Labor

The Cambodian embassy in Thailand has come to the aid of its citizens after authorities caught two Thai fishing boats over the past month carrying 15 Cambodian laborers that they believed to be trafficking victims, according to a Foreign Affairs Ministry statement yesterday. ...

Former employees of the recently closed Dream Land amusement park in Phnom Penh agreed to severance packages of between $85 and $200 on Tuesday, company officials said.     ...

Cambodia’s Immigration Police raided a Phnom Penh construction site yesterday, detaining 65 out of 109 Vietnamese laborers who were found to be working illegally in Niroth commune, Chbar Ampov district. ...

About 50 former employees of the recently shuttered Dream Land amusement park in Phnom Penh protested outside the park’s grounds on Monday to demand severance pay. ...

Cambodia’s embassy in Thailand has denied allegations that officials from the embassy were extorting Cambodian employers and migrant workers in Thailand by demanding bribes for fake passports and pushing along applications to legalize a person’s working status. ...

As a result of the meeting with the specialist commissions, Minister of Labor Ith Samheng said that nearly 50 percent of the comments given by union leaders, business owners, development partners and the government were used to make changes in the draft union law yesterday. ...

Illegal strikes, the minimum wage and high electricity costs were the subjects discussed during the 13th annual meeting between Cambodia and Japan last week, according to the Council for Development of Cambodia (CDC). ...

Two unionists jailed since February 2 have been released on bail by the Kompong Speu Provincial Court, although they remain charged with incitement and intentional violence in connection with a protest outside the Cerie garment factory, officials said Thursday. ...

The head of the National Assembly’s legislation commission said he hoped to have a controversial draft union law passed “very soon” after the latest round of feedback from unions and employers during a public workshop at Parliament on Wednesday. ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen has announced that the government is considering raising family allowances for the wives and children of public servants across the Kingdom. ...

Four Cambodian maids have been rescued from Malaysia after being detained by Malaysian authorities in Balantik camp in Kedah state for crossing the border illegally, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. ...

The construction sector created almost twice as many jobs last year as it did in 2014, according to a report from the Ministry of Land Management, Urban Planning and Construction. ...

Almost 70,000 Cambodian migrant workers were deported from Thailand through the Poipet international checkpoint in Banteay Meanchey province last year, with the daily average being about 200, Poipet checkpoint Immigration police chief Sim Sam Ath said yesterday, citing an annual report. ...

Preah Sihanouk province’s special economic zone (SEZ) does not have enough workers to keep its manufacturing plants and services running at full capacity, officials said.​ ...

Human trafficking out of Cambodia is on the rise, according to an Interior Ministry report released on Thursday, and is being fueled by relaxed border controls and economic disparity in the region, according to a separate U.N. report.    ...

The National Committee on Combating Human Trafficking released its annual report yesterday, with figures showing an improved effort by authorities since 2014 to crackdown on the trade. ...

Two Cambodian women will return home tomorrow after spending almost two years each living in China with abusive husbands, officials said yesterday.. ...

Roughly 2,000 workers from the Malaysian-owned Global Apparels Limited garment factory in Phnom Penh went on strike yesterday after the factory announced it would be reducing staff numbers by 500 over the coming months, union representatives said yesterday. ...

About 500 people gathered outside Phnom Penh’s Prey Sar prison on Tuesday to demand the release of form­er Capitol Tours bus driver Nan Vanna and la­bor activist Ros Si­phay, who were arrested two weeks ago for participating in a demonstration against the company. ...

The Ministry of Labour is eyeing the creation of a draft law that would codify the sometimes-nebulous process that determines the garment industry’s minimum wage, attendees at the ministry’s annual meeting were told last week. ...

The Cambodian Embassy in Kuwait successfully rescued a Cambodian woman working as a maid in Saudi Arabia who complained of abusive working conditions, lack of food and of having pay withheld. Him Srey, a Cham Muslim from Kampong Cham province who went to Saudi Arabia ...

As many as 60,000 Cambodian deportees from Thailand are expected to cross back into Cambodia this year, according to Samaritan’s Purse, an international NGO that works with deportees and migrants along the border with Thailand. ...

Despite their overwhelmingly female workforce, garment factories in Kompong Speu province fail to adequately address the maternal health and child-care needs of their staff, according to new study set to be released by the French NGO Enfants and Developpment. ...

A prosecutor at the Kompong Speu Provincial Court said on Wednesday that charges would stand against five union officials who were released on bail last month af­ter they were arrested during a brawl with a rival association, de­spite calls by a prominent labor leader to ...