Labor
Labor policy and administration
Brands dodge blame over substandard factory
Behind the walls of the nondescript Hung Tak garment factory on the outskirts of Phnom Penh, more than 400 workers have been toiling in substandard conditions to cut and stitch clothing for some of the world’s biggest brands. But since the factory was named by the ...
Holly Robertson and Sun Heng
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/brands-dodge-blame-over-substandard-factory-64606/
Ocean settles as other worker strikes gain steam
Workers from the beleaguered Ocean Garment Factory on Monday came to an agreement with management over furlough pay, following more than a month of protests. “All the workers at Ocean Garment Factory have accepted the offer from the factory and the strikes are finished now,” said ...
Sek Odom
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/ocean-settles-as-other-worker-strikes-gain-steam-64619/
Strike for a song: Employees ‘waste time on phones’
About 500 garment workers whose bosses have complained that they spend too much of their working day talking on the phone and listening to music protested outside their Kampong Speu factory yesterday, demanding better working conditions. ...
Pech Sotheary
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/strike-song-employees-%E2%80%98waste-time-phones%E2%80%99
Sorya back at negotiating table
Former staffers of Phnom Penh Sorya Transportation will meet with a company representative tomorrow to demand reinstatement after more than two weeks of the firm’s continued refusal to comply with a decision by the Arbitration Council, they and the bus operator said yesterday. According to Yim ...
Pech Sotheary
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/sorya-back-negotiating-table
Employers snub talks over wages
Management at Ocean Garment factory yesterday flouted a Ministry of Labour invitation to sit at the negotiating table with employees protesting the factory’s refusal to abide by an Arbitration Council decision in their favour. ...
Mom Kunthear
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/employers-snub-talks-over-wages
Shoe factory workers strike for seven demands
About 1,000 workers from the Sun Well Shoes factory went on strike for the second day running Wednesday, appealing for wage benefits and better safety equipment. Half of the striking workers protested in front of the factory on Veng Sreng Street in Pur Senchey district on ...
Ben Sokhean
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/business/shoe-factory-workers-strike-for-seven-demands-64344/
Trade unions approve minimum wage, draft law proposals
Representatives from 25 trade unions Monday sent a request to the Ministry of Labor seeking several changes to a controversial draft union law and asking that a new $160 monthly minimum wage for the country’s volatile garment sector take effect in October. Garment factory owners say ...
Hul Reaksmey
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/trade-unions-approve-minimum-wage-draft-law-proposals-64044/
City hall calls out Cintri’s rubbish collecting efforts—again
Phnom Penh governor Pa Socheatvong on Monday slammed municipal waste disposal company Cintri for its poor performance in collecting the city’s garbage after a strike by trash collectors last week once again left the streets a mess. Cintri’s trash collectors ended their second strike of the ...
Ben Sokhean
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/city-hall-calls-out-cintris-rubbish-collecting-efforts-again-64048/
After factory ignores ruling, garment workers to march
Employees of the Ocean Garment factory in Phnom Penh’s Pur Senchey district continued to protest Monday against management’s decision to ignore an Arbitration Council ruling on owed wages. Cheng Chhorn, secretary general of the Collective Union of Movement of Workers, said the workers will march to ...
Sek Odom
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/after-factory-ignores-ruling-garment-workers-to-march-64074/
Ocean fight looks to the government
Days after a Phnom Penh garment factory refused to abide by an Arbitration Council decision in favour of its employees, more than 1,000 workers are expected to demonstrate in front of the Ministry of Labour today. ...
Mom Kunthear
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/ocean-fight-looks-government
Getting on the same page
In what is shaping up to be the first of several pivotal garment wage talks, unions are to meet for the first time today to discuss the amount they should request for next year’s minimum wage – but labour leaders and observers say coming to ...
Sean Teehan
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/getting-same-page
Global brands linked to latest shamed garment factory
Italian sportswear brand Kappa and U.S.-based retail giant Walmart apparently source clothing from the latest addition to the International Labor Organization’s (ILO) list of low-compliance factories, according to a union leader at the factory who provided the branded tags from the clothing her members cut ...
