Labor
Labor policy and administration
Garment meeting: Official vows to stamp out corruption
A Ministry of Labour official yesterday vowed to go after any of his “corrupt” colleagues that deal with the garment and footwear sector, and urged workers to file complaints about substandard working conditions. ...
Mom Kunthear
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/garment-meeting-official-vows-stamp-out-corruption
After jail, Pov gains following
Before he was arrested in January, Vorn Pov and the union he created were not widely known outside of activist circles. But when he emerged from Phnom Penh’s CC1 prison on Friday, he walked away as one of the highest-profile unionists in the country, and a ...
Kevin Ponniah, May Titthara and Sen David
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/after-jail-pov-gains-following
A factory or family dilemma
Being placed on consecutive short-term contracts in Cambodia’s predominantly female-staffed garment sector is forcing many women to choose between a family and a factory job, unionists and rights groups said yesterday. Ken Chenglang, acting president of the National Independent Federation Textile Union of Cambodia, said many ...
Amelia Woodside and Mom Kunthear
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/factory-or-family-dilemma
Factory faintings back on rise
More than 600 workers have fainted on factory floors so far this year, compared with about 800 such incidents over the whole of 2013, a Labour Ministry official said yesterday. Pok Vanthat, deputy director of the ministry’s labour health department and head of a committee that ...
Chhay Channyda
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/factory-faintings-back-rise
Protest blocked: Workers at factory seek full salaries
Police yesterday morning blocked more than 1,000 garment workers as they tried to march from their Por Sen Chey district factory to the Ministry of Labour to plead for intervention. Management at the Ocean Garment factory informed staff on May 24 that it would close for ...
Mom Kunthear
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/protest-blocked-workers-factory-seek-full-salaries
Cambodia’s ‘Better Factories’ Are Getting A Lot Worse
Three months pregnant at the time, Sam Ath doesn’t remember collapsing two months ago at the crowded, muggy garment factory where she works at the southwestern edge of the Cambodian capital. The 30-year-old woke up in a hospital bed, only to be told that she had ...
Geoffrey Cain
http://www.mintpressnews.com/cambodias-better-factories-are-getting-a-lot-worse/191790/
Maids still missing as deal with Malaysia nears
When Ros Srey Pich was 19, she signed a contract with a recruitment agency that would send her to work as a maid in Malaysia. The recruitment agency, Job Asia, had sourced the teenager from what is now Tbong Khmum province, telling her poor family that ...
Phorn Bopha and Matt Blomberg
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/maids-still-missing-as-deal-with-malaysia-nears-60302/
Medical trips await 9 of 23
Nine of the group of 23 workers and labour activists who were released from custody and given suspended sentences on Friday over January’s garment employee protests will receive medical care in Thailand, rights group Licadho said yesterday. A number of the men were beaten by security ...
Meas Sokchea
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/medical-trips-await-9-23
About 30 workers faint
About 30 workers at Ghin Yi factory fainted on Monday noon after learning that their colleague fainted at the factory in Chamkar Svay commune of Samaki Meanchey district of Kampong Chhnang province. ...
The Cambodia Herald News Staff
http://thecambodiaherald.com/cambodia/detail/1?page=15&token=ZWMxNDI0MDEzYjE
25 found guilty for roles in garment protests; sentences suspended
Twenty-five unionists, garment workers and bystanders were found guilty by the Phnom Penh Municipal Court on Friday for their involvement in three separate garment protest-related cases, but were handed down suspended sentences. The 22 men who had not been bailed ahead of trial were ordered ...
The Cambodia Daily
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/25-found-guilty-for-roles-in-garment-protests-sentences-suspended-60092/
As verdicts loom in 25 protest related cases, acquittals sought
Verdicts will be handed down Friday in two garment protest-related cases that rights groups say were built on a weak body of evidence. The two cases occurred months apart but followed a similar narrative: Garment workers fed up with their calls for a higher monthly minimum ...
Lauren Crothers
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/as-verdicts-loom-in-25-protest-related-cases-acquittals-sought-60056/
Boy caught up in protests faces 11 years in jail
As several hundred garment workers from the SL Garment factory pelted police with rocks during a protest near the Stung Meanchey pagoda in November, Men Sok Sambath, a 14-year-old scrap collector, decided to join the crowd. “I saw other people throwing rocks at the [police] truck, ...
