Labor
Labor policy and administration
Bavet city SEZs close amid violent protests
Two economic zones in Svay Rieng province’s Bavet City closed down on Thursday, sending some 30,000 workers home over what local officials said were violent protests by groups of workers demanding higher wages. ...
Kang Sothear
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/bavet-city-sezs-close-amid-violent-protests-103351/
Cambodia garment factory owners ask government to help quash strike by workers
Garment factory owners in Cambodia asked the government on Thursday to help stop a strike by workers for higher wages, saying the labor action is damaging the investment climate for the industry, the country’s main source of exports. ...
Associated Press News Staff
http://www.startribune.com/cambodian-garment-makers-ask-government-to-quash-strike/362791961/
Migrant cooperation agreements slated for Thai visit
As Cambodian workers continue to stream illegally across the border to work in Thailand, the two countries are set to sign twin agreements to combat the issue when Prime Minister Hun Sen visits Thailand on Friday. ...
Sen David
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/migrant-cooperation-agreements-slated-thai-visit
Legal passage to Malaysia for maids still some months away
Although Cambodia signed off on a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Malaysia on Thursday that will once again allow the country to send domestic workers to its Asean neighbor, a Labor Ministry spokesman said it will not take effect for months. ...
Zsombor Peter
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/legal-passage-to-malaysia-for-maids-still-some-months-away-102896/
PM warns against trafficking
At an event marking National Anti-Human Trafficking Day in Phnom Penh on Saturday, Prime Minister Hun Sen warned that officials who collude with traffickers must be punished. ...
Khuon Narim
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/pm-warns-against-trafficking-102901/
Eight return from China, Malaysia
The Foreign Ministry announced on Saturday the rescue of eight trafficked Cambodian women who worked either as maids in Malaysia or were tricked into becoming brides to men in China.Of the eight women, five worked as domestic workers in Malaysia and three were married off ...
Charles Rollet and Sen David
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/eight-return-china-malaysia
Workers don’t know their rights: study
Many female garment workers still do not know their rights and work in unsafe and substandard conditions, a new study has found. ...
Chea Takihiro
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/18627/workers-don---t-know-their-rights--study/
Deal ends moratorium on maids to Malaysia
Four years after Prime Minister Hun Sen personally outlawed the practice of Cambodian women traveling to Malaysia to work as domestic servants, the two countries have agreed to restart the maid trade, according to a statement released by the Labor Ministry on Thursday. ...
Matt Blomberg and Kang Sothear
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/deal-ends-moratorium-on-maids-to-malaysia-102759/
International union urges brands to lead on pay rises
Changes to unfair wages for garment sector workers has to start at the top, with global brands paying higher prices for clothes, said leaders of an international labor organization at a meeting yesterday. IndustriALL is pushing for this through its ACT program. If successful, it ...
Jonathan Cox
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/18537/international-union-urges-brands-to-lead-on-pay-rises/
Deadly year for garment factory commutes: Report
More than 7,000 garment workers were injured and 130 killed during traffic accidents that occurred while they were being transported to and from factories in the first 11 months of the year, according to a report from the National Social Security Fund (NSSF). ...
Mom Kunthear
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/18538/deadly-year-for-garment-factory-commutes--report/
Cambodia: Unions discuss garment wages, workers’ rights
Union and clothing brand representatives from around the world met in Cambodia’s capital Wednesday, aiming to address the country’s minimum wage and push for the establishment of a proper system of collective bargaining. ...
Lauren Crothers
http://aa.com.tr/en/asia-pacific/cambodia-unions-discuss-garment-wages-workers-rights/488146
Mass fainting hits Cerie garment factory again
A mass fainting incident occurred again yesterday at a Chinese-owned garment factory that supplies nighties, bras and children’s clothing to North American retail chain Hudson Bay, with more than 60 workers collapsing at the factory in Kampong Speu’s Samrong Tong district, after about 40 collapsed ...
