Labor policy and administration

The National Assembly yesterday adopted a draft minimum wage law, which aims to promote decent living standards for the country’s 780,000 textile workers. More than 100 lawmakers passed the draft law with 33 articles which will benefit workers and the nation as a whole as ...

The Garment Manufacturers Association in Cambodia welcomed the approval of the amendment of article 89 of the Labour Law on worker protection and severance pay by the government on Friday, but the organisation’s head said the move could financially burden employers. ...

Interior Minister Sar Kheng yesterday said the government is trying to protect Cambodian migrant workers by creating more passport offices and cooperating with international bodies to protect them from labour abuses. ...

Aggrieved workers of First Gawon Apparel (Cambodia) plan to march to the offices of the Ministry of Labour and Vocational Training (MLVT) again on Tuesday, seeking a solution from the ministry in a salary dispute that has dragged on for more than five months. Heng ...

The Cambodian Confederation of Unions (CCU) on Saturday criticised the National Social Security Fund (NSSF) for a statement that said faintings caused by low levels of essential minerals in workers’ blood are to be classed as an accident and not put down to bad working ...

About 100 workers from First Gawon Apparel gathered in front of the Ministry of Labour in Phnom Penh on Wednesday asking for intervention on their behalf in a dispute with their employer. The workers claim the company has not paid their salaries for more than ...

The Labour Ministry has announced that all factories across the country must have their own infirmary completed by the end of this year, noting that 88 percent of factories having built infirmaries already. ...

Cambodian and Thai Labour Ministry officials met once again in Siem Reap province over the weekend and asserted their commitment to strengthen cooperation by agreeing to accelerate the legal identification process of Cambodian workers in Thailand. ...

Workers at the First Gawon Apparel factory in Phnom Penh’s Meanchey district are planning a procession to many different institutions as well as Prime Minister Hun Sen’s house next week to request intervention in a dispute over wages. ...

A memorandum of understanding between the National Social Security Fund and the Techo Volunteer Youth Doctor Association was signed on Wednesday in order to improve healthcare for garment workers. The MoU was signed by TYDA chairman Hun Manet and NSSF director Ouk Samvithya. ...

The government has paid about $1.2 million to nearly 12,000 female garment workers who have had babies so far this year. According to a report released yesterday by the National Social Security Fund, 11,706 female garment workers delivered babies in January, February and the first 22 ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen on Wednesday pledged his commitment to preventing garment factory owners from escaping their obligations to workers by closing their factories without warning, even as the current lack of a formal system for dealing with such situations has left at least one ...

A group representing some of the largest apparel brands in the US and Europe – including Gap, H&M and ASOS – expressed “growing concern” on Tuesday over several controversial labour laws and ongoing court cases against unionists described as restrictive and unjust. ...

The government has accepted a request from a senior officer of the US State Department to hold another discussion on the draft minimum wage law before it is approved. After meeting with Sarah Morgan, an official with the US Office of International Labour Affairs, Labour Minister ...

Donica Pattie, Canada’s Ambassador to Thailand, Cambodia and Laos, on Friday lauded Cambodia’s recent advancements in factory labour conditions, which she said might prompt Canada to increase purchases from Cambodian textile manufacturers, according to a high-ranking Cambodian official. ...

The Labour Ministry will send more than 200 trainers to factories and relevant institutes to educate workers about labour rights. Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, Soeung Sarsochetta, secretary of state at the Labour Ministry, said 250 trainers from the Labour Ministry would go to factories, businesses ...

Cambodian and Myanmar fishermen in Thailand are often paid below the minimum wage, see their payment withheld and face abuses, according to a new International Labour Organisation study. For the baseline study Ship to Shore Rights the ILO interviewed 434 mostly Myanmar and Cambodian fishermen ...

The Labour Ministry has created a technical working group to study and investigate what causes fainting in an attempt to reduce episodes of fainting at factories nationwide. Labour Minister Ith Samheng, who is also chairman of the National Committee for Health and Work Safety, said the ...

A group of 35 international labour and human rights advocacy groups yesterday called for charges against a trio of Cambodian civil society activists to be dropped. “We, the undersigned global unions and international human rights and workers’ rights organizations, call for the charges against Cambodian human ...

The Labour Ministry’s National Committee for Health and Work Safety held its first meeting yesterday pledging to investigate the reasons for faintings amongst factory workers. ...

Health Minister Mam Bun Heng yesterday announced the formation of a working group to address mass fainting, a day after the premier raised the issue at a meeting with garment workers, though relevant officials had few details on the group’s objectives. ...

Nearly 1,000 workers from three factories in Phnom Penh’s Por Senchey district yesterday protested after learning that their employer has fled without paying their January wages. ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen today said there is in fact no need to set up labour courts to solve workplace disputes – despite the Labour Law stipulating their creation – and expressed hope that existing mechanisms, including the government, unions and employers could act in ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen said yesterday that the country does not need a labour court to solve disputes because the current trilateral mechanism in place is sufficient. Speaking to garment factory workers in Phnom Penh, Mr Hun Sen explained that the current mechanism, which brings employer ...