News
Getting on the same page
In what is shaping up to be the first of several pivotal garment wage talks, unions are to meet for the first time today to discuss the amount they should request for next year’s minimum wage – but labour leaders and observers say coming to ...
Sean Teehan
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/getting-same-page
On the World Cup clock
It’s day seven of the FIFA World Cup, and the night staff at Phnom Penh’s popular Score Sports Bar and Grill are looking a bit sleep-deprived. Score is paying its staff “very well” in extra wages during the World Cup for the long nights they ...
Kevin Ponniah
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/world-cup-clock
Union leader to face another day in court
The leader of Cambodia’s largest independent garment union is due to appear in court this afternoon for a third round of pretrial questioning over a case stemming from a strike that ended more than six months ago. Coalition of Cambodian Apparel Workers’ Democratic Union (C.CAWDU) president ...
Sean Teehan
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/union-leader-face-another-day-court
GMAC to hold class on firing
Amid complaints from union and labour rights officials of illegal firings over the years, Cambodia’s garment factory association is holding a course on the termination process in Preah Sihanouk province today. ...
Sean Teehan
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/gmac-hold-class-firing
After jail, Pov gains following
Before he was arrested in January, Vorn Pov and the union he created were not widely known outside of activist circles. But when he emerged from Phnom Penh’s CC1 prison on Friday, he walked away as one of the highest-profile unionists in the country, and a ...
Kevin Ponniah, May Titthara and Sen David
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/after-jail-pov-gains-following
In debt, out of work
They save for months, borrowing from family and friends, even taking out loans, to pour as much as a year’s worth of earnings into the hands of recruiters that may have no intention and certainly have no guarantee of procuring overseas employment. Recruitment agencies, several of ...
Laignee Barron and Phak Seangly
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/debt-out-work
Concerns ahead of trial for 23
One the eve of the trial of 23 people arrested during a garment strike in January, their supporters yesterday expressed concern that politics, rather than the facts, may determine the verdict. Nearly four months after their arrests at protests on January 2 and 3 – the ...
Sean Teehan
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/concerns-ahead-trial-23
Seven injured as Opposition leader attempts to enter Freedom Park
Seven people were injured Monday when opposition lawmaker-elect Mu Sochua clashed with security forces outside Freedom Park in the Phnom Penh. Mu Sochua is leading a non-violent campaign by attempting to enter the park in protest of the government’s current ban on public gatherings. ...
Suy Heimkhemra
http://www.voacambodia.com/content/seven-injured-as-opposition-leader-attempts-to-enter-freedom-park-/1897755.html
Iffy factory supplying LA’s finest
A Phnom Penh-based factory supplying uniforms for police officers and firefighters in the US city of Los Angeles continues to break Cambodian labour laws, a report to be publicly released today says. Kin Tai Garment factory, a supplier to 5.11 Tactical – which sells the uniforms ...
Sean Teehan
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/iffy-factory-supplying-la%E2%80%99s-finest
Unions to lead holiday strike
When is a strike not a strike? That’s a question being asked after union leaders yesterday announced they will inform garment factory owners that their members want to use annual leave days to wage their stay-at-home strike the week after Khmer New Year. The leaders of eight ...
Mom Kunthear and Sean Teehan
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/unions-lead-holiday-strike
Unions plan forum
The leaders of 18 unions and union confederations this week will invite ruling and opposition party members to take part in a public forum where labour relations issues will be discussed. Rong Chhun, president of the Cambodian Confederation of Unions (CCU), yesterday said the letters have ...
Mom Kunthear
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/unions-plan-forum
Trafficking fight goes on: gov’t
Although human-trafficking cases dealt with by the Ministry of Interior decreased significantly in 2013, suggesting progress was being made in tackling the crime, trafficking in persons continues to be a major challenge for the government, the ministry said in its annual report on Tuesday. According to ...
Sen David
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/trafficking-fight-goes-gov%E2%80%99t
Cambodia: Rainsy returns as court keeps protesters in jail
Anguished cries from supporters and family members echoed outside the Appeals Court in Phnom Penh yesterday as they received the news bail had been denied. They had been hoping for the release of 21 people detained since a brutal government crackdown in early January. On ...
