News
Hun Sen’s Sister Linked to Private Security Firm at SL Factory
The younger sister of Prime Minister Hun Sen is the owner of a private security firm that has been hired to protect the SL Garment Factory from its workers, who have been on strike for more than three months, officials at the firm said Wednesday. Hun ...
Aun Pheap
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/hun-sens-sister-linked-to-private-security-firm-at-sl-factory-46946/
Strikers, police clash
A woman was killed and at least six others shot yesterday morning when police fired live ammunition into a crowd of hundreds of rioting garment workers in the capital’s Stung Meanchey district. UN reports said police also arrested 37 people, including seven monks, as a result ...
Sean Teehan, Mom Kunthear and Khouth Sophak Chakrya
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/strikers-police-clash
SL strike ‘bad’ for industry’s rep, says union
A labour union representing a minority of workers who have been striking at SL Garment Processing (Cambodia) Ltd for nearly three months released a statement yesterday, calling the strike bad for the industry’s reputation. Without specifically mentioning the Coalition of Cambodian Apparel Workers’ Democratic Union (C.CAWDU) ...
Mom Kunthear and Sean Teehan
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/sl-strike-%E2%80%98bad%E2%80%99-industry%E2%80%99s-rep-says-union
New hope for SL strike resolution
With union and company officials at one of Asia’s largest garment factories making no progress in resolving a strike that has lasted nearly three months, a pair of labour relation groups are working on an agreement that all sides hope will end the deadlock. officials from ...
Sean Teehan and Mom Kunthear
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/new-hope-sl-strike-resolution
Garment exports up, margins down
Despite concerns that political uncertainty would be a drag on the economy, Cambodia’s garment exports continued on an upward trend in the first nine months of the year, the latest data show. Though volume increased, factory profit margins were squeezed due to labour disputes and demands ...
Hor Kimsay
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/garment-exports-margins-down
SL Garment Protesters Gain Little From Talks at Labor Ministry
A two-day meeting between union leaders, senior government officials and representatives of the SL Garment Factory failed Tuesday to reach a solution for factory workers, who have been on strike since early August and on Monday demonstrated in front of Prime Minister Hun Sen’s Phnom ...
Ben Woods and Khy Sovuthy
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/sl-garment-protesters-gain-little-from-talks-at-labor-ministry-45708/
Police Train at Freedom Park as Protesters Target Hun Sen’s House
As hundreds of riot police conducted protest suppression drills in Phnom Penh’s Freedom Park on Monday morning, Prime Minister Hun Sen’s mansion in the center of the city was the focal point of a demonstration by some 2,000 garment factory workers. Municipal police, along with 16 ...
Aun Pheap and Khy Sovuthy
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/police-train-at-freedom-park-as-protesters-target-hun-sens-house-2-45638/
Labour Ministry told to keep SL talks alive
In a letter sent to the Ministry of Labour and Vocational Training last week, the Council of Ministers encourages the ministry to facilitate talks between garment factory management and the union representing thousands of workers on strike for nearly two months. The letter, written by Council ...
Sean Teehan and Mom Kunthear
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/labour-ministry-told-keep-sl-talks-alive
Levi Strauss Pulls Out From Embattled SL Garment Factory
A Singaporean-owned garment factory whose workers have been on strike since early August is no longer producing clothes for American denim giant Levi Strauss, a brand representative and a factory worker said Monday. The workers of SL Garment Factory in Meanchey district—which still makes clothes for ...
Aun Pheap and Dene-Hern Chen
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/levi-strauss-pulls-out-from-embattled-sl-garment-factory-44015/
Cambodian Garment Factories Come Under Scrutiny
A monitoring group backed by the United Nations said it would begin to publicize garment factories’ compliance with worker rights and safety standards in Cambodia, a controversial program that its organizers say will be the world’s most extensive initiative to improve working conditions at plants. The ...
Kate O'keeffe
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303818704579089810120675896.html
Garment Sector Stable Despite Workers Leaving Jobs
The Garment Manufacturers Association in Cambodia (GMAC) yesterday said a recent exodus of workers from factories in Phnom Penh to the provinces over concerns related to a recent military build up in the capital would not threaten stability in the sector. Ken Loo, secretary-general of GMAC, ...
