News
Union to Defy Order, March to Commemorate Chea Vichea’s Slaying
About 150 garment worker union representatives will defy a ban on public assemblies and mark the 10th anniversary of the assassination of union leader Chea Vichea by marching from their office in Chamkar Mon district to the site of his murder at Wat Lanka on ...
Kuch Naren
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/union-to-defy-order-march-to-commemorate-chea-vicheas-slaying-50846/
Free Trade Union Reports Overall Jump in Labor Strikes in 2013
The Free Trade Union (FTU) on Monday reported an overall increase in industrial action by its local branches last year with 136 total strikes in the first 11 months of 2013, up 35 percent from all of 2012, when there were 101 strikes by its ...
Striking Workers Refuse Government Offer in Wage Dispute
Union leaders and striking workers on Wednesday said they would not agree to a minimum wage of $100 per month and would continue demonstrations until a higher wage is set. Government officials say they are willing to raise the minimum wage from $80 to $100 ...
Kong Sothanarith
http://www.voacambodia.com/content/striking-workers-refuse-government-offer-in-wage-dispute/1821569.html
Workers quietly trickle back
As garment union groups resume their strike today, thousands of workers plan on returning to work, largely citing financial necessity rather than ideological disagreement with the unions. The Ministry of Labour on Monday ordered union leaders to cease a nationwide strike that began nine days ago, ...
Mom Kunthear
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/workers-quietly-trickle-back
Cambodians rally to demand PM's resignation
Tens of thousands of Cambodian opposition supporters, backed by striking garment-factory workers, rallied on Sunday to demand long-serving Prime Minister Hun Sen step down and call an election. The garment workers have in recent days joined the opposition protests to press their demand that the government ...
Prak Chan Thul
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/12/29/us-cambodia-protest-idUSBRE9BS03P20131229
Convicted killer back on stand
More than six years after the slaying of Free Trade Union president Hy Vuthy, one of the men convicted of his murder, Chan Sophorn, 35, appeared in court yesterday for a retrial. Sous Sam Ath, the judge presiding over the case at the Phnom Penh Municipal ...
Buth Reaksmey Kongkea
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/convicted-killer-back-stand
Cambodian Unions Call for Doubling of Minimum Wage for Factory Workers
Four trade unions on Tuesday demanded that Cambodia’s garment and footwear manufacturers raise the minimum wage of their workers and provide them with additional benefits, threatening a nationwide strike and demonstrations if they do not comply. In a joint letter to the Van Sou Ieng, president ...
Radio free Asia
http://www.rfa.org/english/news/cambodia/wages-11262013151923.html
Factory ordered to clean act
The Ministry of Labour has ordered management at a Kandal province garment factory to clean their workroom and limit employees’ overtime hours, in response to over 100 workers fainting over two days. During a visit to King First Industrial Co, Ltd’s Kandal location yesterday, Seng Sakada, ...
Mom Kunthear
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/factory-ordered-clean-act
‘Ban’ for three more unionists
Three more unionists have been suspended as a result of the violent strikes at a Kampong Speu garment factory in May and June, a Free Trade Union official said yesterday. Sabrina (Cambodia) Garment Manufacturing factory’s FTU president Sun Vanny, vice-president Sem Sopheak and general secretary Chi ...
Mom Kunthear and Sean Teehan, P.6
http://www.phnompenhpost.com
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
USA garment factory workers block national road
Nearly 400 workers at the USA Fully Field (Cambodia) Garment factory blocked National Road 2 in Phnom Penh’s Meanchey district yesterday after fears spread that the factory was winding down operations and that management wouldn’t pay necessary wages once it closed. Soy Nakri, a worker representative ...
Mom Kunthear
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/usa-garment-factory-workers-block-national-road
Sabrina workers out after months in jail
Eight unionists locked in prison in Kampong Speu province since violent clashes at the Sabrina Garment factory in May and June were released on bail yesterday, court and union officials said. Cheum Rithy, a provincial judge, said he had decided to release the eight Free Trade ...
Mom Kunthear
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/sabrina-workers-out-after-months-jail
Grenade Attack Remembered Amid Promised Reform
Opposition leaders Sam Rainsy and Kem Sokha joined dozens of monks and hundreds of supporters on Monday for a Pchum Ben ceremony at the memorial stupa in Phnom Penh honoring the 16 people who were killed by a grenade attack on an opposition rally in ...
