News
Prey Veng workers protest for Pchum Ben advance
About 1,000 workers protested outside the Chinese-owned Komchay Mear Trading factory in Prey Veng province on Saturday morning after managers refused to give them a government-mandated salary advance for the Pchum Ben holiday, officials and unionists said on Sunday. The protest was short-lived, however, ending Saturday ...
Ben Sokhean
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/prey-veng-workers-protest-for-pchum-ben-advance-68283/
Workers start wage battle a day early
About 1,000 workers from a Phnom Penh footwear factory got an early start on Tuesday on a cross-union campaign for a $177 minimum wage, set to start today, protesting in front of their factory over internal workplace grievances. ...
Mech Dara
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/workers-start-wage-battle-a-day-early-68119/
Labour’s 10 per cent rule
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 ...
Sen David and Kevin Ponniah
http://phnompenhpost.com/national/labour%E2%80%99s-10-cent-rule
Rights group urges Cambodia to drop case against six unionists
A human rights group on Thursday urged authorities in Cambodia to end the prosecution of six trade unionists accused of stoking violent clashes between protesting workers and security forces, calling the case against them “politically motivated.” New York-based Human Rights Watch said prominent activists Pav Sina, ...
Joshua Lipes
http://www.rfa.org/english/news/cambodia/unionists-09042014181530.html
Thousands strike over pay at Kompong Cham garment factory
More than 5,000 workers from a footwear factory in Kompong Cham province went on strike Monday, calling on factory management to increase their benefits. The lively crowd rallied outside the Taiwanese-owned Juhui Footwear factory in Choeung Prey district, dancing to music pumped out of loudspeakers as ...
Ben Sokhean
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/thousands-strike-over-pay-at-kompong-cham-garment-factory-67397/
Xin Fang workers march to Labor Ministry to solve out working conditions
Around 300 workers from a Taiwanese-owned Xin Fang (Cambodia) Garment Manufacturing Co., Ltd marched Monday to Ministry of Labor to seek intervention in their working conditions. ...
The Cambodia Herald News Staff
http://thecambodiaherald.com/cambodia/detail/1?page=13&token=NzhiNDYzNTRiYTN
Nearly 200 migrant workers duped out of $260
A group of 50 migrant workers on Wednesday protested outside a branch of a recruitment agency in Phnom Penh’s Sen Sok district that they say duped them out of $260 they paid for a guarantee of employment in Thailand. ...
Sek Odom
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/nearly-200-migrant-workers-duped-out-of-260-67236/
Workers take pay dispute to ministry of labor
Hundreds of garment workers traveled from a Kompong Chhnang factory to Phnom Penh on Monday to petition the Ministry of Labor to intervene in their dispute with factory management. About 3,000 workers from the Chinese-owned Jiun Ye Garment factory have been striking since August 18, accusing ...
Ben Sokhean
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/workers-take-pay-dispute-to-ministry-of-labor-67148/
New fines for faintings
The minister of labour has sent a stern warning to garment factories to take measures to end mass faintings or face the consequences. Speaking after a safety workshop yesterday, Ith Sam Heng said the government will get tougher on factories, fining those that didn’t provide safe ...
Mom Kunthear
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/new-fines-faintings
Ministries to tighten checks on foreign workers
The ministries of Labor and Interior met on Thursday to outline the government’s plan to more strictly enforce measures for employers of foreign nationals to ensure that their staff has proper documentation. Seng Sakada, director-general of the Labor Ministry’s labor department, said previous efforts have not ...
Mech Dara
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/ministries-to-tighten-checks-on-foreign-workers-67023/
More Than 1,000 Faintings Reported in Cambodian Factories This Year
The faintings between January and August were much higher than the 802 reported in the whole of last year, while only one factory worker died in the workplace in 2013, the Free Trade Union of Workers of the Kingdom of Cambodia (FTUWKC) said in a ...
Joshua Lipes
http://www.rfa.org/english/news/cambodia/faintings-08212014140815.html
Unions say gov’t blocking branch registrations
In March, the Ministry of Labor for the first time began requiring union leaders to submit proof they had no previous criminal convictions before they would be allowed to register a new union or local branch. Now, the country’s leading unions say worker representatives are struggling ...
