Labor
Ocean Garment to stay shuttered until July 9
A garment factory will prolong its monthlong closure until at least July 9, when the Arbitration Council Foundation rules on a case brought by its workers. ...
Sean Teehan and Mom Kunthear
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/ocean-garment-stay-shuttered-until-july-9
Cambodia says over 16,000 job vacancies for Thailand returnees
Cambodia’s National Employment Agency (NEA) said Wednesday that there are 16,146 vacant jobs awaiting workers who have recently been deported from or fled Thailand in fears of a military regime’s clampdown. “NEA would like to inform laborers who just returned from Thailand that NEA has collected ...
Xinhuanet News Staff
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/world/2014-06/25/c_133437849.htm
Union boss to appeal $25k bail
Union leader Ath Thorn has been granted an Appeal Court appearance on July 1, in which he will argue against conditions that required him to pay $25,000 bail over an ongoing court case. The Coalition of Cambodian Apparel Workers’ Democratic Union (C.CAWDU) president is due to ...
Sean Teehan
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/union-boss-appeal-25k-bail
Ocean reps take case to arbitration
Twenty representatives of workers locked in a monthlong dispute with management at the Ocean Garment factory appeared before the Arbitration Council yesterday, a union official said. A spokesman from the Arbitration Council yesterday told the Post that such cases are typically sorted out within 15 working days. ...
Mom Kunthear
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/ocean-reps-take-case-arbitration
Gov’t to meet recruitment firms over migrants
Labor Ministry officials are set to meet today with about 40 local recruitment agencies to talk about formalizing the procedure for sending migrant workers to Thailand, an agency director said. The meeting will focus on how the agencies can help migrants obtain work permits and other ...
Phorn Bopha
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/govt-to-meet-recruitment-firms-over-migrants-62202/
Six unions call for pay, acquittals
Union leaders made another appeal for the Cambodian government to raise the minimum wage to $160 and rescind convictions of 25 workers arrested during deadly demonstrations in November and January. ...
Sean Teehan
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/six-unions-call-pay-acquittals
Big queues for $4 passport
A sub-decree aimed at stemming the massive influx of mostly undocumented Cambodian migrant workers returning from Thailand with a drastically reduced passport fee already appears to be generating an overwhelming response. Yesterday, an estimated 200 workers lined up outside the Battambang provincial passport office to get ...
Chhay Channyda and Laignee Barron
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/big-queues-4-passport
Half-year protest shutters factory
A six-month protest over unpaid bonuses has seen production at a Por Sen Chey district box factory grind to a halt over the past four days, with more than 200 former employees blocking gates and preventing shipments. Former employees at Harta Packaging Industries began barricading gates ...
Mom Kunthear
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/half-year-protest-shutters-factory
Arbitration’s cost and value
The Arbitration Council Foundation, credited with helping resolve about 1,700 industrial disputes, has reached verbal agreement with a Swedish aid agency to receive funding until the end of 2016, a spokesman said yesterday. But members of the labour-dispute resolution body desire a more permanent solution that ...
Sean Teehan
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/arbitration%E2%80%99s-cost-and-value
No change to Cambodia’s human trafficking rank
Cambodia failed to improve its ranking on the U.S.’ annual “Trafficking in Persons Report” after being demoted last year. Released on Friday, the global report again ranks Cambodia on the Tier 2 Watch List, one tier away from the lowest position, Tier 3. ...
Phorn Bopha
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/no-change-to-cambodias-human-trafficking-rank-62097/
Gov’t begins effort to send workers back to Thailand
With Thailand and Cambodia both feeling the pinch from the sudden exodus of more than 200,000 Cambodian workers out of Thailand, the two countries are now working together to try and get them back to their old jobs legally, as fast as possible. Some 225,000 Cambodians, ...
Phorn Bopha
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/govt-begins-effort-to-send-workers-back-to-thailand-62083/
Government urges NGOs to support migrant workers from Thailand
Relevant organizations have been actively cooperating with the government in providing transportation service for illegal migrant workers to return to their home after they were sent back by the junta in Thailand. The temporary estimation for the aid so far amounts to nearly 200,000$. The government ...
The Cambodia Herald News Staff
http://thecambodiaherald.com/cambodia/detail/1?page=11&token=NDUzNzQxYjI3N2R
Influx of Cambodian workers back into Thailand seen with $4 passports
A Cambodian decree slashing the passport fee for would-be migrant workers to only $4 (about Bt 120) is expected to lead to an influx of workers from the neighbouring country into Thailand. Cambodian migrant workers who have just returned to Cambodia yesterday greeted the news with ...
