News

Several of the more contentious points from Cambodia’s draft trade union law have been dropped, a pro-government union leader said yesterday, although at least one major union remains unsatisfied with the pending legislation. ...

The Ministry of Labour granted about 25,000 work permits to foreigners in the first six months of 2015, about 5,000 more than they issued during all of last year. ...

The labor minister said Tuesday there were so few underage workers in the garment industry that “we can count them on our fingers,” but a unionist and an NGO countered that child labor was still rife in the country’s smaller garment factories. ...

The Ministry of Labour has given a recruitment firm 45 days to repay clients who filed a complaint alleging the company collected their money but never delivered promised jobs in Japan. ...

Labor Minister Ith Sam Heng on Thursday warned officials processing work permits for foreign workers to adhere strictly to all the relevant rules and regulations or risk an unwanted visit from the Anti-Corruption Unit (ACU). The government has recently started enforcing a longstanding but largely ignored ...

Labor Minister Ith Sam Heng on Wednesday denied recent claims from a group of disgruntled unions that the government was making it nearly impossible to register branches at garment factories, and announced a new push to bring noncompliant factories in line with Cambodia’s labor laws. ...

The Labor Ministry released a statement Monday with a list of procedures all businesses in Cambodia that hire foreign workers must follow in order to comply with the country’s long-standing Labor Law. According to Monday’s statement, which was signed by Labor Minister Ith Sam ...

A representative for sportswear giant Adidas praised an upcoming minimum wage raise in Cambodia’s garment sector, state media reported yesterday. In a separate meeting, Anderson told labour advocates that the government, not Adidas, is responsible for wage-setting, Anna McMullen of Labour Behind the Label said ...

The Garment Manufacturers Association in Cambodia (GMAC) said in a statement this week that under the new minimum wage workers can actually earn up to $250 per month, though others were quick to label the figure exaggerated. The Ministry of Labour last week approved the new ...

After meeting with members, several labour union leaders yesterday said that they will not hold protests against the government-set garment industry minimum wage for 2015. Minister of Labour Ith Sam Heng last week approved $128 as 2015’s minimum monthly wage in Cambodia’s garment sector. The increase, ...

Cambodia on Wednesday raised the controversial monthly minimum wage for garment workers by 28 percent, a decision likely to infuriate unions seeking a higher increase and revive calls for strike action. Sixteen members of the Labour Ministry’s Labour Advisory Committee voted for the government-proposed minimum ...

The tripartite working group set up to negotiate and advise the Ministry of Labour’s Labour Advisory Committee (LAC) on next year’s minimum wage in Cambodia’s garment sector has stopped meeting after reaching a stalemate. Made up of 27 members – nine each from employers, the government ...

About 100 workers representing eight trade unions and labor associations rallied in front of the Ministry of Labor on Sunday demanding that the government relax registration requirements that they say are being used to stifle efforts to increase their memberships. ...

Mrs. Julie Chung, deputy chief of mission at the US embassy in Phnom Penh, said Thursday that US will not interfere in Cambodia’s wage negotiation for workers. ...

Some of the unions that have been demanding a hefty $77 raise to the current monthly minimum wage of $100 for the country’s garment workers said Thursday they were willing to go as low as a $35 increase, though others refused to budge. ...

Cambodian authorities have held two rounds of talks with garment factory owners and unions under a new mechanism to help break a deadlock over increasing the workers’ monthly minimum wage but to no avail. But Labor Minister Ith Sam Heng said that he expected the Garment ...

Following a meeting with parliamentarians at the National Assembly yesterday, Minister of Labour Ith Sam Heng announced the ministry would form a 27-member committee to study technical aspects of raising the minimum wage in Cambodia’s garment sector. The new committee will comprise nine representatives each from ...

Labor officials say they plan to put together an ad hoc group to discuss the contentious minimum wage for factory workers as they move toward a final decision next month. The announcement Tuesday came after meetings between Labor Minister Ith Sam Heng and Ker Sovannaroath, ...

Labor Minister Ith Sam Heng has agreed to appear before lawmakers today to answer questions about ongoing minimum wage negotiations for garment workers, a controversial draft union law and other pressing labor issues, according to the opposition CNRP. ...

Minister of Labour Ith Sam Heng yesterday postponed his ministry’s Labour Advisory Committee’s decision on Cambodia’s garment sector minimum wage from Friday until next month, leaving some optimistic and others dubious. In the original schedule, the minimum wage for 2015 was slated to be set in ...

Negotiations held on Friday between garment factory owners, union leaders and government officials failed to set a new industry minimum wage for next year, but a final decision will be reached by October 10, according to Labor Minister Ith Sam Heng. The tripartite Labor Advisory Council ...

The National Assembly asked Labor Minister Ith Sam Heng to provide Korean-language test paper for free to or sell in the lowest price for workers as the current test paper costs USD 24. ...

The Ministry of Labour has issued a prakas urging employers to follow existing regulations in the Labour Law that limit foreign workers to 10 per cent of the total workforce at any one company. It has warned that failure to stay within this limit – or ...

Amid reports of increased mass-fainting incidents in Cambodia’s garment sector, workers, employers and government officials gathered in Phnom Penh yesterday for a roundtable discussion on the issue. The conference, which was organised by the Cambodian Center for Independent Media, identified issues such as workday lengths and ...