Mech Dara
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/unions-say-govt-blocking-branch-registrations-66958/
Gov’t says workplace injuries on the rise, reforms needed
In the face of an increase in work-related injuries, government officials gathered in Phnom Penh on Tuesday to start work on a new plan to reduce workplace accidents and to reflect on their achievements over the past five years. ...
Mech Dara and Holly Robertson
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/govt-says-workplace-injuries-on-the-rise-reforms-needed-66899/
Mass faintings occur at 6 garment factories in Cambodia
At least 127 Cambodian garment workers at six different factories got fainted on Friday due to poor health, a local police chief confirmed. Yim Socheat, police chief of Phnom Penh’s Dangkor district, where the incidents occurred, said the victims had been sent to hospitals soon after ...
Shanghai Daily News Staff
http://www.shanghaidaily.com/article/article_xinhua.aspx?id=235570
Workers march to ministry to demand backpay
About 50 workers from the Xin Chang Xin garment factory on Thursday marched for the second time to the Ministry of Labor to demand intervention after the factory allegedly failed to pay two months of wages, workers and a union representative said. ...
Sek Odom
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/workers-march-to-ministry-to-demand-backpay-66606/
Representatives to meet over factory fire
Representatives for the employees and owners of a Phnom Penh garment factory gutted by a fire last month will meet at the Ministry of Labor today to try and hammer out a pay package for the workers, though a factory official said they would not ...
Mech Dara
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/representatives-to-meet-over-factory-fire-65988/
Migrants skipping gov’t plan for Thai alternative
The number of Cambodian migrant workers in Thailand has risen to 190,000 thanks to the new one-stop service centers set up across the border, Cambodia’s Ministry of Labor said Wednesday. Labor Ministry spokesman Heng Suor said about 190,000 migrant workers—some with a full complement of legal ...
Hul Reaksmey
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/migrants-skipping-govt-plan-for-thai-alternative-65903/
Staff of suspended factory demand wages
About 70 workers from the Xing Chang Sin factory marched to the Ministry of Labor on Friday to demand intervention after the factory allegedly failed to pay wages for the past two months. Vong Sovann, deputy director general at the Labor Ministry’s general department of ...
Sek Odom
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/staff-of-suspended-factory-demand-wages-65571/
Workers protest for speedy pay after fire destroys factory
The roughly 900 employees of a Phnom Penh garment factory gutted by a fire that killed a Chinese supervisor on Monday protested in front of their old workplace on Thursday to demand a quick payout of their final paychecks and severance. The Chinese-owned Cheng Sheng Garment ...
Mech Dara
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/workers-protest-for-speedy-pay-after-fire-destroys-factory-65508/
Recruitment agencies operate without oversight
In June, after about a quarter million migrant workers returned from their jobs in Thailand fearing the military junta’s crackdown on illegal labor, Cambodia’s government announced it had slashed the cost of emigration, and would charge workers only $49 to legally return to work across ...
Phorn Bopha and Alex Consiglio
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/recruitment-agencies-operate-without-oversight-65497/
Delegation to investigate maid trade in Singapore
Seng Sakada, director-general of the Labor Ministry’s labor department, will lead a delegation to Singapore on Saturday to study the ministry’s pilot program to send domestic workers to the city-state, a recruitment agency director confirmed Wednesday. The team will investigate the success of the program, which ...
Hul Reaksmey
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/delegation-to-investigate-maid-trade-in-singapore-64816/
Six more offices to open for Thai-bound workers
Passport offices will be set up in six more provinces in an effort to ease the remigration process for Cambodian workers heading back to Thailand, according to a Ministry of Interior official. Mao Chandara, director of the Ministry of Interior’s passport department, said the new offices ...
Phorn Bopha
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/six-more-offices-to-open-for-thai-bound-workers-64806/
Ocean settles as other worker strikes gain steam
Workers from the beleaguered Ocean Garment Factory on Monday came to an agreement with management over furlough pay, following more than a month of protests. “All the workers at Ocean Garment Factory have accepted the offer from the factory and the strikes are finished now,” said ...
Sek Odom
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/ocean-settles-as-other-worker-strikes-gain-steam-64619/
Four offices to open for Thailand-bound workers
Four “one-stop” offices to process documentation for Cambodians seeking legal work in Thailand will open on Tuesday after the Ministry of Labor issued a directive last week outlining how the migration process will operate, according to the head of the Ministry of Interior’s passport department. Mao ...
Phorn Bopha
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/four-offices-to-open-for-thailand-bound-workers-64533/