Labor
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
Factory at center of January strikes under review
The Yakjin Trading Corporation, a South Korean company whose factory was at the center of major demonstrations earlier this year, has begun a review of its operations. ...
Heng Reaksmey
http://www.voacambodia.com/content/factory-at-center-of-january-strikes-under-review/2439828.html
Rights group urges Cambodia to drop case against six unionists
A human rights group on Thursday urged authorities in Cambodia to end the prosecution of six trade unionists accused of stoking violent clashes between protesting workers and security forces, calling the case against them “politically motivated.” New York-based Human Rights Watch said prominent activists Pav Sina, ...
Joshua Lipes
http://www.rfa.org/english/news/cambodia/unionists-09042014181530.html
Union leader says charges baseless
One of six union leaders charged and summonsed for questioning over a strike that ended in government forces shooting dead at least five people in January has sent a message to authorities to hurry up and get his hearing over with. ...
Mom Kunthear
http://phnompenhpost.com/national/union-leader-says-charges-baseless
Protests in city, province keep going
Thousands of employees from two Taiwanese-owned factories continued striking for better working conditions yesterday. ...
Pech Sotheary
http://phnompenhpost.com/national/protests-city-province-keep-going
Thousands strike over pay at Kompong Cham garment factory
More than 5,000 workers from a footwear factory in Kompong Cham province went on strike Monday, calling on factory management to increase their benefits. The lively crowd rallied outside the Taiwanese-owned Juhui Footwear factory in Choeung Prey district, dancing to music pumped out of loudspeakers as ...
Ben Sokhean
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/thousands-strike-over-pay-at-kompong-cham-garment-factory-67397/
Xin Fang workers march to Labor Ministry to solve out working conditions
Around 300 workers from a Taiwanese-owned Xin Fang (Cambodia) Garment Manufacturing Co., Ltd marched Monday to Ministry of Labor to seek intervention in their working conditions. ...
The Cambodia Herald News Staff
http://thecambodiaherald.com/cambodia/detail/1?page=13&token=NzhiNDYzNTRiYTN
Nearly 200 migrant workers duped out of $260
A group of 50 migrant workers on Wednesday protested outside a branch of a recruitment agency in Phnom Penh’s Sen Sok district that they say duped them out of $260 they paid for a guarantee of employment in Thailand. ...
Sek Odom
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/nearly-200-migrant-workers-duped-out-of-260-67236/
Tempers flare at bus protest
Resolution continued to elude 17 former bus drivers for the Phnom Penh Sorya Transportation Company yesterday when a demonstration at the company’s headquarters was roughly dispersed by company security after the ex-staffers tried to block buses from leaving. Sambath Vorn, president of the union whose founding ...
Mom Kunthear and Tat Oudom
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/tempers-flare-bus-protest
Amid overcrowding, inmates build new prison
Even within the country’s notoriously overcrowded prison system, inmates in this northern province live in particularly harsh conditions. Approximately 120 prisoners, including 16 women and three children, are held in four cells in the Oddar Meanchey provincial police headquarters. “In one cell we keep 20 or more ...
Lauren Crothers and Ouch Sony
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/amid-overcrowding-inmates-build-new-prison-67129/
Workers take pay dispute to ministry of labor
Hundreds of garment workers traveled from a Kompong Chhnang factory to Phnom Penh on Monday to petition the Ministry of Labor to intervene in their dispute with factory management. About 3,000 workers from the Chinese-owned Jiun Ye Garment factory have been striking since August 18, accusing ...
Ben Sokhean
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/workers-take-pay-dispute-to-ministry-of-labor-67148/
Factories ask gov’t to punish strike leaders
The Garment Manufacturers Association in Cambodia (GMAC) over the weekend released a statement condemning an ongoing strike at a Kompong Chhnang garment factory and urging authorities to “punish the perpetrators.” About 3,000 employees of the Chinese-owned Jiun Ye Garment factory have been on strike since August ...
Ben Sokhean
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/factories-ask-govt-to-punish-strike-leaders-67103/
‘Solvable problems’ focus of fainting review
Amid reports of increased mass-fainting incidents in Cambodia’s garment sector, workers, employers and government officials gathered in Phnom Penh yesterday for a roundtable discussion on the issue. The conference, which was organised by the Cambodian Center for Independent Media, identified issues such as workday lengths and ...
Mom Kunthear
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/%E2%80%98solvable-problems%E2%80%99-focus-fainting-review
Delay on maid deal: ministry
The Ministry of Labour plans to delay signing off on a controversial agreement to reopen a pipeline of Cambodian maids to Malaysia until a deal is reached on a second agreement regarding other migrant workers, a ministry official said yesterday. Labour Ministry spokesman Heng Sour told ...
Alice Cuddy
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/delay-maid-deal-ministry
New fines for faintings
The minister of labour has sent a stern warning to garment factories to take measures to end mass faintings or face the consequences. Speaking after a safety workshop yesterday, Ith Sam Heng said the government will get tougher on factories, fining those that didn’t provide safe ...
Mom Kunthear
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/new-fines-faintings
Ministries to tighten checks on foreign workers
The ministries of Labor and Interior met on Thursday to outline the government’s plan to more strictly enforce measures for employers of foreign nationals to ensure that their staff has proper documentation. Seng Sakada, director-general of the Labor Ministry’s labor department, said previous efforts have not ...
Mech Dara
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/ministries-to-tighten-checks-on-foreign-workers-67023/
Striking factory workers thwart police arrests
Police in Kompong Chhnang province on Thursday were prevented from arresting workers and union officials outside a Samakki Meanchey district garment factory by a mob of irate protesters who pulled two of their colleagues out of a police car to thwart their arrests. About 3,000 employees ...
Ben Sokhean
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/striking-factory-workers-thwart-police-arrests-66997/
In China, nowhere to run
In yet another case of Cambodian women facing abuse in China, a 19-year-old told the Post yesterday that she has taken to living on the streets after the consulate in Shanghai refused to pay for her repatriation. Kim Sophea*, who claims she has been forced into marriage in ...
Sen David and Laignee Barron
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/china-nowhere-run