Factory production sluggish
In the wake of last month’s election, production levels at Cambodian garment factories are still below the norm as lingering fears of political unrest keep workers at home and away from the capital. Shrugged off at the outset as a natural byproduct of the election that ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/factory-production-sluggish
Union wins benefits for garment workers
Most demands made by workers at a Takeo province garment factory were met following a large protest and five hours of negotiation. Asia Dragon (Garment) Co Ltd mediated with the Coalition of Cambodian Apparel Workers’ Democratic Union (C.CAWDU), making concessions on most of the workers’ 16 ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/union-wins-benefits-garment-workers
Factory Dining Hall Collapses in Phnom Penh; 23 injured
The dining hall of a garment factory in Phnom Penh’s Meanchey district that supplies clothes to U.S. brand Gap collapsed into a pond Monday, injuring more than 20 workers who were eating lunch, workers and officials said. The hall, which is part of Top World Garment ...
Accident rocks garment industry again
For the second time in five days, Cambodia’s garment industry has been rocked by another partial collapse of a structure at a factory. Garment workers are reporting that at least 10 people, including a pregnant woman, have been injured after a concrete platform collapsed into a ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013052065721/National/accident-rocks-garment-industry-again.html
Labor committee announces minimum wage
The Labor Advisory Committee issued a joint statement on the decision to raise wages from $61 to $80 per month for garment and footwear workers. The statement was announced Friday, after a meeting between factory employers, union leaders and Labor Minister, Vong Soth. The wage provision ...
http://www.thecambodiaherald.com/cambodia/detail/1?page=13&token=MTc2MjI0Y2JlMjV
Room for compromise in wage debate: official
The Garment Manufacturers Association in Cambodia and unions both need to compromise further to secure a “proper wage” for garment workers whose lives are hampered by their current $61 minimum wage, a Ministry of Social Affairs official overseeing wage negotiations said yesterday. “The government needs the ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013030661779/National/room-for-compromise-in-wage-debate-official.html
Foreign activists detained
Police arrested five activists from labour-rights group Clean Clothes Campaign yesterday outside the E Garment factory in Kandal province. Neuv Sakhan, deputy director of the Kandal provincial immigration police, told the Post four women and one man, from Norway, Belgium, England and Austria, had been taken ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013030661780/National/foreign-activists-detained.html
Final Wage Offer for Garment Workers Is $75
The Garment Manufacturers Association in Cambodia (GMAC) informed the government yesterday that their final offer in minimum wage negotiations with the country’s unions is $75 per month, $25 less than the unions had wanted. The $75 dollar figure, however, includes a $5 state-mandated health bonus, paid ...
Unequal treatment at Cambodian factories
The ongoing story of garment workers left jobless by company closures in late December is fast becoming A Tale of Two Factories: one group of workers has everything before it, the other has nothing. It’s this widening gulf between workers at Yung Wah Industrial and Kingsland ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013022561588/National/unequal-treatment-at-factories.html
Factory pay protest continues
Workers at the shuttered Yung Wah I and II factories in Kandal province will continue protesting today, despite the government already agreeing to pay them using company funds. Worker Soy Sokchea said yesterday that he and his colleagues would keep demanding benefits and seniority bonuses. ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013021861414/National/factory-pay-protest-continues.html
Union files assault court complaint
The Coalition of Cambodian Apparel Workers’ Democratic Union (C.CAWDU) filed legal complaints yesterday, following allegations on Wednesday that police had assaulted seven garment workers, including a pregnant woman. Sa’ang district police chief Chea Socheat yesterday again denied officers had been violent during a strike ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013020861260/National/union-files-assault-court-complaint.html
MPs Urge Child Labor Action
A group of opposition lawmakers have written to Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen urging action against a sugar factory owned by a ruling party official accused of exploiting child labor and grabbing land from villagers. Six Sam Rainsy Party (SRP) parliamentarians sent a letter dated Jan. ...
http://www.rfa.org/english/news/cambodia/children-01292013174957.html
GMAC members double
The number of companies registering to become members of the Garment Manufacturing Association in Cambodia (GMAC) doubled last year, with more investment in value-added products. GMAC said the number of new members reached 120 last year, compared with 60 newcomers in 2011. “Labour-intensive industries in China ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013013061067/Business/gmac-members-double.html