News
About 1,000 Electronics Factory Workers Protest
About 1,000 workers protested yesterday morning outside a Taiwanese electronics factory in Svay Rieng province’s Manhattan Special Economic Zone (SEZ) to demand better working conditions, a union representative said. Among workers’ demand is a salary increase from the current minimum monthly wage of $61 to $70, ...
Government Tells Unions to Agree on Minimum Wage Demands
The government on Monday requested that manufacturers look at raising the minimum wage for garment workers, but only after divided trade unions agree on what that wage should be. “After discussions, those present at the meeting agree in principle to discuss raising the minimum wage ...
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/business/government-tells-unions-to-agree-on-minimum-wage-demands-8193/
Should Minimum Wage Be Market Driven or Government-Dictated?
Manufacturers and unions aligned with the ruling CPP yesterday said the current labor shortage inside the garment industry would act as an incentive for employers to increase salaries, and that there was no need for the government to impose a new minimum wage. During a meeting ...
Workers petition Korean government
More than 300 striking workers from the International Fashion Royal garment factory in Phnom Penh appealed for assistance from the South Korean Embassy yesterday afternoon after police blocked their march to Por Sen Chey District Hall, a union official said. Ten days of striking for a ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013012260899/National/workers-petition-korean-government.html
Cambodia’s garment workers to get pay rise for 2013
Garment Manufacturers Association of Cambodia (GMAC) on Monday agreed to increase salaries for the workers in the kingdom’s garment and footwear industries, according to a press release after a closed door meeting. The meeting was attended by Minister of Social Affairs Ith Samheng, Minister of Labor ...
http://www.nzweek.com/world/cambodias-garment-workers-to-get-pay-rise-for-2013-43866/
Strikes in Cambodian factories may hit orders
Officials of the Garment Manufacturers Association in Cambodia (GMAC) are concerned that recent strikes could delay delivery to customers, and factories are looking for solutions to meet buyers’ demands. About 10,000 workers in seven or eight garment factories have gone on strike recently demanding higher wages ...
Factory workers complain over low wages
Factory workers complain that their low salaries are not keeping track with the price of goods and services. Phoeun Sreyleak, 20, said she gets $70 a month including bonuses for health care and rent. “My basic wage is only $58,” she said. “My friend gets 2,000 riel ...
Thousands protest outside Gladpeer Garment Factory
More than 2,000 workers demonstrated in front of Phnom Penh’s Gladpeer Garment Factory yesterday, demanding a higher minimum wage and several other concessions. The workers decided to strike after the Por Sen Chey district factory did not respond to repeated requests to raise their monthly minimum ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013011560786/National/thousands-turn-out-for-strike.html
Thousands Protest at H&M Factory, Demand Wage Hike
Thousands of garment workers yesterday protested outside a factory in Pur Senchey district making garments for the Swedish clothing company H&M, demanding a raise to their minimum wage and meal benefits, workers and union representative said. The workers of Gladpeer Garments Factory (Cambodia) Ltd., are demanding ...
Cambodia's Free Trade Union offers minimum wage plan
In the latest bid for an increase in garment-industry wages, Free Trade Union (FTU) president Chea Mony yesterday called on the Garment Manufacturers Association in Cambodia (GMAC) to come to the table and discuss a $120-per-month minimum wage. A few days after Cambodian Confederation of Unions ...
Vietnam raises minimum pay
A new decree that increases the minimum wage of workers in Vietnam will not necessarily lead to companies relocating to Cambodia, according to officials. “The Vietnam government has issued [a] decree, which takes effect from January 1, to adjust the minimum wages paid to workers by ...
Factory worker wages to be re-examined
Amid threats of another mass strike in the thriving garment sector, the Ministry of Social Affairs has called a meeting with the industry’s leading players to discuss union demands for a $150-per-month minimum wage, a letter obtained yesterday reveals. At the behest of Prime Minister Hun ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013010260589/National/factory-worker-wages-to-be-re-examined.html
‘Fashion Mobs’ to press for living wage in Cambodia
Christmas shoppers stand to be taken by surprise this month as campaigners take action in shopping centers around Europe to raise awareness of poverty wages of Cambodian garment workers. With these ‘fashion mobs’, they pressure H&M, Inditex (Zara), Levi’s and Gap to introduce a living ...
http://www.fibre2fashion.com/news/apparel-news/newsdetails.aspx?news_id=118895
Labour shortage in Cambodia's garment industry
Cambodia’s garment factories face a shortage of workers, because of migration, more job opportunities in different sectors and poor labour conditions, industry experts said. According to Ken Loo, secretary general of the Garment Manufacturer’s Association in Cambodia, there is a definite shortage of labour in Phnom ...
Draft Accord on Domestic Workers Completed
Government and U.N. officials yesterday completed the draft of a new memorandum of understanding (MoU) that is designed to guarantee the fair treatment and safety of Cambodian domestic workers in Malaysia. The new draft MoU is an amendment to an earlier, much-criticized version create by Malaysia, ...
Swedish outcry has royal voice in midst
Growing calls in Sweden for multinational clothing giant H&M to increase wages for Cambodian garment workers have taken a royal twist. Cambodia’s Prince Charin Norodom, 38, who has lived in Sweden for more than 30 years, told the Post yesterday that he had been working behind ...
H&M slammed over wages
Criticism has mounted against Swedish multinational clothing company H&M in its home country following a documentary released last week that sheds light on wages in its source factories in Cambodia. The episode of Swedish network TV4’s Kalla Fakta, or Cold Facts, focuses mainly on Cambodian garment ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012102959442/National-news/ham-slammed-over-wages.html
PM pledges pay boost
The government on Friday pledged a 20 per cent increase to the base salary of civil servants year-on-year in a move one government official insisted was based on economics, not politics. The announcement was made in a statement released over the weekend outlining government spending for ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012102959455/National-news/government-pledges-pay-boost.html
Mind the wage gap
Most mornings, garment worker Vicheka buys food from the street vendors outside her factory in Kampong Chhnang province. The beef and pork dishes, she says, have a tendency to give workers a stomach ache – a reputation forged long before Vicheka and her co-workers at ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012092858979/National-news/mind-the-wage-gap.html
Cost pressure squeezes Asian growth
I attended a meeting in Chengdu, Sichuan Province last week. The most frequent word mentioned by local officials and scholars there was “industry.” They are very proud that the number of local jobs created in Sichuan has now surpassed the number of workers leaving to ...
Garment Workers Continue Tax Deductions Protest
About 600 garment workers of the Top Form factory in Phnom Penh’s Russei Keo district continued protesting yesterday against new income tax deductions from their pay outside the factory after police blocked them from marching on National Road 5. Workers have been protesting since Friday against ...
Questions over bonuses
Unions and labour groups fear a solitary sick day could cost garment workers their entire month’s attendance bonuses – about 15 per cent of their base wage – under a new scheme meant to make life easier. The Kingdom’s 600,000 garment and footwear workers will receive ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012090558510/National-news/questions-over-bonuses.html
Adidas Denies Allegations of Low Wages for Factory Workers
German sports brand Adidas yesterday denied allegations that its Cambodian factory, which produces Olympic merchandise, was not paying workers a sustainable living wage. The London Organizing Committee for the 2012 Olympic Games (Locog) said on Sunday it would investigate claims that Adidas has violated its agreement ...
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 ...