The Cambodia Herald News Staff
http://thecambodiaherald.com/cambodia/detail/1?page=13&token=M2JjNjM2ZWM0NzB
Illegal workers arrested, face Thai court
Thai authorities have arrested and are preparing to try 13 Cambodian migrant workers who were allegedly caught with fake stamps on their work papers as they tried to return home, Foreign Ministry spokesman Koy Kuong confirmed on Friday. The government also announced a plan to subsidize ...
Khy Sovuthy and Lauren Crothers
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/illegal-workers-arrested-face-trial-in-thailand-62059/
UN Rights Envoy meets with interior minister, opposition leader
Interior Minister Sar Kheng on Friday met with visiting U.N. human rights envoy Surya Subedi, who spent the first week of his 11th mission to Cambodia following up on electoral, labor and legislative reform. The special rapporteur later met with CNRP Vice President Kem Sokha, who ...
Khuon Narim
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/un-rights-envoy-meets-with-interior-minister-opposition-leader-62061/
Workers block gates, burn tires at Japanese-owned box factory
About 80 workers protesting against a Japanese factory in Phnom Penh that produces cardboard boxes blocked the gates Friday after managers refused to hold a meeting with employees. Workers burned tires in front of the Harta Packaging factory, which they have been protesting against since February, ...
Nearly all illegal Cambodian migrants working in Thailand return home: labor minister
Cambodian Minister of Labor Ith Samheng said Friday that nearly all illegal Cambodian migrant laborers working in Thailand have returned home in fears of a junta’s crackdown on illegal foreign workers. Major Gen. Pich Vanna, chief of Cambodian-Thai Border Relation Affairs Office, said the Thai ...
Xinhuanet News Staff
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/world/2014-06/20/c_133424234.htm
‘One-stop office’ to help migrants at border
Following an exodus of more than 200,000 Cambodian workers from Thailand in the past two weeks, the junta has urged Cambodia to expedite planned border offices that will facilitate legal labour migration. Responding to that request, Cambodia announced yesterday that the first “one-stop service office” would ...
Chhay Channyda and Laignee Barron
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/%E2%80%98one-stop-office%E2%80%99-help-migrants-border
On the World Cup clock
It’s day seven of the FIFA World Cup, and the night staff at Phnom Penh’s popular Score Sports Bar and Grill are looking a bit sleep-deprived. Score is paying its staff “very well” in extra wages during the World Cup for the long nights they ...
Kevin Ponniah
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/world-cup-clock
Workers take contract demands to ministry
About 200 garment workers marched from Phnom Penh’s Wincam garment factory to the Ministry of Labor on Thursday to press their demands for short-term contracts and better benefits. The Korean-owned factory’s 800-plus workers have been protesting since June 11 to demand that the factory change their ...
Mech Dara
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/workers-take-contract-demands-to-ministry-61956/
UN envoy meets employers over labor unrest
U.N. human rights envoy Surya Subedi met with representatives of the country’s businesses and employers Thursday for talks that focused on the protection of workers’ rights and measures that can be taken to ensure that strained industrial relations do not once again erupt into violence. In ...
Lauren Crothers
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/un-envoy-meets-employers-over-labor-unrest-61951/
Cambodia’s workers falling behind in skills, jobs
With regional and international competition increasing, Cambodia’s workers could be falling behind. A new World Bank report says Cambodia’s labor force lacks the skills to advance the country’s economy, even as an increasing number of young people enter the labor market. Kem Lay, a sociology researcher, ...
Heng Reaksmey
http://www.voacambodia.com/content/cambodias-workers-falling-behind-in-skills-jobs/1940536.html
Cambodian migrant workers leaving Thailand hit 225,000: official
The Thai military junta sent other 5,000 Cambodian migrant workers back to Cambodia on Thursday, bringing the total number of Cambodian laborers deported from or fled Thailand over fears of a junta’s crackdown on illegal foreign workers to 225,000, a senior official said. “As of Thursday ...
Xinhuanet News Staff
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/world/2014-06/19/c_133421174.htm
At border, gov’t bill mounts
The financial burden inflicted by hundreds of thousands of returning Cambodian migrant workers has already reached $5 million in government-mobilised emergency services alone, according to official estimates. In less than two weeks, nearly 200,000 mostly undocumented Cambodian migrants have spilled through the Thai-Cambodia border, fleeing what ...
May Titthara and Meas Sokchea
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/border-gov%E2%80%99t-bill-mounts