News

Brands ‘violating contract rights’

Exclusive use of short-term contracts continues to impede progress in Cambodia’s garment sector, with major brands still sourcing from factories violating the statutory two-year limit on temporary employment, labour rights groups have warned. According to a report released last week by the Worker Rights Consortium (WRC), ...

Alice Cuddy
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/brands-%E2%80%98violating-contract-rights%E2%80%99

Union scrambling for $25k bail

The leader of Cambodia’s largest independent garment union may soon be in jail, with the group fearing it will not be able to afford the $25,000 bail a judge has ordered be paid by April 25, its vice president said yesterday. Ath Thorn, president of the ...

Sean Teehan
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/union-scrambling-25k-bail

Costs don’t top brands’ concerns

In their latest bid for a $160 minimum monthly wage for the garment industry, independent unions will lead a “stay at home” strike late next week. While the chances of that figure being approved anytime soon seem slight – the government has only just announced a ...

Sean Teehan
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/costs-don%E2%80%99t-top-brands%E2%80%99-concerns

Factories not monitoring chemicals, says ministry

Following the mass fainting of hundreds of workers at garment factories last week, an official at the Ministry of Labour has raised concerns over the control of toxic chemicals. Leng Tong, director of the Labour Ministry’s occupational health and safety department, said factories should be providing ...

Sen David
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/factories-not-monitoring-chemicals-says-ministry

Workplace deaths up

Workplace deaths shot up more than 60 per cent last year when compared with 2012, while injuries and payouts to those injured also saw dramatic increases, according to data released yesterday by the National Social Security Fund (NSSF). Speaking during a conference at the Ministry of ...

Sen David and Sean Teehan
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/workplace-deaths

Social Security Fund starts new insurance scheme

The National Social Security Fund (NSSF) on Monday launched an initiative to provide health insurance to the nation’s workforce, a plan that the country’s largest employers’ associations said was premature. NSSF director Ouk Samvithya said that by the middle of this year, enterprises in the country ...

Aun Pheap and Matt Blomberg
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/social-security-fund-starts-new-insurance-scheme-55375/

Infighting at garment union

Two founding members of Cambodia’s largest independent garment worker union say they were forced out of their jobs for investigating corruption. Members of the Coalition of Cambodian Apparel Workers’ Democratic Union (C.CAWDU), media outlets and several labour rights organisations received a letter dated March 14 and ...

Sean Teehan and Mom Kunthear
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/infighting-garment-union

Factory flaws go live

Unionists and labour rights officials are applauding a website scheduled to go live today that will hold to account garment factories that flout Cambodia’s labour law. The site, created and maintained by the International Labour Organization’s (ILO) Better Factories Cambodia (BFC) program, will publicly name factories ...

Sean Teehan
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/factory-flaws-go-live

Gov’t passes buck on faintings

Mass faintings in Cambodia’s garment factories do not occur as a result of long hours and arduous working conditions, but from workers’ failure to care for their own health, according to the National Social Security Fund (NSSF) director. During an annual meeting, which mainly focused on ...

Mom Kunthear
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/gov%E2%80%99t-passes-buck-faintings

Unions expect violence, but forum to go on

Despite anticipating violence between unionists and authorities, labour union heads yesterday said they will go ahead with a public forum at Freedom Park on Saturday morning. Phnom Penh City Hall on Tuesday denied a request by 18 union federations to hold a public forum at ...

Sean Teehan and Mom Kunthear
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/unions-expect-violence-forum-go

Raises pending, prices soaring

Since Minister of Labour Ith Sam Heng announced in late-December that the ministry would hike the minimum monthly wage for the garment sector to $100, Nuch Sdoeung has, at times, questioned if he could even afford beef. The wage boost from the prior minimum wage ...

Sean Teehan and Khouth Sophak Chakrya
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/raises-pending-prices-soaring

Supporters of 21 to march to embassies

Activists may find themselves in a showdown with police this morning during a planned vigil on Phnom Penh’s riverside and a march to several embassies. National Military Police spokesman Kheng Tito said yesterday that people supporting the release of 21 people detained during a garment strike ...

Mom Kunthear and Sean Teehan
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/supporters-21-march-embassies

Right to strike ‘Fundamental’

A labour law expert from the International Labour Organization yesterday rejected claims made by Cambodian factories and employers associations that workers in the Kingdom have no fundamental right to strike. In a paid advertisement in the Post yesterday, the Garment Manufacturers Association in Cambodia (GMAC) and ...

Shane Worrell and Mom Kunthear
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/right-strike-%E2%80%98fundamental%E2%80%99

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

Strike action still on table, unions say

Leaders of unions that declared a nationwide garment worker strike said the work stoppage and protests, which they temporarily suspended, will resume unless government officials renegotiate the industry’s minimum wage. The announcement was their first since authorities cracked down on strike demonstrations on January 2 and ...

Sean Teehan and Mom Kunthear
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/strike-action-still-table-unions-say

No union for workers in food biz

After the Ministry of Labour denied a food service union official registration, a union official is crying foul, asserting that authorities are discriminating against her group – a charge the government denies. The Cambodian Food and Service Worker Federation (CFSWF), a 4,000-member union representing workers in ...

Sen David
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/no-union-workers-food-biz

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