Labor policy and administration

The government yesterday significantly upped the garment and footwear sector’s minimum wage to $170 a month, from $153, the highest increase in wages in the past two years and one that comes ahead of a crucial national election next July. ...

The industry body representing Cambodia’s garment sector issued a statement yesterday urging the government to help manufacturers reduce the cost of doing business in order to offset a higher minimum wage and workers benefit package due to come into effect on January 1. ...

Employers, unions and government officials have settled on three figures to propose as the new minimum wage for garment, textile and footwear workers in a final day of negotiations on the issue. ...

Union negotiators on the minimum wage for garment, textile and footwear workers have lowered their claim from $176.26 per month to $175 while the employers have increased their offer from $161 to $161.50. ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen has told garment workers not to demand an excessive increase in the minimum wage, otherwise factories could move to more affordable countries. ...

Employers must allow all Muslim women to wear headscarves and traditional clothing to work, Prime Minister Hun Sen said yesterday. Addressing workers in Phnom Penh’s Meanchey district, Mr Hun Sen said he met Muslim women on a recent visit to Kampong Cham, who told him they ...

The Labour Ministry and the Health Ministry have vowed to work together to bring free, efficient healthcare to workers in both the informal and formal sectors. ...

The Ministry of Labour’s spokesman yesterday said that free medical treatment for garment workers, announced by Prime Minister Hun Sen last week, will start on January 1. ...

The Ministry of Labour’s spokesman yesterday said that free medical treatment for garment workers, announced by Prime Minister Hun Sen last week, will start on January 1. Spokesman Heng Sour said the scheme would have help from other ministries. ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen yesterday continued his bid to woo the Kingdom’s thousands-strong bloc of garment workers, reminding workers of the perils of former opposition leader Sam Rainsy’s proposal to leverage an EU embargo on garment imports to improve the country’s political and human rights ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen has ordered officials to set up health centres next to factories and areas where workers live to improve treatment for staff who fall sick. ...

In yet another potentially major new benefit to Cambodian workers ahead of next year’s national election, Prime Minister Hun Sen on Sunday announced that employees in some of the country’s key industries would soon be able to receive free checkups and treatment at state hospitals. ...

Prime Minister Samdech Akka Moha Sena Padei Techo Hun Sen announced here this morning the reduction of the cost of water for factory workers to further help improve their living standard. ...

The Cambodian Labour Confederation said garment workers need a monthly wage of $224 to survive, a steep rise from Prime Minister Hun Sen’s proposed increase to $168. ...

Eighteen Cambodian migrant workers were repatriated from Malaysia this week after being cheated by brokers to work abroad illegally, the Foreign Affairs Ministry said yesterday. ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen again met with garment sector workers yesterday, adding a boost to maternity leave salaries to a range of promises he had made to them on Tuesday. ...

A controversial universal minimum wage law will be passed this year in order to prevent a repeat of the mass protests over garment sector wages that rocked the country in 2013, Labour Minister Ith Sam Heng said yesterday, despite calls for revisions from independent unions ...

Pro-government and independent unions are gearing up for negotiations to introduce a national minimum wage by the end of the year. ...

Cambodia lacks effective mechanisms to protect its citizens working both as legal and undocumented migrants abroad, where such workers also face insufficient protection from the countries that receive them, according to two new reports published last week. ...

An international alliance of NGOs has started a campaign to urge two prominent U.K. clothing retailers and a Canadian brand to compensate 208 factory workers who lost their jobs when the Chung Fai Knitwear factory abruptly closed a year ago. ...

The National Social Security Fund (NSSF) said yesterday that incidents of garment workers fainting on the factory floor had increased by 39 percent over the first six months of the year when compared to the same period last year. ...

The Ministry of Labour has announced plans of a month-long research campaign into the living standards of garment and footwear factory workers prior to setting a minimum wage in 2018. ...

Labour Minister Ith Sam Heng announced yesterday that this year’s round of garment sector minimum wage negotiations would begin in July, with unionists cautiously optimistic that next year’s national elections could benefit their cause despite calls from Sam Heng not to “politicise” the process. ...

A group representing some of the largest apparel brands in the U.S., including Gap and Levi Strauss, are urging Prime Minister Hun Sen to reconsider controversial provisions in a pair of draft laws on wages and labor disputes. ...