Daniel Quinlan
http://asiancorrespondent.com/119494/cambodia-rainsy-returns-as-court-keeps-protesters-in-jail/
Detainees not being used for leverage: Yeap
A senior ruling party lawmaker has rejected allegations that the group of 21 activists, unionists and workers arrested during protests last month and denied bail for a second time yesterday are being used as a political tool by the government to force the opposition party ...
Meas Sokchea
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/detainees-not-being-used-leverage-yeap
Bail denied for 21 detainees
Defence attorneys will now turn to the Supreme Court after a Court of Appeals judge denied bail this morning for all 21 people still detained from clashes with authorities during garment strike demonstrations last month. The presiding judge said he decided not to allow bail based ...
Sean Teehan and May Titthara
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/bail-denied-21-detainees
Ministry of Labor highlights triumphs in 2013 Annual Report
The Ministry of Labor and Vocational Training released its 2013 annual report Monday, trumpeting a list of nine achievements it had reached in line with its five-year plan for the fourth government mandate, which ended last year. Speaking to a crowd of about 100 officials ...
Matt Blomberg and Ben Sokhean
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/ministry-of-labor-highlights-triumphs-in-2013-annual-report-51872/
Video can’t be trusted: district gov
Video footage of Daun Penh district deputy governor Sok Penh Vuth bashing a defenceless man with a bullhorn on Monday has sparked outrage and demands for his ouster, but his boss told the Post yesterday that people shouldn’t be too hasty to judge, suggesting the footage may ...
Khouth Sophak Chakrya
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/video-can%E2%80%99t-be-trusted-district-gov
Union reps fired after strike
Despite Cambodia’s labour law forbidding employers from taking action against workers for engaging in union activity, more than 100 labour union representatives have been fired from at least 12 factories this month for encouraging workers to strike for a $160 monthly minimum wage. The firings came ...
Sean Teehan and Mom Kunthear
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/union-reps-fired-after-strike
Impoverished Cambodians for sale
Many Cambodian women arrive in South Korea or China for marriage, only to find themselves being chosen as mistresses, say labour rights activists. While young Cambodian men, who travel to Thailand to work on fishing boats, often fall prey to drug abuse. Loss of land, debt, ...
Michelle Tolson
http://www.ipsnews.net/2014/01/impoverished-cambodians-sale/
Police still mum on protesters
The whereabouts of 23 people arrested last week during a crackdown on demonstrations in Por Sen Chey district remained unknown yesterday, with prison officials and police refusing to divulge the information to family members and rights groups. ...
Sean Teehan
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/police-still-mum-protesters
Picking up the pieces
The sight of traffic moving easily and people milling about along Veng Sreng Boulevard in the capital’s Meanchey district yesterday was a far cry from two days earlier, when the street was occupied by makeshift roadblocks, bonfires and military personnel carrying automatic rifles. While visible evidence ...
May Titthara, Khouth Sophak Chakrya and Sean Teehan
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/picking-pieces
Increasingly, Cambodians Say They are ‘Suffering’: Poll
An increasing number of Cambodians see themselves faring worse, a Gallup polls suggests. In a global survey released earlier this month, the US-based firm ranked Cambodia near the very bottom in terms of life satisfaction, and it found that 34 percent of surveyed Cambodians consider themselves ...
Vannarin Neou
http://www.voacambodia.com/content/increasingly-cambodians-say-they-are-suffering/1819008.html
A minor melee mars day’s events
A day of peaceful demonstrations gave way to an evening of unrest last night as a handful of protesters were removed from a small patch of land across from the United States embassy and a grup of uninvolved people threw Molotov cocktails towards riot police ...
Khouth Sophak Chakrya and Sean Teehan
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/minor-melee-mars-day%E2%80%99s-events
SL to reinstate fired unionists
The chief executive of SL Garment Processing (Cambodia) yesterday said the factory has agreed to reinstate 19 dismissed union leaders and activists, a sticking point which could end a strike that has lasted more than three months. Hours after the Ministry of Labour announced the garment ...
Sean Teehan and Mom Kunthear
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/sl-reinstate-fired-unionists