Mom Kunthear
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/18487/mass-fainting-hits-cerie-garment-factory-again/
Gov’t vows crackdown on lawbreaking contractors
Contractors that dodge requirements to register with the social security fund, leaving workers to foot their hospital bills alone, will start facing harsher legal penalties, the director of the National Social Security Fund (NSSF) said. ...
Jonathan Cox and Tin Sokhavuth
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/18493/gov---t-vows-crackdown-on-lawbreaking-contractors/
Protests over conditions break out at two garment factories
Hundreds of garment workers from two factories – in Phnom Penh and Kandal – yesterday burned car tyres in protest of the labour conditions at their workplaces.The 150 demonstrators in Phnom Penh’s Meanchey district work for Conpress Holdings (Cambodia) Garment Factory Ltd. They demanded that ...
Sen David
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/protests-over-conditions-break-out-two-garment-factories
More than 50,000 migrants deported by Thailand in 2015
More than 50,000 Cambodian migrants were deported from Thailand through the Poipet International Border Checkpoint, the main point of return for migrants, since the beginning of this year, according to a Banteay Meanchey provincial police official. ...
Saing Soenthrith
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/more-than-50000-migrants-deported-by-thailand-in-2015-102223/
Labour law delayed after protests
The government has agreed to delay the passage of a controversial law governing the trade union sector, announcing it would set up a national workshop to work out the legislation’s thornier clauses on December 15. ...
Mom Kunthear
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/labour-law-delayed-after-protests
Garment workers injured after truck veers, plunges into canal
Almost 50 garment workers are recovering from their injuries in the hospital or at home after the flatbed truck that was transporting them home from work in Kompong Chhnang province on Monday evening plunged into a canal, police said on Tuesday. ...
Ben Sokhean
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/garment-workers-injured-after-truck-veers-plunges-into-canal-101708/
Kampong Speu garment workers continue strike
Protesting working conditions, nearly 300 garment workers in Kampong Speu’s Chbar Mon town entered their tenth day of strikes yesterday as the Arbitration Council prepared paperwork to resolve the dispute. ...
Pech Sotheary
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/kampong-speu-garment-workers-continue-strike
Massage workers strike in Siem Reap
More than 70 workers from a Korean-owned massage centre in the tourist hub of Siem Reap protested in front of their workplace yesterday, demanding a basic wage of $177 per month and a $100 yearly health bonus.Workers from the Alaska Massage Center have been on ...
Mom Kunthear
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/massage-workers-strike-siem-reap
Migrants abused in Thai poultry industry
Cambodian migrants working in Thailand to process chicken for European consumers are forced into debt bondage and subjected to a range of rights violations, according to a new report.Trapped in the Kitchen of the World, which was released on Wednesday by European NGOs Swedwatch and ...
Alice Cuddy
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/migrants-abused-thai-poultry-industry
Worker dies after mass faintings in Kandal
A garment worker died on Sunday after collapsing in an economic zone in Kandal province last week with more than 400 others, according to union and labor officials, who believe her death was linked to the faintings. ...
Ben Sokhean
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/worker-dies-after-mass-faintings-in-kandal-101214/
Garment workers protest firing of lead Unionists
More than 300 garment workers at the Shui Yat factory in Kompong Speu province’s Chbar Mon City entered a second day of strikes on Monday over the firing of two leaders of the factory’s chapter of the Free Trade Union (FTU). ...
Khy Sovuthy
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/garment-workers-protest-firing-of-lead-unionists-101208/
Latest draft of union law leans in unions’ favor
Trade unions appear to have prevailed over employers in their yearslong tug-of-war over a controversial draft Trade Union Law that reached the National Assembly last week. ...
Mech Dara
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/latest-draft-of-union-law-leans-in-unions-favor-101199/
Vihear Suor farmers slammed for workday pesticide use
The Khsach Kandal district hall has called on 10 farmers to attend a meeting today about the pesticides they spray on their crops after almost 300 factory workers in the nearby 7NG Economic Zone fainted on Thursday and Friday. ...
Pav Suy
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/18069/vihear-suor-farmers-slammed-for-workday-pesticide-use/