News
Union Bashes Wage Hike, Ponders National Strike
The Free Trade Union (FTU) is unhappy with the size of the raise agreed to this week by manufacturers for garment workers and said it would meet next week to decide whether to hold a nationwide strike in August for a larger increase, said FTU ...
Ministry, factories strike deal
About 600,000 workers in the lucrative garment and footwear industries, roughly 95 per cent of the sector’s work force, will soon take home an extra US$10 a month, the Ministry of Labour said yesterday. Barely an hour after a protest involving garment workers at the capital’s ...
Union Representative Beaten, Arrested by Police
A union representative was beaten with electric batons and arrested by police in Phnom Penh yesterday after more than 20 garment workers marched to submit a petition to Prime Minister Hun Sen’s Cabinet. The petitioners, workers at the Tai Yang garment factory who belong to the ...
Manufacturers Raise Garment Workers’ Pay
Manufacturers in Cambodia yesterday agreed to increase the monthly wage of garment workers by $7 per month by providing them with additional allowances for transportation and housing, bringing the minimum wage packet taken home every month to $73. The raise occurred as the number of strikes ...
Clash thwarts union’s march
Police clashed with strikers as thousands of garment workers from factories that sell to Levi’s and Gap were blocked as they marched from Kandal province towards the capital yesterday, union representatives said. The 4,000-strong group’s march, as threatened by Cambodian Confederation of Trade Unions president Rong ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012070657253/National-news/clash-thwarts-unions-march.html
Factory Owners Agree to Provide More Benefits
Garment factory owners have agreed to provide workers with an additional $9 in monthly benefits for transportation, housing and attendance in order to reduce growing protests in the sector, Garment Manufacturers Association of Cambodia (GMAC) officials said yesterday. “We will provide $3 in attendance bonuses and ...
Strike wounds slow to heal
More than 70 garment workers who claim they were sacked after a nationwide workers’ strike in September, 2010 are still waiting to be reinstated, Ath Thorn, president of the Coalition of Cambodian Apparel Workers’ Democratic Union (C.CAWDU), has told the Post. Thorn claimed on Tuesday about ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012070557227/National-news/strike-wounds-slow-to-heal.html
Workers Strike at Factory Supplying US Brands
Roughly 4,000 garment workers at a factory supplying clothes for U.S. brands Gap, Levi Strauss and Old Navy went on strike yesterday and threatened to march in Phnom Penh on Thursday to demonstrate against poor pay. The demonstration took place at Tai Yang Enterprises in Kandal ...
CCU threatens capital march
Cambodian Confederation of Unions president Rong Chhun threatened yesterday to lead a march of more than 3,000 striking garment workers from Kandal province to the capital on Thursday if their employer refuses to meet their demands. “[Workers] have already made commitments with me to march to ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012070357166/National-news/ccu-threatens-march.html
4000 Garment Workers Protest Over Severance Pay
Two garment workers were injured yesterday during a factory protest in Kandal province when they clashed with 50 police and military police, a union representative said. About 4,000 garment workers of Tai Yang Enterprises in Ang Snuol district held a protest to demand their severance payments ...
Garment workers back to table for more talks
The workers and management of the Chiang Sou undergarments factory in Kampong Speu failed to reach a resolution yesterday despite hours of attempted negotiations, only a day after nearly 200 employees went on strike demanding better working conditions. ...
Workers' protest in Phnom Penh pays off
Garment workers who claim their employer was docking their pay for wearing shoes on the job will return to work today after their two-day strike ended with some demands being met. More than 300 workers from Horus Industrial Corp sportswear factory in Phnom Penh’s Meanchey district ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012060856672/National-news/strike-action-pays-off.html
SEZ Shooting Suspect Under Court Supervision
The Svay Rieng Provincial Court has placed former Bavet City Governor Chhouk Bundith under court “supervision” after questioning him last week in connection to the Feb. 20 shooting of three female factory workers, according to investigating Judge Pech Chhoeut. Mr. Chhoeut said the ex-governor was questioned ...
Radio Competition Aims To Teach Labor Law
A radio competition organized by the International Labor Organization’s (ILO) Better Factories Cambodia will enable garment workers to showcase their knowledge and teach the public about the country’s Labor Law, an ILO representative said yesterday. “The objective is not only to allow workers to express their ...
Factory Workers Continue to Strike for Higher Wages
About 4,000 garment workers from factories that produce clothing for international brands H&M, Gap and Levi Strauss continued protesting yesterday in Phnom Penh for higher wages, union representatives said. Singaporean-owned SL Garment Processing (Cambodia) Ltd. parked three large trucks in front of their Meanchey district factories ...
Workers at Factories Supplying Major Brands Continue Protests
About 3,000 garment workers from two factories that supply clothes to international brands Levi Strauss, H&M and Gap continued protesting for higher wages yesterday in Phnom Penh’s Meanchey district, before marching to the Ministry of Social Affairs. Upon arriving at the ministry, workers employed by the ...
Charity Calls on UK Gov’t to Act for Cambodian Workers
A report by a U.K.-based charity has highlighted the low pay of Cambodian garment workers and called on the British government to intervene in disputes involving Southeast Asian factories supplying British retailers. Restricting Rights, a report published Tuesday by anti-poverty charity War on Want, looks at ...
SEZ Shooting Victims Called for Questioning
The Svay Rieng Provincial Court has issued summonses to question three women who were allegedly shot by a government official during a protest at a special economic zone (SEZ) in February, a court official and the plaintiffs said yesterday. About 20 eyewitnesses have already been questioned ...
Garment Staff Resume Work After Deal is Struck
Garment workers from Phnom Penh’s Lim Line factory will resume work today after reaching an agreement with the factory following 11 days of protest that culminated in a violent strike Friday, a union and a factory representative said yesterday. ...
Union leader hurt in strike
Thousands of garment workers went on strike yesterday demanding higher wages, fees for transportation and housing, and in one case, the elimination of smelly odours caused by a fish farm near their factory. Workers burned tyres and one union leader was allegedly assaulted with an electric ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012050355951/National-news/union-leader-hurt-in-strikes.html
Governor Free After Admitting To Firing Gun
Despite admitting yesterday to firing his pistol during last month’s protest at a Svay Rieng province special economic zone (SEZ), where three women were shot, Bavet City’s former governor Chhuk Bundith was free to return home after making his confession to the court. “[Mr. Bundith] came ...
Victims of SEZ Shooting Demand $95,000
Two female garment workers who were shot last month during a protest at a Svay Rieng province special economic zone (SEZ) filed a complaint with the provincial court yesterday accusing former deputy Bavet City Governor Chhuk Bundith of attempted murder. Bun Chenda, 21, and Nuth Sokhorn, ...
Fumes lead to factory fainting
About 60 female workers at a garment factory in Phnom Penh’s Russei Keo district were rushed to a nearby hospital yesterday after fainting from inhaling paint fumes. Tuol Sangke commune police chief said that workers at King First Industrial Co Ltd began vomiting and complaining of ...
Union heads rally to end short-term contracts
Seven union leaders representing garment workers will send a statement today urging the Ministry of Labor and the Garment Manufacturers Association in Cambodia (GMAC) to decrease the use of temporary labor contracts, because they erode the rights of workers, union leaders said yesterday. Rong Chhun, president ...