Sun Heng and Holly Robertson
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/global-brands-linked-to-latest-shamed-garment-factory-63900/
Thais detain ‘large number’
A large group of Cambodian migrants were rounded up and detained in a Bangkok prison at the end of May, where many still remain, Thai officials told the Post yesterday. Separate unconfirmed reports that at least 130 Cambodians had been in detention for more than a month emerged ...
Alice Cuddy and Kevin Ponniah
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/thais-detain-%E2%80%98large-number%E2%80%99
Factory wage rallies heat up
More than 1,000 workers held a demonstration in front of Ocean Garment factory in the capital yesterday, burning tyres and blocking the road in protest against the management’s refusal to abide by a ruling that workers be paid in full for a one-month closure. On May ...
Mom Kunthear
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/factory-wage-rallies-heat
Ocean loses case: Bosses told to pay out lost wages
The Arbitration Council Foundation yesterday ruled that a Phnom Penh garment factory that announced it was closing for a month must pay employees 100 per cent of the wages they would have earned during that period. ...
Mom Kunthear
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/ocean-loses-case-bosses-told-pay-out-lost-wages
Strike divides Cintri workers
While Phnom Penh’s garbage truck drivers returned to work yesterday following a brief strike, piles of refuse continued to mount in parts of the city, as trash collectors who had joined the drivers’ cause were continuing the strike alone as of 7pm. On Monday, drivers of ...
Pech Sotheary and Alice Cuddy
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/strike-divides-cintri-workers
Thais mandate migrant worker health checks
On the road to legal employment in Thailand, Cambodian migrant workers are being made to undergo check-ups that have them cough, strip and give blood and urine samples to prove they are physically and mentally sound enough to work in the country. Obtaining a workers’ permit, ...
Laignee Barron
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/thais-mandate-migrant-worker-health-checks
‘Abused’ maid awaits return
Woman who was taking part in a pilot scheme to place Cambodian maids in Singapore is waiting to be repatriated after being molested at her employers home and allegedly mistreated by a recruitment firm, she said yesterday. Nation’s managing director, Gary Chin, rejected those claims ...
Sen David and Kevin Ponniah
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/%E2%80%98abused%E2%80%99-maid-awaits-return
Cintri drivers strike for second time this year
Phnom Penh’s trash collectors have again gone on strike over salaries and conditions in a move that could see them stop clearing the city’s streets of garbage for an extended period for the second time this year. About 100 employees of the waste disposal firm Cintri ...
Ben Sokhean and Holly Robertson
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/cintri-drivers-strike-for-second-time-this-year-63462/
Workers continue strike over change to pay day
About 1,000 workers from the Canteran factory in Phnom Penh’s Dangkao district continued to strike on Saturday over a decision to push back the day they are paid. The workers have been on strike since Thursday after being told they will be paid on the 10th ...
Mech Dara
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/workers-continue-strike-over-change-to-pay-day-63314/
Mining accidents kill two
Two artisanal miners died and one was seriously injured in two separate accidents on Saturday, police said yesterday. One man was killed and one sustained serious injuries while working for a Chinese mining company at Kbal Damrei commune in Kratie province’s Sambor district. ...
Mom Kunthear
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/mining-accidents-kill-two
Bus company to reject workers' win
The general manager of Phnom Penh Sorya Transportation bus company says he will likely reject a Friday ruling by the Arbitration Council ordering the reinstatement of 15 employees fired for trying to form a labour union. Sorya Transportation general manager Chan Sophanna yesterday said he had ...
Mom Kunthear
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/bus-company-reject-workers-win
Maids forced into debt bondage in Singapore
In August last year, the government launched a pilot project that sent 220 women to work as maids in Singapore, the first major effort to open up a new market for Cambodia’s domestic workers after the government halted sending maids to Malaysia due to persistent ...
Matt Blomberg and Hul Reaksmey
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/maids-forced-into-debt-bondage-in-singapore-63194/
ILO says shaming factories leading to improved standards
Naming and shaming factories that fail to ensure a basic standard of conditions for their workers is starting to improve standards in the crucial garment sector, according to the International Labor Organization (ILO), but persistent offenders remain. Nine factories are included in the “lowest compliance” category ...
Holly Robertson and Sun Heng
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/ilo-says-shaming-factories-leading-to-improved-standards-63202/