ពលកម្ម
Jubilation as Pair Acquitted of Union Leader’s Assassination
Born Samnang and Sok Sam Oeun, the men wrongfully sentenced to 20 years in prison for the 2004 murder of Free Trade Union (FTU) leader Chea Vichea, were exonerated Wednesday by the Supreme Court of the crime. Responding to the acquittal, Chea Vichea’s brother, Chea Mony, ...
Khy Sovuthy
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/jubilation-as-pair-acquitted-of-union-leaders-assassination-43396/
Opposition Party Threatens Nationwide Labor Strikes
Opposition leader Sam Rainsy on Wednesday announced that his party could stage nationwide labor strikes in protest of disputed election results, and said the CNRP would begin an international campaign to make the CPP government a pariah state. “In the air is an idea of ...
Phorn Bopha and Colin Meyn
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/elections/opposition-party-threatens-nationwide-labor-strikes-43403/
Cambodia’s high court drops case against men wrongly jailed for 2004 murder of labor activist
Cambodia’s Supreme Court ordered the release of two men Wednesday who were wrongly convicted and jailed for the 2004 murder of a prominent opposition activist. The court’s decision to drop all charges came amid renewed calls to free the men, whom leading international rights groups have ...
The Washington Post News Staff
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/cambodias-high-court-drops-case-against-men-wrongly-jailed-for-2004-murder-of-labor-activist/2013/09/25/2170fc90-25c2-11e3-9372-92606241ae9c_story.html
Factory management agrees on pay advance for holiday
Management at the Chhin Chin garment factory yesterday agreed to meet workers’ demands to receive their wages before the Pchum Ben holiday after a 150-worker demonstration briefly blocked National Road 4 in front of the factory. Workers at the factory, which is located in Phnom Penh’s ...
Mom Kunthear and Sean Teehan
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/factory-management-agrees-pay-advance-holiday
Workers Say Large Military Police Presence at SL Factory
More than 100 military police officers stood guard outside a garment factory in Phnom Penh’s Meanchey district on Monday and prevented workers from returning to work, employees and local officials said. Workers from Singaporean-owned SL Garment Factory—which makes clothing for U.S. brands Levi’s and Gap—have been ...
Aun Pheap
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/workers-say-large-military-police-presence-at-sl-factory-43060/
Cambodian Garment Factories Come Under Scrutiny
A monitoring group backed by the United Nations said it would begin to publicize garment factories’ compliance with worker rights and safety standards in Cambodia, a controversial program that its organizers say will be the world’s most extensive initiative to improve working conditions at plants. The ...
Kate O'keeffe
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303818704579089810120675896.html
‘SolarTuk’ coming in March
Solar-powered tuk-tuks could be rolling off the assembly lines in Phnom Penh as early as March next year, allowing local tuk-tuk drivers a cost-effective and greener alternative to using petrol, according to the company manufacturing the vehicle. Star 8, the Australia-based alternative energy firm behind the ...
Daniel de Carteret and Hor Kimsay
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/%E2%80%98solartuk%E2%80%99-coming-march
Riot at Garment Factory Leaves 11 Injured
Nine garment workers and two Chinese managers were injured on Friday in Phnom Penh’s Meanchey district after a riot broke out among 300 workers protesting for higher wages and improved working conditions, officials said Sunday. Commune police chief Mao Sovann said workers at the SL Garment ...
Aun Pheap
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/riot-at-garment-factory-leaves-11-injured-42917/
Cambodian maids raring to go
At 5am, without any alarm clock going off, a dozen Cambodian maids wake up with near-military precision. Over the next hour, the women sweep, wash and scrub spotless their two-storey training centre in the Cambodian capital Phnom Penh. They all want to be maids in Singapore, eager ...
The Star Online Staff
http://www.thestar.com.my/News/Regional/2013/09/23/Cambodian-maids-raring-to-go.aspx
Strike at SL eats into profits
Because of ongoing strikes and an inability to fill orders, SL Garment Processing (Cambodia) says it is shedding cash flow as buyers shift away from one of Asia’s largest producers, factory management confirmed yesterday. International brands H&M and Gap reduced their orders, while Levi’s ceased buying ...
Daniel de Carteret
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/strike-sl-eats-profits
Questions over strike violence
A Kampong Speu judge released the vice-president and a member of the Free Trade Union on bail yesterday after the court questioned the two about their alleged roles in a violent demonstration at Sabrina Garment factory. ...
