Labor

About 400 villagers in Kratie province’s Chhlong district protested yesterday in an effort to stop Kasten agro-industrial company from building houses on contested farmland, the protesters said. The company used red paint to demarcate its boundary and started building houses on the farmland in January, said ...

Some of the world’s largest international clothing brands, along with foreign labor protection groups, have called on the Cambodian government to intensify its investigation of last month’s triple shooting of spectators at a Svay Rieng special economic zone. Signed by several of the biggest customers ...

The Garment Manufacturers Association in Cambodia (GMAC) has said that there should be no discussions on raising the minimum wage until 2014, in response to a request from three garment industry unions for talks on a living wage for workers. The response, sent on Wednesday ...

The presidents of three unions have appealed to the Garment Manufacturing Association of Cambodia to improve the “miserable” living conditions of its workers by providing higher wages and better benefits, a letter received by the Post yesterday shows. The letter is dated March 2 and signed ...

In the wake of several violent garment-factory protests last week, the International Labour Office yesterday launched a five-year, US$5 million Decent Work Country Program in Cambodia to focus on improving industrial relations. “[This] marks the beginning of a new body of work for the ILO in ...

The governor of a city in southeastern Cambodia was arrested Friday in connection with a shooting that left three workers hospitalized as they took part in protests for better labor conditions at a sportswear factory that supplies goods to German sportswear giant PUMA. Moeun Tola, head ...

More than 60 Cambodian and international human rights groups and trade unions yesterday called on Cambodia and Malaysia to reach a bilateral agreement that would guarantee strong labor rights and working conditions for Cambodian maids employed in Malaysia. “The time is ripe for the Cambodian ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen yesterday blamed illegal immigration for contributing to a current shortage in the Cambodian labor market but said workers could benefit from rising wages as a result of the demand for workers. Mr. Hun Sen said the shortage was hitting the agriculture sector ...

Beer promoters in Phnom Penh claimed Monday that they are being discriminated against for staging a month-long strike last summer, and their livelihoods are under threat. In July and August, hundreds of promoters for Cambrew Ltd – which produces and distributes Angkor beer – went ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen yesterday said all of the country’s cities would compete with each other to beautify urban zones and attract more tourists in the newly devised Clean City contest. Nine Phnom Penh districts and 26 cities nationwide will be assessed on how clean ...

Thousands of children are toiling in the country’s fisheries sector, living in conditions that are often hazardous to their health and depriving them of an education, government officials and UN representatives said yesterday at a workshop in Phnom Penh. Seventy-five percent of the 1.5 million ...

German sportwear maker Puma sent officials to investigate working conditions in Cambodia after a local woman working for one of its suppliers was shot during a labour protest on Monday. The woman, who was employed by Kaoway Sports, was shot during a protest by employees of ...

Child labour was draining the Kingdom’s brainpower and adversely affecting 750,000 of its children, officials at the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries said yesterday. Speaking at a three-day conference on child agricultural labour, Kaing Khim, deputy director-general of fisheries administration at the MAFF, said ...

The Arbitration Council yesterday ordered protesting workers in Kampong Cham province to return to their factory today, as a union official reported that their numbers had swelled to nearly 3,000 outside the provincial hall in their third demonstration this week over an ongoing labour dispute. Free ...

Free Trade Union (FTU) President Chea Mony said yesterday that he has split from longtime colleague Rong Chhun by stepping down from his position in the Cambodian Confederation of Unions (CCU). Mr. Mony said he had resigned on Friday from his position as Secretary-General of the ...

The foreign owner of a luxury Siem Reap hotel has sued four workers he sacked last year, alleging they damaged his property during protests in which they accused him of firing them for unionising. In total, 67 workers were sacked last year by Ankor Village Hotel ...

More than 1000 factory workers protested in Phnom Penh yesterday outside the Sun Well Shoes Company factory in Pur Senchey district, demanding higher wages and the dismissal of the factory’s administration chief, union representatives said. Tep Saroeun, a union representative at Sun Well Shoes Company in ...

Low wages and a lack of occupational health and safety measures led to a mass fainting on Tuesday at a Phnom Penh garment factory that produces clothes for well-known brands Wal-Mart, Target and Reebok, according to a statement released by the Community Legal Education Center ...

Thailand has appealed to Cambodia to send more migrant workers to the country due to a high demand for labor following last year’s devastating floods, while Cambodia has in turn asked that Thailand render the migration process safer, speedier and cheaper, Choub Narth, deputy director ...

Buoyed by strong demand from the economies of Europe and North America, the total amount of garment, shoe and textile exports that left Cambodia last year was on target to surpass the $4 billion mark, dwarfing 2010’s total of $2.88 billion, the Garment Manufacturers Association ...

After a year of mounting concern over the treatment of migrant workers both within and outside Cambodia, the Ministry of Labor, NGOs and recruitment agencies yesterday reached an agreement on standardized contracts aimed at minimizing the possibility for exploitation. The groups agreed on a contract between ...

Union leaders are calling for 10 changes to be made to the draft law that will regulate them, including allowing civil servants to form unions, they said yesterday, following a letter calling for two ministers to intervene late last week. The Cambodian Trade Union Coordination Council ...

A group of five unions plans to send a petition to the Ministry of Labor on Friday requesting a number of changes in the controversial draft union law. Speaking at a conference in Phnom Penh yesterday, Cambodian Confederation of Unions President Rong Chhun detailed the requests ...

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 ...