News
500 Garment Workers Protest Over Unpaid Wages
About 500 garment workers gathered in front of their factory in Kompong Speu province yesterday to protest that the factory had not paid their full salary for August, a worker representative said yesterday. The protest started on Tuesday at Sien-Atree Co. Ltd. in Samraong Tong district ...
Casino workers have win, but fight goes on
Threats of strike from about 500 employees of the Tropicana Casino in Poipet were quieted yesterday as workers secured a small victory after management agreed to improve worker conditions and enter talks over their sacked union leader. Morm Rithy, president of union Cambodian Tourism and Service ...
Kingdom and Qatar to form labour watchdog
Cambodia’s next step in allowing workers such as maids and builders to travel to Qatar will be to create a committee with the Arab state to ensure their safety is protected, a senior labour official said yesterday. The Senate on Wednesday supported an agreement between the ...
Maid ban to remain until safety improves
The ban on sending Cambodian women for employment as maids in Malaysia will be lifted once certain safety and training precautions for workers are established, a senior government official said yesterday. Seng Sakada, the director general of the Ministry of Labour, said that his office is ...
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
Report Urges Better Factories to do more
Better Factories Cambodia must name and shame garment factories that abuse the labour law if it is to transform Cambodia into an ethical sourcing option, a report on the International Labor Organization initiative says. Better Factories should make monitoring reports public, according to the 10 Years ...
One Garment Worker Killed, 24 Injured in Truck Accident
A female garment worker died and 24 other workers were injured when the truck in which they were traveling careened into a pond in Phnom Penh’s Sen Sok district Wednesday morning, police said. More than 30 garment workers were on board a small, open-backed truck in Prek ...
Firm's 'hostage' awaits justice
Heng Hak wore a blank expression yesterday, her hair recently dyed a shade of blonde. Though her appearance suggested composure, a lift of her pant leg revealed the manifestation of the trauma she tried to escape last year. In March 2011, Hak jumped from the third ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012083158412/National-news/firms-hostageawaits-justice.html
Union Leader Called to Court for Inciting Garment Workers
The Kandal Provincial Court has summoned outspoken labor activist Rong Chhun to be questioned over accusations that he incited garment workers to strike illegally, a court official said yesterday. Deputy provincial prosecutor Tep Monin said that he called Mr. Chhun, president of the Cambodian Confederation of ...
Union rep 'forced' to confess
Police released union employee Long Panha last night after taking him into custody during a clash between police officers and workers’ rights representatives near Wat Botum in Phnom Penh in which he was beaten and left bleeding from the head, NGO officials said. According to Panhapolice ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012071357393/National-news/union-rep-forced-confess.html
Strike will continue for thousands
Thousands of workers from the Tai Yang Enterprise garment factories, which supply major US brands Levis and Gap, have vowed to continue a two-week strike today after negotiations between the company, union and Labour Ministry officials broke down on Friday. “The minister did not protect ...
Factory Says Buyers Will Go to Burma if Protests Continue
A representative of a factory that produces clothing for international clothing brands H&M, Gap and Levi Strauss warned yesterday that its buyers will place orders elsewhere if the strike for higher wages and benefits in its two factories continues. An official at the American Center for ...
Aun Pheap and Dene-Hern Chen, P. 24
http://www.cambodiadaily.com
Union heads rally to end short-term contracts
Seven union leaders representing garment workers will send a statement today urging the Ministry of Labor and the Garment Manufacturers Association in Cambodia (GMAC) to decrease the use of temporary labor contracts, because they erode the rights of workers, union leaders said yesterday. Rong Chhun, president ...
Unions cry foul on temp contracts
Union leaders gathered in the capital yesterday to discuss strategies to curb the garment industry’s widespread use of temporary contracts for hiring workers, saying employers were using them to discourage unions and ensure their workforce remained docile and easy to exploit. They also accused employers of ...
Case pleaded to prime minister
More than 100 workers from Cambo Handsome One garment factory gathered outside the home of Prime Minister Hun Sen on Friday and Saturday, after urging him on Thursday to intervene in a dispute with the factory’s Korean owners. The move followed an appeal to the Ministry ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2011120553142/National-news/case-pleaded-to-pm.html
Pay raise for garment workers
About 400,000 garment and footwear makers will get a US$5 a month raise starting in January, and the factories that employ them will receive a two-year tax holiday, Prime Minister Hun Sen said yesterday. The $5 raise, from $61 to $66 a month, is intended to ...
Workers face contract woes
The use of short-term contracts by employers in the Kingdom’s garment industry is threatening workers’ rights and could lead to decreased productivity in the sector, researchers said at a meeting yesterday. Following the release of a report by Yale Law School last week based on ...
Teenager Rescued From T&P Training Center
Police and a human rights group said they rescued a 15-year-old girl from the training center of an overseas job recruitment agency in Kompong Chhnang province on Saturday. A rights worker said two more underage girls had been saved from being sent abroad to work ...