Labor
Cambodia: Rainsy returns as court keeps protesters in jail
Anguished cries from supporters and family members echoed outside the Appeals Court in Phnom Penh yesterday as they received the news bail had been denied. They had been hoping for the release of 21 people detained since a brutal government crackdown in early January. On ...
Daniel Quinlan
http://asiancorrespondent.com/119494/cambodia-rainsy-returns-as-court-keeps-protesters-in-jail/
Gov’t-aligned union’s strike quietly ended
Workers at Dongdu Textile in Phnom Penh’s Dangkor district ended a two-week strike yesterday after their bosses agreed to reinstate 11 union leaders and activists fired in January. Chhin Sony, president of the government-aligned Union of Cambodia, said more than 2,000 workers returned to the factory ...
Mom Kunthear
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/gov%E2%80%99t-aligned-union%E2%80%99s-strike-quietly-ended
Labor Ministry ignored its own research on minimum wage
The Labor Ministry on Tuesday defended its failure to act on the results of its own study, which in November found that the minimum livable wage for garment factory workers is between $157 and $177. In its annual report, the ministry listed its wage study, carried ...
Aun Pheap and Matt Blomberg
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/labor-ministry-ignored-its-own-research-on-minimum-wage-51977/
Cambodia: Bail refused for 21 workers and human rights defenders
The Cambodian government must immediately and unconditionally release the 21 garment workers and human rights defenders who have been detained since early January, FIDH and its member organizations Cambodian Human Rights and Development Association (ADHOC) and Cambodian League for the Promotion and Defense of Human ...
FIDH News Staff
http://www.fidh.org/en/asia/cambodia/14627-cambodia-bail-refused-for-21-workers-and-human-rights-defenders
Fears over human rights in Cambodia as crackdown on protests continues
Prak Sovannary tries to put on a brave face. She has just heard that two of 23 men arrested during a violent crackdown on garment worker protests in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, last month have unexpectedly been released on bail.Her husband, Vorn Pao, a prominent activist and union leader, is not ...
Kevin Ponniah
http://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2014/feb/11/cambodia-human-rights-crackdown-protests
Workers on strike to demand annual leave, administrator be ousted
Around 1,000 garment workers from a factory producing jeans in Bith Trang Special Economic Zone in Prey Nop district went on strike to protest against administration chief in their factory. They also demanded the annual leave of 18-21 days per years, which were rejected by ...
The Cambodia Herald News Staff
http://thecambodiaherald.com/cambodia/detail/1?page=13&token=MDc5ZDFkY2Q1MzB
For underpaid teachers, a desire for dignity
Hang Mao was among more than 11,000 Phnom Penh public school teachers who were told two weeks ago that corruption in the classroom would no longer be tolerated. The message came from senior city officials, including Phnom Penh Governor Pa Socheatvong and municipal education director Chea ...
Phann Ana
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/for-underpaid-teachers-a-desire-for-dignity-51857/
Unions threaten nationwide strike if 21 prisoners not released
Sixteen unions threatened Monday to organize a nationwide strike if the 21 activists and protesters jailed following garment industry protests on January 2 and 3 are not released on bail Tuesday. The unions also called for charges against the 21 prisoners, 16 of whom began a ...
Mech Dara and Alice Cuddy
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/unions-threaten-nationwide-strike-if-21-prisoners-not-released-51864/
Bail denied for 21 detainees
Defence attorneys will now turn to the Supreme Court after a Court of Appeals judge denied bail this morning for all 21 people still detained from clashes with authorities during garment strike demonstrations last month. The presiding judge said he decided not to allow bail based ...
Sean Teehan and May Titthara
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/bail-denied-21-detainees
Unions, opposition ‘hindering wage talks’
Labour Minister Ith Sam Heng and ministry spokesman Heng Sour yesterday accused unions and the opposition of derailing the government’s efforts at minimum wage reform by striking and stirring up violence for their own political gain. “The government has set up a committee to study the ...
Sen David
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/unions-opposition-%E2%80%98hindering-wage-talks%E2%80%99
Ministry of Labor highlights triumphs in 2013 Annual Report
The Ministry of Labor and Vocational Training released its 2013 annual report Monday, trumpeting a list of nine achievements it had reached in line with its five-year plan for the fourth government mandate, which ended last year. Speaking to a crowd of about 100 officials ...
Matt Blomberg and Ben Sokhean
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/ministry-of-labor-highlights-triumphs-in-2013-annual-report-51872/
Victorian MP Hong Lim urges Australia to push Cambodia over garment worker crackdown
A Victorian MP born in Cambodia says Australia should put pressure on the country of his birth over a crackdown on protesting garment workers which left five people dead. Hong Lim, the Member for Clayton, says he was in Cambodia earlier this month, when five protesting ...
