Labor policy and administration

The owner of a labor firm repeatedly accused of human trafficking, who is also the sister of one of the country’s top police officials, has been appointed head of the Association of Cambodian Recruitment Agencies (ACRA). Grave concerns have been expressed by rights groups over the appointment of Ung Seang ...

Workers from bankrupt plush-toy factory First & Main are still owed money after the Ministry of Social Affairs auctioned $200,000 worth of factory equipment for just $21,000, a labor rights advocate said Sunday. More than 350 workers were left stranded when the US-owned teddy bear factory closed in ...

In a rare intervention, the Thai Labor Ministry has stepped in to stop the exploitation of migrant workers from Cambodia and Myanmar at a seafood factory in the country’s south, correspondence obtained by the Post reveals. The ministry found the Phatthana Seafood factory, in Songkhla province, which employs ...

Officials from the government  U.N. and human rights groups on Friday put forward amendments to draft memorandum of understanding (MoU) that is designed to impose safeguards for Cambodians to travel to work as maids in Malaysia. While the original draft by the Malaysian government sets out the responsibility of ...

The Senate yesterday approved a law making way for Cambodians to travel to Qatar for work, an official said. The 52 senators present passed the law unanimously and without amendments, said Oum Sarith, Senate cabinet chief. The agreement lets Cambodians work in the oil-rich emirate’s service ...

Unions and labour groups fear a solitary sick day could cost garment workers their entire month’s attendance bonuses – about 15 per cent of their base wage – under a new scheme meant to make life easier. The Kingdom’s 600,000 garment and footwear workers will receive ...

As the latest draft of Cambodia’s long-awaited trade-union law sits idly at the Council of Ministers, Ministry of Labour officials have turned to outsiders to help hasten its enactment, a union advocate said yesterday. Dave Welsh, country director of the American Center for International Labor Solidarity, said ...

Almost 150 garment factory workers from two Phnom Penh factories fainted late last week after inhaling toxic fumes used to treat clothes, workers and union leaders said yesterday. The mass faintings came as the Clean Clothes Campaign and Community Legal Education Center released an evaluation report ...

Better Factories Cambodia must name and shame garment factories that abuse the labour law if it is to transform Cambodia into an ethical sourcing option, a report on the International Labor Organization initiative says. Better Factories should make monitoring reports public, according to the 10 Years ...

Ten months after the government suspended sending Cambodian women to work as maids in Malaysia, following numerous reports of abuse by employers and recruitment companies, families say they have completely lost contact with their loved ones who continue to work in Malaysian households. Local rights group Adhoc has recorded ...

Under the shade of Angkor’s canopies and twisted Banyan trees, more than 100 restoration workers watched yesterday afternoon as union delegates signed their first collective bargaining agreement, in what union advocates say should set a precedent for Cambodia’s construction industry. Over the past two years, the ...

The Kandal Provincial Court has summoned outspoken labor activist Rong Chhun to be questioned over accusations that he incited garment workers to strike illegally, a court official said yesterday. Deputy provincial prosecutor Tep Monin said that he called Mr. Chhun, president of the Cambodian Confederation of ...

National Assembly voted Friday to ratify the U.N. Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities and the U.N. Rotterdam Convention, which promotes the responsible labeling nd export of hazardous chemicals and pesticides. The assembly also voted in favor of an agreement with Qatar to ...

The Svay Rieng Provincial Court will question four new witnesses to the February shooting of garment workers in Bavet City allegedly committed by former city governor Chhouk Bundith, a court official said yesterday. “We are preparing to schedule the questioning of four new witnesses. It ...

A spike in factory faintings contributed to a 65 per cent increase in the number of workplace injuries reported in 2011, a Ministry of Labour official said yesterday. Leng Tong, director of the occupational health and safety department, said the ministry plans to introduce specialist safety ...

A Cambodian maid who recently returned home from work in Malaysia fell ill and died over the weekend, highlighting ongoing concerns over the treatment of impoverished Southeast Asian women who seek work abroad but are often abused by their employers. Kuy Lyda, 17, died at a ...

Cambodia held on to its Tier 2 ranking for the third straight year in the U.S. State Depart- ments latest global Trafficking in Persons Report, which praised the country for a rise in prosecutions, but criticized the country over a new sub-decree on migrant labor. In ...

Increasing discrimination by factories against unions and continued poor wages in Cambodia’s garment sector have resulted in a rise in the number of worker protests, according to a report released yesterday by the International Labor Organization (ILO). According to its periodic synthesis report on working ...

A radio competition organized by the International Labor Organization’s (ILO) Better Factories Cambodia will enable garment workers to showcase their knowledge and teach the public about the country’s Labor Law, an ILO representative said yesterday. “The objective is not only to allow workers to express their ...

The Australian government yesterday said it has been aware of poor working conditions and inappropriate surveying methods used on Cambodia’s railway rehabilitation project since February and had ordered that the project’s partners investigate the matters. “The Australian Government was alerted to possible concerns about workplace health ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen yesterday repeated a call for Asean countries to put a stop to the exploitation of migrant workers and urged the acceleration of efforts to provide protection for such workers. At the Asean Summit last month, Mr. Hun Sen said that protecting the ...

Informal workers, a class that includes beer promoters, tuk tuk drivers and farmers, are among those who stand to benefit most from the upcoming trade-union law, observers say – and workers say it can’t come soon enough. Dave Welsh, country director of the American Center for ...

The Cambodian Legal Education Center (CLEC), a rights group, is investigating a mother’s claim that her daughter is being abused and held against her will by her employers in Malaysia, Moeun Tola, head of CLEC’s labor program, said yesterday. ...

A draft memorandum of understanding (MoU) drawn up by Malaysia to regulate maids working in the country does not sufficiently protect their rights and needs improvements, an official at the Labor Ministry said on Thursday. Malaysian officials drew up the MoU between the two governments following ...