Mech Dara and George Wright
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/boy-caught-up-in-protests-faces-11-years-in-jail-59934/
ILO attacks trade union law
An International Labour Organization official yesterday called the draft of a Ministry of Labour trade union law “a step backwards” during the opening of a two-day workshop meant to hear concerns of both labour unions and employers. In a speech to worker representatives, members of the ...
Mom Kunthear and Sean Teehan
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/ilo-attacks-trade-union-law
Electronics workers call for child care
About 700 workers at a Svay Rieng province electronics factory were to demonstrate for the third day today after management refused their demands for access to child care and the reinstatement of five union leaders. The provincial department of labour yesterday proved unable to sway management ...
Chhay Channyda
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/electronics-workers-call-child-care
Ocean garment workers on strike after factory halts operations
About 1,000 workers protested outside Ocean Garment factory in Phnom Penh’s Pur Senchey district on Wednesday to demand compensation for being out of work while the factory suspends its operations for a month due to flagging demand from buyers, a union leader said. Workers have been ...
Mech Dara
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/ocean-garment-workers-on-strike-after-factory-halts-operations-59954/
Villager in land row denied character statement by police
A villager involved in a long-running land dispute in Kompong Chhnang province with the wife of Mines and Energy Minister Suy Sem has accused his commune police chief of discrimination after he was refused a character statement he needed to apply for a garment factory ...
Kuch Naren
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/villager-in-land-row-denied-character-statement-by-police-59726/
Brands, international unions press Cambodian government on labor issues
Representatives from some of the world’s largest fashion brands and the leader of one of the world’s biggest union organizations met this week with Cambodian officials and local clothing manufacturers to demand better treatment and improve workplace safety for the country’s estimated 600,000 garment workers. Garment ...
Robert Carmichael
http://www.voanews.com/content/brands-international-unions-press-government-on-labor-issues/1923596.html
International union urges factories to raise wages
A major international union wants Cambodian garment workers and factory managers to return to negotiations, following meetings between international companies and officials. The IndustriALL Global Union said Tuesday that management should seriously consider a minimum wage of $160 per month, after international buyers such as Levis ...
Suy Heimkhemra
http://www.voacambodia.com/content/international-union-urges-factories-to-raise-wages/1923487.html
Takeo court releases eight C.CAWDU unionists after questioning
Takeo Provincial Court released eight unionists yesterday after they were questioned for several hours. The unionists from the Coalition of Cambodia Apparel Workers’ Democratic Union (C.CAWDU) were arrested on May 23 after they led workers to protest at JSD Textile (Cambodia) to demand better work condition. ...
The Cambodia Herald News Staff
http://thecambodiaherald.com/cambodia/detail/1?page=13&token=NzAwOWUxZmYzM2F
Cambodian officials meet with buyers from global brands on garment issues
Cambodian officials, led by Permanent Deputy Prime Minister Keat Chhon, on Monday met with a 18-member delegation representing global brands and trade unions to discuss garment worker rights and wages. It was the second round of talks between Cambodian government officials and representatives of major brands ...
Xinhuanet News Staff
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/world/2014-05/26/c_133363019.htm
Workers turn models on political catwalk
About 150 garment workers turned out to the Phnom Penh offices of the United Sisterhood Alliance NGO on Sunday to watch a politically charged fashion show entitled “Beautiful Clothes, Ugly Reality.” Aimed to highlight “the income gap between Cambodian garment workers and the selected CEOs of ...
Mech Dara and Alex Willemyns
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/workers-turn-models-on-political-catwalk-59540/
Stay away from factory, court tells unionists
Eight members of Cambodia’s largest independent union were released on bail yesterday after being tried at Takeo Provincial Court over their alleged involvement in a factory protest late last week, officials said. Defence lawyer Kim Socheat said the members of the Coalition of Cambodian Apparel Workers’ ...
Mom Kunthear
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/stay-away-factory-court-tells-unionists
More unionists charged on eve of brand meeting
The Takeo Provincial Court charged eight union representatives with incitement Sunday for taking part in a garment factory strike, bringing to 17 the number of unionists charged this month alone. The latest in the spate of recent arrests came just ahead of today’s high-level meeting between ...
Mech Dara
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/more-unionists-charged-on-eve-of-brand-meeting-59538/
Twenty put end to latest Caltex strike
Petrol station workers who were back on strike on Friday returned to work yesterday as they prepare to file a complaint to the Ministry of Labour against US-owned Caltex over alleged rights abuse. Yoeun Reth, one of 20 Caltex workers striking on Friday, said yesterday that ...
Mom Kunthear
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/twenty-put-end-latest-caltex-strike