ABC News Staff
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-02-10/an-victorian-mp-hong-lim-wants-more-australian-engagement-with-/5249570
Cambodian activists stage hunger strike
Dozens of protesters called Monday for the release of Cambodian activists arrested during a bloody crackdown last month, as a prison official said several of the detainees were on hunger strike. The brief rally was held outside the Ministry of Justice and the Appeals Court to ...
iAfrica News Staff
http://news.iafrica.com/worldnews/896936.html
Hun Sen warns against attempts to hold Cambodia ‘Hostage’
Cambodia’s Prime Minister Hun Sen on Monday accused certain groups of trying to hold the nation “hostage,” saying his government was functioning normally despite opposition calls for him to resign and hold fresh elections following disputed polls. His administration has also drawn criticism over its heavy ...
Radio Free Asia News Staff
http://www.rfa.org/english/news/cambodia/warning-02102014190358.html
Hun Sen Issues Directive for Payment of Civil Servant Salaries
Prime Minister Hun Sen has issued a directive for the ministries of Public Function and Finance to cooperate with state institutions to ensure that civil servants are paid by the fourth week of every month. The directive, signed by Mr. Hun Sen and dated January 29, ...
Supporters of 21 to march to embassies
Activists may find themselves in a showdown with police this morning during a planned vigil on Phnom Penh’s riverside and a march to several embassies. National Military Police spokesman Kheng Tito said yesterday that people supporting the release of 21 people detained during a garment strike ...
Mom Kunthear and Sean Teehan
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/supporters-21-march-embassies
Bailed Garment Workers Speak of Injustice Ahead of March
In the weeks that 17-year-old garment worker Yon Chea languished in prison, he spent hours staring out of the window at a concrete wall, certain that he would never see his home or his family again. The Phnom Penh Municipal Court on Friday morning granted ...
Mech Dara and Alice Cuddy
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/bailed-garment-workers-speak-of-injustice-ahead-of-march-51759/
Two of 23 jailed protesters granted bail; release date unknown
The Phnom Penh Municipal Court on Friday morning granted bail to two of the 23 union activists and protesters jailed following the lethal suppression of garment worker strikes by military police on January 3. Municipal court presiding Judge Leang Samnatt held an unscheduled hearing on Friday ...
Kuch Naren
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/two-of-23-jailed-protesters-granted-bail-release-date-unknown-51734/
Garment workers to receive USD 100 per month from February
The Government already issued a Decision to require the employers to increase the minimum wage for the factory workers to USD 100 per month, starting from February 2014, said a government official. Vong Savann, a senior official of the Labor Ministry added that the Decision was ...
The Cambodia Herald News Staff
http://thecambodiaherald.com/cambodia/detail/1?page=13&token=NmY5MTVmYTZhMzE
Military police asked to answer for protest deaths
Richard Rogers, the lawyer retained by the opposition CNRP to potentially submit a case against Prime Minister Hun Sen’s government with the International Criminal Court at The Hague, said Thursday that letters were hand-delivered to two military police chiefs requesting information about the fatal shooting ...
Colin Meyn
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/military-police-asked-to-answer-for-protest-deaths-51633/
Man acquitted of 2007 murder of union leader Hy Vuthy
The Phnom Penh Municipal Court on Thursday acquitted Chan Sophon of the 2007 murder of union leader Hy Vuthy, overturning a 2012 conviction and an 18-year jail sentence that rights groups and Mr. Vuthy’s own union believe was cover for the real perpetrators. The judge ...
Eang Mengleng
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/man-acquitted-of-2007-murder-of-union-leader-hy-vuthy-51637/
Trash collectors battling with mounds of garbage
Trash collectors were working overtime Thursday to clean the vast piles of garbage that had accumulated in Phnom Penh this week after their four-day strike for higher wages. Although workers returned to their duties after agreeing to a pay rise of between $20 and $25 per ...
Ben Sokhean and Denise Hruby
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/trash-collectors-battling-with-mounds-of-garbage-51646/
Unions want wage negotiations, arrest of shooters from January violence
Representatives of nine unions met together have made seven resolutions to seek better conditions and wages for workers in Cambodia’s factories. The unions are calling for the release of those workers, the restart of wage negotiations and the “unmasking” of police personnel who did the ...
Kong Sothanarith
http://www.voacambodia.com/content/unions-want-wage-negotiations-arrest-of-shooters-from-january-violence/1845791.html
Missing boy presumed dead after protest shooting
The father of a 16-year-old boy who went missing during last month’s labor protest crackdowns says he now presumes his son dead. The boy, Khim Sophat, was caught up in demonstrations at the Canadia Industrial Zone in early January. He was not listed among the four ...
Khoun Theara
http://www.voacambodia.com/content/missing-boy-presumed-dead-after-protest-shooting/1845735.html