Labor

Four subcommittees formed by the Ministry of Social Affairs met on Friday to begin establishing a new minimum wage for garment workers that will go into effect next year. Following the meeting, Social Affairs Minister Ith Sam Heng told reporters that factory production rates, garment worker ...

Union workers and leaders appeared divided yesterday on the question of whether to support the opposition party’s planned three-day demonstration at Freedom Park. Campaign promises from the Cambodia National Rescue Party to raise minimum monthly salaries to $150 seemed to have struck a chord with garment ...

A joint committee designed to bring about wage increases in the garment sector will meet for the first time on Friday, a Ministry of Social Affairs letter obtained yesterday states. Ath Thorn, president of the Coalition of Cambodian Apparel Workers’ Democratic Union, said he believed ...

Alleged ringleaders of an overseas employment scam the Ministry of Labour says bilked thousands of clients out of money were charged with fraud in Phnom Penh on Friday. Oun Sarath, 30, and Kim Sophat, 29, the director and marketing manager, respectively, of recruiting firm You Can ...

Labor activists at the bi-annual Buyers Forum in Phnom Penh on Thursday said that short-term contracts in Cambodia’s garment industry were fueling the high number of strikes affecting the industry. “Most of [the disputes] are over dismissals or dismissals of union leaders and the reason why ...

A small survey of families in five villages in Battambang has found that most workers who are lured to illegal migrant work in Thailand cite salaries of twice the average Cambodian wage or higher as their main reason and appear unaware of the risks. Moeun Tola, ...

The Cambodian pro-opposition trade unions on Thursday called on garment workers, civil servants and common people to join a massive nonviolent demonstration against the July 28 election results. In the election, Prime Minister Hun Sen’s party gained the victory. The Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) of long-time ...

Around 4000 Cambodian garment workers are protesting after a factory supplying global brands including Gap and H&M fired hundreds of their colleagues for striking over conditions. Union leaders said the Singapore-owned SL Garment Processing factory fired 720 workers on Wednesday while more than 5000 others were ...

Nearly 50 workers, including a woman who is seven months pregnant, fainted at a clothing factory in Phnom Penh’s Por Sen Chey district yesterday due to poor ventilation, union officials and labour-rights groups said. The 47 employees at Wanshen Clothing (Cambodia) Co collapsed at about 3pm, ...

Management at one of Asia’s largest garment producers yesterday fired at least 600 employees, days after thousands returned to work following a two-week strike. Most of the workers fired by SL Garment Processing (Cambodia) Ltd – which supplies Gap, Levi’s and H&M – were members of ...

Cambodia’s biggest international garment brands met yesterday to discuss wage issues, strikes and worker conditions, among other of the industry’s most pressing topics. But in a year marked by a fatal building collapse at the Wing Star Shoes factory in Kampong Speu, mass demonstrations, and bankruptcies ...

Only one of the 241 Cambodians questioned for the largest survey of the notoriously abusive Thai fishing industry’s workforce to date said he was forced into the job, according to a new report by the International Labor Organization (ILO). Though some of the findings are in ...

At least one union leader is butting heads with the Ministry of Labour as he encourages workers to join the planned opposition party demonstration on Saturday. A letter from the ministry sent to factories on Monday called on workers and unions to avoid participation in the ...

Far stricter monitoring of the recruitment and employment of Cambodians and other migrant labourers is needed to ensure the future of the Thai fishing industry, a new study by the International Labour Organization warns. Two and a half per cent of the 241 Cambodians interviewed ...

The government has decided to double the salaries of local government officials at the commune and village level from the beginning of next year, according to a government sub-decree signed by Prime Minister Hun Sen shortly before the national election. The sub-decree, released in the Royal ...

Calls for big-name apparel brands to take more responsibility for working conditions in Cambodian garment factories are growing louder as representatives of retail companies ranging from H&M to Wal-Mart arrive in Phnom Penh for a semi-annual buyers’ forum this week. Since it began three years ...

Since her husband was arrested in June and thrown in provincial prison to await trial, Soam Chantha, 32, has given birth to a baby boy. At the same time the men have been locked up, police have failed to arrest former Bavet governor Chhouk Bandith, ...

Straining under the weight of bricks, buckets and metal bars, a faceless army carry their loads from trucks to a massive building site on Penh Penh’s Diamond Island. Hidden beneath wide-brimmed hats and kramas masking their faces from dust and the sun, the battalion of ...

After nearly 50 garment workers were killed last year while travelling to or from their respective factories, the Ministry of Labour has urged truck drivers who cram dozens into the back of vehicles each day to take more care on the roads. In an information session ...

Blinded, bloodied and barely conscious, two unionists who were nearly beaten to death after passing out pro-union literature in front of a Phnom Penh garment factory remained in their hospital beds yesterday, awaiting a possible transferral to Vietnam. The vicious attack in front of Dayup ...

Thousands of striking garment workers are set to return to work today, as more than two weeks of demonstrations at one of Asia’s largest garment factories come to a close. Meas Sotha, a shareholder at SL Garment Processing (Cambodia) Ltd, and Kong Athit, vice president of ...

The National Police commissioner has ordered police chiefs to stop taking money from law enforcement officials’ salaries for apparent good causes. A statement signed by General Neth Savoeun, dated August 22 but obtained Thursday, said police chiefs at all levels must cease the practice, which takes ...

In response to a growing number of strikes in the country’s highly profitable garment sector, the government trained 15 handpicked commune officials yesterday to mediate and resolve factory disputes. The training was designed to teach commune councillors to defuse and resolve conflict, Buth Ji, director of ...

Shouting their demands and trying to force their way through the gate, thousands of striking garment workers rallied in front of the Ministry of Social Affairs to no avail yesterday. The strikes came the morning after management posted a notice saying some 6,000 striking workers ...