Labor
Vocational training to get $30M ADB boost
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) announced last week a $30 million loan aimed at overhauling Cambodia’s technical and vocational education system (TVET). According to a September 26 statement issued by the ADB, the new funding will go towards launching a “competency-based” assessment and certification process, and ...
Eddie Morton
http://phnompenhpost.com/business/vocational-training-get-30m-adb-boost
Protests continue at Kompong Cham factory
About 2,000 workers from the Chinese-owned Juhui Footwear factory in Kompong Cham province began a fresh round of protests on Friday and Saturday over claims that the factory is refusing to rehire unionists who were fired during a strike earlier this month, a provincial official ...
Ben Sokhean
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/protests-continue-at-kompong-cham-factory-68565/
Minister says wage agreement must be reached next month
Negotiations held on Friday between garment factory owners, union leaders and government officials failed to set a new industry minimum wage for next year, but a final decision will be reached by October 10, according to Labor Minister Ith Sam Heng. The tripartite Labor Advisory Council ...
Sek Odom and Holly Robertson
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/minister-says-wage-agreement-must-be-reached-next-month-68532/
Prey Veng workers protest for Pchum Ben advance
About 1,000 workers protested outside the Chinese-owned Komchay Mear Trading factory in Prey Veng province on Saturday morning after managers refused to give them a government-mandated salary advance for the Pchum Ben holiday, officials and unionists said on Sunday. The protest was short-lived, however, ending Saturday ...
Ben Sokhean
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/prey-veng-workers-protest-for-pchum-ben-advance-68283/
Inditex, H&M agree to pay more for clothes from Cambodia
Fashion brands, including Europe’s biggest clothing retailer Inditex SA (ITX) and Hennes & Mauritz AB (HMB), said they are willing to pay more for clothes made in Cambodia, backing a trade union campaign for higher wages. The chains are among eight clothing retailers that include Next Plc (NXT) and Primark that have ...
Gabi Thesing
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-09-19/inditex-h-m-agree-to-pay-more-for-clothes-from-cambodia.html
Union leader re-elected despite deputy’s protest
Vorn Pao was re-elected president on Thursday of the Independent Democracy of Informal Economy Association (IDEA), a labor group comprised mostly of tuk-tuk drivers and moto-dops, in an uncontested ballot after his vice president withdrew from the race over allegations of irregularities. Sok Chhun Oeung, who ...
Ben Sokhean
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/union-leader-re-elected-despite-deputys-protest-68223/
Court places more restrictions on union leader
Ath Thorn, the head of the country’s largest independent union, was placed yesterday under judicial supervision by the Phnom Penh Municipal Court a day after he joined demonstrations calling for a $177 monthly minimum wage for garment workers. Mr. Thorn, president of the Coalition of Cambodian ...
Mech Dara
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/court-places-more-restrictions-on-union-leader-68225/
Fired factory workers refuse severance, vow more protests
More than 5,000 employees of the Juhui Footwear Factory in Kompong Cham province who were fired on Tuesday after joining strikes to demand bonus pay and better benefits Wednesday rejected their severance packages and vowed to continue protesting. “We reject the full severance pay because we ...
Ben Sokhean
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/fired-factory-workers-refuse-severance-vow-more-protests-68171/
NA asks Labor Ministry to provide Korean-language test for free to workers
The National Assembly asked Labor Minister Ith Sam Heng to provide Korean-language test paper for free to or sell in the lowest price for workers as the current test paper costs USD 24. ...
The Cambodia Herald News Staff
http://thecambodiaherald.com/cambodia/detail/1?page=13&token=OGE2NzA0MmI5OTg
Workers start wage battle a day early
About 1,000 workers from a Phnom Penh footwear factory got an early start on Tuesday on a cross-union campaign for a $177 minimum wage, set to start today, protesting in front of their factory over internal workplace grievances. ...
Mech Dara
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/workers-start-wage-battle-a-day-early-68119/
Thousands of workers go on strike in Prey Veng
Some 3,000 workers protested in front of a garment factory in Prey Veng province Monday, calling for larger bonuses and better working conditions, according to unionists and factory representatives. Employees of the Chinese-owned Komchay Mear Trading factory, which produces clothing for U.S. brand Gap, have been ...
Ben Sokhean
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/thousands-of-workers-go-on-strike-in-prey-veng-68069/
Six Cambodian women to be returned from China
Six Cambodian women trafficked to China to become brides and seven Cambodian victims of labor exploitation in Saudi Arabia will be repatriated by the end of the month, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced Monday. ...
