Labor policy and administration

As unions, employers and government officials met for the first time in the run-up to the annual battle over the garment industry’s minimum wage yesterday, another group of labour and advocacy groups were asking when they would be part of those discussions. ...

Under Cambodian law, the right to organize is supposed to be ironclad. No employer, government agent or citizen may impede union activity. Inside the walls of Cambodia’s largest special economic zones (SEZs), however, In These Times’ reporters saw a system designed to tightly control the workforce by ...

Almost 100 workers from the Chung Fai Knitwear FTY factory in Phnom Penh’s Meanchey district gathered in front of the Municipal Courthouse again yesterday, demanding the court issue an arrest warrant for the owner of their factory, who fled the country last month and has ...

About 300 workers from South Korean firm LG Electronics gathered at the Ministry of Labor yesterday morning to protest against alleged mistreatment by their South Korean boss under Cambodian law. ...

Trade-related labour provisions, such as ones that address labour relations or minimum working conditions for employees, do not harm business or make trade provisions less popular, according to a study released today by the United Nations labour agency. ...

The Ministry of Social Affairs is looking for ways to bring old pension plans into line with pensions offered to more recently retired government workers.   ...

More than 100 striking workers at the Vanny Bio-Research company in Pursat town agreed to go back to work yesterday after mediators promised to find an adequate resolution to their demands for a wage hike. The company breeds and cares for 30,000-40,000 monkeys they sell to ...

At least three garment workers were hospitalized yesterday after a ceiling collapsed at a garment factory in Kampong Chhnang town, according to officials. ...

The Kampot Provincial Court on Thursday released three union leaders without charge after the Cambo T.D.G. garment factory dropped its complaint against the trio in return for an end to a two-week strike. ...

The Labor Court will be ready to hear cases by the end of next year, according to officials from the Ministry of Labor and Vocational Training. The court is being optimistically designed to effectively resolve labor disputes in the garment sector, Labor Minister Ith Samheng said ...

Labor leaders in Cambodia have expressed concerns over pressures placed on their freedom to organize and mobilize garment workers following the implementation of a contentious law governing unions earlier this year. ...

The number of migrant workers who will travel to South Korea this year will nearly double compared with last year, according to the Labour Ministry. ...

After two weeks stuck inside an immigration office in Saudi Arabia’s capital Riyadh, a Cambodian domestic worker returned to Phnom Penh yesterday without assistance from the Cambodian government – on a plane ticket she says was paid for by Saudi immigration police. ...

According to a Labor Ministry prakas, or official statement, both employers and employees will be responsible for paying 1.3 percent of an employees’ monthly salary to the government for state-supplied health insurance guaranteed to all workers under the Labor Law. ...

Slashing unnecessary spending by ministries will allow the government to guarantee a monthly minimum wage of $250 for civil servants in time for the 2018 national election, a secretary of state at the Finance Ministry said on Tuesday.   ...

Cambodia made the list of the 10 worst countries in terms of labour rights, according to a report released last week by the International Trade Union Confederation.   ...

The Ministry of Labour met with Malaysian-owned Global Apparels Limited factory representatives, union officials and workers yesterday, to negotiate an agreement for compensation as the company closes down.    ...

The Ministry of Labor has instructed employers and unions in the country’s crucial garment sector to begin preparations for the next round of minimum wage negotiations. ...

Vietnam and Cambodia support Indonesia’s proposal for minimum wage standards which will be applicable to ASEAN member states, Indonesian Vice President Jusuf Kalla said. ...

A series of talks will be held next month to discuss the future of minimum wages in the footwear and garment industries, with their findings to be announced and enforced early next year, according to Ministry of Labor officials. ...

Asia’s economic success has been carried on the shoulders of poor women, whose higher load of work has been unequally compensated and undervalued, according to an Oxfam report released on Tuesday.   ...

A senior official at the Labor Ministry said strikes and protests were “disrupting” investment in the garment sector and claimed that some unions, and even some employers, were not respecting the rights and freedoms afforded to workers by the Labor Law and international labor conventions. ...

In an attempt to protect the interests and safety of Cambodian maids who travel to Malaysia, the Association of Cambodian Recruitment Agencies (ACRA) signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Malaysia National Association of Employment Agencies (PIKAP) last week, according to officials. ...

Cambodia has the third-highest prevalence rate for modern slavery in the world, trailing only North Korea and Uzbekistan, according to the Global Slavery Index 2016, released this morning by the Walk Free Foundation.   ...