Aun Pheap and Colin Meyn
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/grenade-attack-remembered-amid-promised-reform-43996/
Suspects Freed; No Hope of Justice for Slain Union Leader
Sok Sam Oeun and Born Samnang left Prey Sar prison’s Correctional Center 1 on Thursday for the last time, putting behind them an ordeal that has lasted nearly a decade during which they were wrongfully imprisoned for a total of five years each for the ...
Khy Sovuthy and Lauren Crothers
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/suspects-freed-no-hope-of-justice-for-slain-union-leader-43679/
Jubilation as Pair Acquitted of Union Leader’s Assassination
Born Samnang and Sok Sam Oeun, the men wrongfully sentenced to 20 years in prison for the 2004 murder of Free Trade Union (FTU) leader Chea Vichea, were exonerated Wednesday by the Supreme Court of the crime. Responding to the acquittal, Chea Vichea’s brother, Chea Mony, ...
Khy Sovuthy
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/jubilation-as-pair-acquitted-of-union-leaders-assassination-43396/
Factory’s owner in crosshairs
Some 400 garment workers yesterday gathered outside the Ministry of Social Affairs to plead for government intervention against a factory owner who fled without paying them overdue wages three months ago. Khem Chamnan, a Free Trade Union representative from the Pine Great (Cambodia) factory in Phnom ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013070266604/National/factory-s-owner-in-crosshairs.html
Cambodia's garment exports up 22 pct in 5 months
Cambodia’s garment industry, the country’s biggest income earner, recorded 2.06 billion U.S. dollars in export value in the first five months of this year, up 22 percent on the same period last year, a Commerce Ministry’s report showed Tuesday. Garment export accounts for more than 80 ...
http://www.asean-china-center.org/english/2013-06/27/c_132492345.htm
Nike calls for probe on Cambodian police clash with garment workers
Nike expressed “deep concerns” over the May 27 incident at the Sabrina Cambodia Garment Manufacturing plant outside Phnom Penh, in a letters to Cambodia’s commerce and labour ministers released late Friday in the United States. Following the violence, eight workers and trade union members were ...
Municipal officials given a larger hand in labour disputes
Continuing its efforts to quell an increasing number of strikes in the Kingdom’s lucrative garment sector, the government this week issued a directive aimed at giving provincial and municipal governors powers to resolve issues at factories without calling on ministries in Phnom Penh. “To ensure further ...
Cambodia PM says garment firms may quit over wage rows
Cambodia’s strongman Prime Minister Hun Sen on Wednesday warned garment workers that protests demanding higher wages could push manufacturers to quit the country. His appeal came after unions last week said hundreds of workers had been fired from a factory making sportswear for US giant Nike ...
Eight More Charged Over Violent Factory Protest
A court official at the Kompong Speu Provincial Court said Monday that a total of 16 union representatives have been charged with damaging property and inciting violence during a protest outside a garment factory earlier this month, twice the number of arrests previously confirmed. Provincial Judge ...
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/eight-more-charged-over-violent-factory-protest-31214/
Hundreds are given sack for Sabrina clash
Hundreds of workers were sacked at the Sabrina Garment factory on Saturday following several violent protests at the Kampong Speu province premises and the arrest of unionists involved. The firings came after workers continued to protest outside the provincial court on Friday and Saturday demanding ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013061166188/National/hundreds-are-given-sack-for-sabrina-clash.html
Bail Requests Denied for All Eight Unionists
The Kampong Speu Provincial Court has denied bail for eight unionists accused of instigating violence at the Sabrina Garment factory last Monday. Kampong Speu Provincial Court judge, Cheum Rithy said yesterday that he had not approved the bail request because significant work remained in questioning ...
Unions Trade Barbs Over Violent Factory Strike
Two rival workers unions continued to trade barbs Thursday, each blaming the other for a violent clash between striking garment workers and police at a factory in Kompong Speu province on Monday that saw eight people arrested. The Free Trade Union (FTU) has led strikes for ...
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/business/unions-trade-barbs-over-violent-factory-strike-29833/