Kuch Naren
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/six-cambodian-women-to-be-returned-from-china-68087/
After mass firing, union considers new protests
More than 100 workers who were fired by a Taiwanese-owned garment factory this week for striking over demands for further benefits will meet with union leaders “as soon as possible” to discuss potentially launching protests, a union representative said Tuesday. The workers were fired by the ...
Ben Sokhean
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/after-mass-firing-union-considers-new-protests-67806/
Migrant kids’ schooling at risk
A plan floated in Thailand to cut state educational support to migrant workers’ children has drawn the ire of rights groups, which say thousands of Cambodian youths could be denied their basic right to education. According to Thai media, Kamol Rodklai, secretary-general of the Office of ...
Alice Cuddy and Phak Seangly
http://phnompenhpost.com/national/migrant-kids%E2%80%99-schooling-risk
Mass firing at Xin Fang factory
In a mass firing the scale of which has not been seen since January, Phnom Penh’s Xin Fang garment factory yesterday terminated 106 employees for protesting in front of the factory. Management at the Por Sen Chey district factory on Thursday already sacked nearly 30 striking ...
Mom Kunthear
http://phnompenhpost.com/national/mass-firing-xin-fang-factory
Chinese human resources vice-minister visits Cambodia to strengthen ties
Xin Changxing, vice minister of the Chinese Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, met here Monday with Ith Samheng, Cambodian minister of labor and vocational training, to discuss ways to further enhance relations and cooperation in labor sector between the two countries. ...
Xinhuanet News Staff
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/china/2014-09/08/c_133628311.htm
2 charged for trafficking Cambodians
A Cambodian court charged two men for trying to smuggle 23 people into Thailand to work, a report said Monday. ...
Bangkok Post News Staff
http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/local/431147/2-charged-for-trafficking-cambodians
Sorya bus hullabaloo at an end
A five-month protest aimed at a Phnom Penh bus company came to an end on Thursday when Sorya Transportation Company reinstated three of 17 drivers it fired in April. ...
Mom Kunthear
http://phnompenhpost.com/national/sorya-bus-hullabaloo-end
A busy week at court expected for union leader Ath Thorn
The Phnom Penh Municipal Court will be seeing a lot of union leader Ath Thorn next week. From next Monday through Thursday, it has summonsed the president of the country’s largest independent union to three rounds of questioning over three separate cases in which Mr. Thorn ...
Mech Dara
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/a-busy-week-at-court-expected-for-union-leader-ath-thorn-67650/
Embassy defence: Ministry offers reply to criticism
The government this weekend hit back at criticism of its embassies in China, Malaysia and Thailand, insisting that they are helping migrants in need. ...
Vong Sokheng
http://phnompenhpost.com/national/embassy-defence-ministry-offers-reply-criticism
16 Cambodian workers rescued in Thailand, Malaysia
Cambodian embassies rescued 13 Cambodian workers in Thailand and three maids in Malaysia, Koy Kuong, spokesman for Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, said Saturday. ...
The Cambodia Herald News Staff
http://thecambodiaherald.com/cambodia/detail/1?page=11&token=YzZmNTA3ZTljZjN
Proposal aims to bring workers’ voices to negotiating table
A proposed project hopes to channel the widespread use of mobile phones among factory workers to bring the voice of the 600,000 Cambodians employed in the crucial garment sector into future wage negotiations. The project, which would collect information about working hours, conditions, wages and expenses ...
Lauren Crothers
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/proposal-aims-to-bring-workers-voices-to-negotiating-table-67629/
Cambodian labor unions lower minimum wage demands
Cambodian labor unions this week lowered their demands for a 60 percent increase to the country’s $100 minimum wage, as talks loom next month on setting a new wage.Unions agreed to call for $150 a month during a meeting with officials from the Garment Manufacturers’ ...
Lauren Crothers
http://www.turkishweekly.net/news/171407/cambodian-labor-unions-lower-minimum-wage-demands.html
Labour’s 10 per cent rule
The Ministry of Labour has issued a prakas urging employers to follow existing regulations in the Labour Law that limit foreign workers to 10 per cent of the total workforce at any one company. It has warned that failure to stay within this limit – or ...
Sen David and Kevin Ponniah
http://phnompenhpost.com/national/labour%E2%80%99s-10-cent-rule