Labor

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 ...

A couple arrested for renting 22 children from their parents and forcing them to sell fruit on Phnom Penh’s streets and beer gardens were charged on Friday by the municipal court, police said. ...

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. ...

In Cambodia, as credit becomes increasingly available, more people are taking loans from microfinance institutions to help with migration.As of June 2015, microfinance institutions lent more than $2 billion, compared to $1.6 billion dollars in 2014, according to the Cambodia Microfinance Association. ...

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

To boost Chinese investment in Cambodian garment industry, the Textile Enterprise Association of the Chinese Chamber of Commerce also know as TEAC has been officially launched in Phnom Penh.​Enjoy Ho, chairman of TEAC said that they will represent the interests of Chinese textile enterprises in ...

A secret ballot yesterday failed to resolve garment union splits over what to demand at upcoming minimum wage talks, with at least one independent union rejecting the majority vote of $158 and vowing to put forward $178.The division came a day after Labour Ministry spokesman ...

The Labor Ministry on Tuesday warned unions that if they failed to reach a consensus on a new minimum wage for the garment sector ahead of Friday’s Labor Advisory Committee meeting on the issue, the committee would not consider any proposal from the unions at ...

A group of 90 disgruntled workers protested Tuesday outside the office of a recruitment company that they say abandoned most of them at a border checkpoint on Saturday morning and cheated them out of the hundreds of dollars they had paid to work in Thailand. ...

With wage negotiations slated for later this month, the head of the Garment Manufacturers Association in Cambodia has warned that the country could lose hundreds of thousands of jobs if workers win their demand for a minimum wage of $207 per month. ...

The prime minister has selected 14 senior officials – all members of the ruling party – to probe the cold-case murders of three union leaders, including Free Trade Union (FTU) president Chea Vichea, though scepticism remains about the timing and motivation behind the new investigation.According ...

Thai police on Monday repatriated 23 Cambodian men who were tricked into traveling to Thailand to log rosewood, according to an official. ...

More than 500 striking garment workers from a factory in central Cambodia petitioned the parliament and Labor Ministry on Monday, demanding that government officials intervene in stopping their company from firing workers without cause. ...

A new survey of what the country’s 700,000 garment workers earn and spend in a typical month has concluded that the median take-home pay of a garment factory employee is $191, higher than the minimum wage, but lower than what employers have claimed. ...

A major factor holding up an agreement to send Cambodian workers to Qatar is the Cambodian government’s refusal to send domestic workers to the country amid a “high risk” of sexual abuse, a Labour Ministry official said yesterday. ...

Envoys of major clothing brands and retailers visited Phnom Penh this week to discuss how to achieve a “living wage” for Cambodia’s garment workers, while the Garment Manufacturers Association in Cambodia (GMAC) contends the “uncompetitive” industry is slowing down as buyers pull out. ...

Most garment workers are expecting a new monthly minimum wage between $160 and $180, according to the results of a recent survey, far lower than the $207 some unions say they plan to seek in fast-approaching negotiations with the factories. ...