Mom Kunthear
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/questions-over-strike-violence
Cambodian textile workers who supply UK clothing stores ‘starving’ and suffering 'mass faintings'
By the time London Fashion Week comes to a close, 58 high-end designers will have shown their collections. Rail-thin models will have walked the runways. Debate will have raged over size zero. In Cambodia, meanwhile, garment workers stitching clothes that supply the UK high street are ...
Shuttered schools, factories
With only about 10 per cent of its 1,000-person workforce at their stations by 8am yesterday, management at Hoyear (Cambodia) Garment Ltd cut its losses and announced that the factory would close for the next two days. Thousands across the capital opted out of work ...
Sean Teehan, Laignee Barron and Mom Kunthear
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/shuttered-schools-factories
Government to Consider New Minimum Wage
The Ministry of Social Affairs on Friday established four sub-committees tasked with finding a new minimum wage for the country’s 300,000-plus garment factory workers, Minister Ith Sam Heng said on Friday. “The sub-committees have a limited time of five weeks for research before they have to ...
Khuon Narim
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/government-to-consider-new-minimum-wage-42317/
Forward steps for garment salary raise
Four subcommittees formed by the Ministry of Social Affairs met on Friday to begin establishing a new minimum wage for garment workers that will go into effect next year. Following the meeting, Social Affairs Minister Ith Sam Heng told reporters that factory production rates, garment worker ...
Sen David
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/forward-steps-garment-salary-raise
Workers split on call to rally
Union workers and leaders appeared divided yesterday on the question of whether to support the opposition party’s planned three-day demonstration at Freedom Park. Campaign promises from the Cambodia National Rescue Party to raise minimum monthly salaries to $150 seemed to have struck a chord with garment ...
Chhay Channyda and Sean Teehan
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/workers-split-call-rally
Minimum wage panel sets a meet
A joint committee designed to bring about wage increases in the garment sector will meet for the first time on Friday, a Ministry of Social Affairs letter obtained yesterday states. Ath Thorn, president of the Coalition of Cambodian Apparel Workers’ Democratic Union, said he believed ...
Mom Kunthear
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/minimum-wage-panel-sets-meet
Thousands fall for Korean work scam
Alleged ringleaders of an overseas employment scam the Ministry of Labour says bilked thousands of clients out of money were charged with fraud in Phnom Penh on Friday. Oun Sarath, 30, and Kim Sophat, 29, the director and marketing manager, respectively, of recruiting firm You Can ...
Sen David
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/thousands-fall-korean-work-scam
Activists Blame Short Contracts for Strikes
Labor activists at the bi-annual Buyers Forum in Phnom Penh on Thursday said that short-term contracts in Cambodia’s garment industry were fueling the high number of strikes affecting the industry. “Most of [the disputes] are over dismissals or dismissals of union leaders and the reason why ...
Dene-Hern Chen
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/business/activists-blame-short-contracts-for-strikes-41832/
Migrants unaware of risks: NGO
A small survey of families in five villages in Battambang has found that most workers who are lured to illegal migrant work in Thailand cite salaries of twice the average Cambodian wage or higher as their main reason and appear unaware of the risks. Moeun Tola, ...
Sen David
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/migrants-unaware-risks-ngo
Cambodian pro-opposition trade unions urge garment workers to join mass protest
The Cambodian pro-opposition trade unions on Thursday called on garment workers, civil servants and common people to join a massive nonviolent demonstration against the July 28 election results. In the election, Prime Minister Hun Sen’s party gained the victory. The Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) of long-time ...
Xinhuanet News
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/world/2013-09/05/c_132694046.htm
Cambodian garment workers rally over jobs
Around 4000 Cambodian garment workers are protesting after a factory supplying global brands including Gap and H&M fired hundreds of their colleagues for striking over conditions. Union leaders said the Singapore-owned SL Garment Processing factory fired 720 workers on Wednesday while more than 5000 others were ...
MSN NZ News Staff
http://news.msn.co.nz/worldnews/8718648/cambodian-garment-workers-rally-over-jobs
Dozens collapse at factory
Nearly 50 workers, including a woman who is seven months pregnant, fainted at a clothing factory in Phnom Penh’s Por Sen Chey district yesterday due to poor ventilation, union officials and labour-rights groups said. The 47 employees at Wanshen Clothing (Cambodia) Co collapsed at about 3pm, ...
Chhay Channyda
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/dozens-collapse-factory
Hundreds fired after garment strike ends
Management at one of Asia’s largest garment producers yesterday fired at least 600 employees, days after thousands returned to work following a two-week strike. Most of the workers fired by SL Garment Processing (Cambodia) Ltd – which supplies Gap, Levi’s and H&M – were members of ...
Mom Kunthear and Sean Teehan
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/hundreds-fired-after-garment-strike-ends