ask World Bank to hold meeting with evictees
Rights groups have asked the World Bank to schedule a “special meeting” with evictees before deciding whether to lift a freeze on new loans to Cambodia, and to hold it in Thailand so that participants can speak their minds without fear of reprisal from the ...
Zsombor Peter
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/rights-groups-ask-world-bank-to-hold-meeting-with-evictees-77417/
Strike-leading union head arrested in Phnom Penh
The pugnacious leader of an independent workers union was arrested outside a garment factory on Phnom Penh’s industrial outskirts Tuesday morning for leading what police described as “illegal striking and an anarchic union.” ...
Ben Sokhean
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/strike-leading-union-head-arrested-in-phnom-penh-77342/
Fainting figures jumped in 2014: government
Workplace faintings last year jumped more than 100 per cent from 2013, a report from the Ministry of Labour and National Social Security Fund (NSSF) released yesterday says. ...
Sen David
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/fainting-figures-jumped-2014-government
Permit penalty: New fine in works for workers
Starting on April 1, the government will charge $5 a day for every day that a staff member of a company in Cambodia is without a work permit, according to a senior immigration official. The census is part of an overall tightening of labour laws ...
Taing Vida
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/permit-penalty-new-fine-works-workers
Unions warn of strikes over gov’t rejection of new branch
A group of eight trade unions Thursday said the government has turned down every one of their applications to form local branches at the country’s garment factories since early last year and threatened mass strikes if the rejections continue. At a press conference in Phnom Penh, ...
Mech Dara
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/unions-warn-of-strikes-over-govt-rejection-of-new-branches-77031/
Ministry outlines procedures for businesses hiring foreigners
The Labor Ministry released a statement Monday with a list of procedures all businesses in Cambodia that hire foreign workers must follow in order to comply with the country’s long-standing Labor Law. According to Monday’s statement, which was signed by Labor Minister Ith Sam ...
Union complains of spate of illegal garment factory firings
Union leader Pav Sina on Tuesday said garment factories around the country illegally fired dozens of his local representatives last year, far more than in 2013, and urged the government to help get their jobs back. Mr. Sina’s Collective Union of Movement of Workers (CUMW) is ...
Dozens of maids still missing in Malaysia, rights group says
Rights group Adhoc on Tuesday urged the government to work harder to help Cambodian domestic workers still suffering abuse from their employers in Malaysia or from the Cambodian recruitment agencies that sent them there, including 63 women the organization says have effectively disappeared. At a press ...
Cleaners at airport to get salary bump
A monday walk-out by cleaners at Phnom Penh International Airport has resulted in the company the airport enlists for sanitary services agreeing to hike employees’ monthly salaries by $20 yesterday. More than 30 employees at HCC Co, the airport’s cleaning service, walked off the job, demanding ...
Pech Sotheary
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/cleaners-airport-get-salary-bump
Unionising masseuses to protest alleged firing
Nearly 40 former employees at a Siem Reap province massage parlour will protest in front of its storefront today after management allegedly fired them for trying to introduce a labour union. ...
Mom Kunthear
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/unionising-masseuses-protest-alleged-firing
Fishermen repatriated after ordeal
On Friday, 13 Cambodians were repatriated after months of gruelling work trapped aboard Malaysian fishing trawlers, according to rights groups that helped with the returns. ...
Laignee Barron and Sen David
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/fishermen-repatriated-after-ordeal
Faintings up: Union report
About 1,800 people fainted at work in 2014, roughly 1,000 more than the previous year, according to Cambodian Labour Confederation (CLC) statistics surveying multiple industries in the Kingdom. Work-related deaths fell from about 96 in 2013 to 73 in 2014, while issues such as arrests and ...
Sean Teehan and Mom Kunthear
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/faintings-union-report
Ministries unclear over who needs work permits
About three weeks after the interior and labor ministries announced a crackdown on foreigners without work permits, officials this week could provide few answers on how expatriates can comply with the country’s labor regulations. According to the 1997 Labor Law, all foreigners working in Cambodia are ...
Chris Mueller and Ouch Sony
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/ministries-unclear-over-who-needs-work-permits-76262/
Beer promoters see change
A vigorous labour-rights movement outside factories has been paramount in the government essentially doubling the minimum garment wage over the past three years. Sar Mora, president of Cambodian Food and Service Workers Federation (CFSWF), said yesterday that the high-profile push for garment wage increases has ...
Shane Worrell and Mom Kunthear
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/beer-promoters-see-change
Garment factory’s concessions end strike
About 1,000 workers at a Takeo province garment factory who have been on strike since Monday are due to return to work today after negotiations between union representatives and the factory wrapped up successfully Tuesday. ...
Ben Sokhean
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/business/garment-factorys-concessions-end-strike-76061/
Dewhirst management ‘intimidated’ workers
Management of an English-owned garment factory yesterday refused a request by union officials to meet to negotiate a possible end of a strike that started on Thursday. ...
Mom Kunthear
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/dewhirst-management-intimidated-workers
ILO calls on global garment buyers to help absorb Cambodia's new minimum wage
Global garment brands who source their products from Cambodia should play a part in helping the industry absorb the new minimum wage of US$ 128 per month, according to experts from the International Labour Organization (ILO). The new minimum wage for the approximately half-a-million workers in ...
The Cambodia Herald News Staff
http://thecambodiaherald.com/cambodia/ilo-calls-on-global-garment-buyers-to-help-absorb-cambodias-new-minimum-wage-7991
With higher wages after strike, Cintri workers back on the job
After a two-day strike that saw trash quickly pile up along Phnom Penh’s streets, more than 1,000 workers for the city’s only trash collection company, Cintri, agreed to return to their jobs Wednesday after being promised pay raises. Street cleaners, who make between $90 and ...
Ben Sokhean
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/with-higher-wages-after-strike-cintri-workers-back-on-the-job-74428/
Trash collectors’ strike to continue into third day
Hundreds of workers at Phnom Penh’s only trash-collection firm, Cintri, have vowed to continue striking today for higher wages and shorter work days after negotiations failed to resolve the dispute Tuesday. ...
Ben Sokhean
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/trash-collectors-strike-to-continue-into-third-day-74359/