Labor policy and administration

Factories in Cambodia’s garment industry say they need more productivity out of workers if they are to survive a new wage hike.Earlier this month, the government agreed to raise minimum wage to $140 per month, a figure managers said would damage the industry. ...

After weeks of occasionally tumultuous negotiations saw 2016’s minimum wage for garment workers raised to $140 earlier this month, Prime Minister Hun Sen warned yesterday that the new rate could cause factories to flee Cambodia, even though he was credited with personally intervening to push ...

Garment workers unions unhappy with next year’s recently announced $140 minimum wage for the sector will meet this week to determine whether or not to hold demonstrations to protest the disappointingly low figure.The unions were pushing for $160 a month when the government announced the ...

Dozens of workers fainted at a garment factory in Kompong Chhnang province on Friday after seeing one of their colleagues have a seizure, which they feared was caused by an electric shock from her sewing machine, a police official said. ...

The government set the new monthly minimum wage for the country’s multibillion-dollar garment industry at $140 Thursday—up from $128—after months of tough negotiations that failed to bring employers and unions even close to a consensus. ...

The International Labor Organization (ILO) has expressed its appreciation for Cambodia’s decision to increase the minimum wage of garment, textile and footwear workers to US$140 per month, according to an ILO’s statement received by the state news agency-AKP this afternoon.   ...

Factory and union representatives remain as far apart as ever over where to set next year’s minimum wage for garment workers, now at $128 per month, after hours of heated negotiations Wednesday and a vote that seemed to settle nothing. ...

Government, factory and union representatives tasked with proposing a new monthly minimum wage for the garment sector will vote Wednesday to find a figure after once again failing to reach a consensus during negotiations in Phnom Penh on Tuesday. ...

The tripartite Labor Advisory Committee (LAC) on Monday missed its provisional deadline to decide on a new minimum wage for the garment sector, with employers and trade unions making little progress in coming to an agreement. ...

The Cambodian government just released its official list of public holidays for 2016, beating past years’ record by increasing the number of public holidays for 2016 to be 28 days notwithstanding when holidays fall on a weekend (Saturday-Sunday) the following Monday is off as compensation. ...

Seven people who were arrested last week for attempting to sell merchandise from a factory in Kompong Speu province were released on Friday, officials said, with factory owners paying more than 100 workers part of the wages they were owed. ...

As negotiations over a new minimum wage for the garment sector continued on Friday, union representatives agreed to temper their demands in exchange for concessions from manufacturers. ...

Three garment workers were arrested in Phnom Penh over the past two days for their alleged roles in the fatal stabbing of their colleague at his home on Monday night, officials said Wednesday.   ...

A recruitment company has offered to help find employment in Thailand for a group of migrant workers who have accused another firm of cheating them out of hundreds of dollars each and leaving them at the Thai border last week, the company’s director said Wednesday. ...

A disparate group of independent and pro-government trade unions on Tuesday agreed to make $168 their proposal for the garment sector’s new monthly minimum wage in ongoing negotiations with employers, bridging weeks of differences. ...

About 50 migrant workers who were part of a group that was abandoned at the Thai border by a recruitment agency last week gathered outside the Phnom Penh Municipal Court on Tuesday to ask for the return of their passports and the fees they paid ...

Police have seized property from a rented house in Phnom Penh’s Sen Sok district belonging to a recruitment firm that allegedly cheated money from some 100 Cambodians hoping to find work in Thailand. ...

With the fight over the minimum wage hike for the garment and footwear industry coming to a head, factory owners are already digging in their heels, saying any increase in the $128 a month wage could seriously damage an industry that is facing rising competition ...

As another Cambodian maid who travelled to Singapore under a pilot scheme between the two countries prepares to return home this week alleging labour rights abuses, recruitment agencies in Phnom Penh continue to look for more women to sign up for the overseas work. The ...

The tripartite working group tasked with setting the minimum wage in Cambodia’s garment industry is slated to officially convene today, with the results of the negotiations to be announced on October 5 if all goes to plan. ...

The plight of Cambodian migrant maids who suffer abuse by employers in Malaysia is well documented. Less so is the mental damage caused by the overseas trauma, which has led to some returned migrants being chained up by their desperate familiesYoung women who survive abuse ...

Cambodia’s 700,000 garment and footwear workers currently earn a minimum wage of $128 a month. Last year, the lowest legal salary for Cambodian workers in the $5.7 billion industry was only $100 per month. ...

Cambodia’s rapid economic growth over the past decade has also intensified problems such as forced evictions and land grabs. The UN’s envoy to the country has called on the government to urgently tackle the issues. ...

Unions in the clothing and footwear sector yesterday wrote to the committee overseeing minimum wage negotiations threating protests if their demands were not met. ...