Labor
Thousands strike over pay at Kompong Cham garment factory
More than 5,000 workers from a footwear factory in Kompong Cham province went on strike Monday, calling on factory management to increase their benefits. The lively crowd rallied outside the Taiwanese-owned Juhui Footwear factory in Choeung Prey district, dancing to music pumped out of loudspeakers as ...
Ben Sokhean
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/thousands-strike-over-pay-at-kompong-cham-garment-factory-67397/
Xin Fang workers march to Labor Ministry to solve out working conditions
Around 300 workers from a Taiwanese-owned Xin Fang (Cambodia) Garment Manufacturing Co., Ltd marched Monday to Ministry of Labor to seek intervention in their working conditions. ...
The Cambodia Herald News Staff
http://thecambodiaherald.com/cambodia/detail/1?page=13&token=NzhiNDYzNTRiYTN
Nearly 200 migrant workers duped out of $260
A group of 50 migrant workers on Wednesday protested outside a branch of a recruitment agency in Phnom Penh’s Sen Sok district that they say duped them out of $260 they paid for a guarantee of employment in Thailand. ...
Sek Odom
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/nearly-200-migrant-workers-duped-out-of-260-67236/
Tempers flare at bus protest
Resolution continued to elude 17 former bus drivers for the Phnom Penh Sorya Transportation Company yesterday when a demonstration at the company’s headquarters was roughly dispersed by company security after the ex-staffers tried to block buses from leaving. Sambath Vorn, president of the union whose founding ...
Mom Kunthear and Tat Oudom
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/tempers-flare-bus-protest
Amid overcrowding, inmates build new prison
Even within the country’s notoriously overcrowded prison system, inmates in this northern province live in particularly harsh conditions. Approximately 120 prisoners, including 16 women and three children, are held in four cells in the Oddar Meanchey provincial police headquarters. “In one cell we keep 20 or more ...
Lauren Crothers and Ouch Sony
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/amid-overcrowding-inmates-build-new-prison-67129/
Workers take pay dispute to ministry of labor
Hundreds of garment workers traveled from a Kompong Chhnang factory to Phnom Penh on Monday to petition the Ministry of Labor to intervene in their dispute with factory management. About 3,000 workers from the Chinese-owned Jiun Ye Garment factory have been striking since August 18, accusing ...
Ben Sokhean
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/workers-take-pay-dispute-to-ministry-of-labor-67148/
Factories ask gov’t to punish strike leaders
The Garment Manufacturers Association in Cambodia (GMAC) over the weekend released a statement condemning an ongoing strike at a Kompong Chhnang garment factory and urging authorities to “punish the perpetrators.” About 3,000 employees of the Chinese-owned Jiun Ye Garment factory have been on strike since August ...
Ben Sokhean
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/factories-ask-govt-to-punish-strike-leaders-67103/
‘Solvable problems’ focus of fainting review
Amid reports of increased mass-fainting incidents in Cambodia’s garment sector, workers, employers and government officials gathered in Phnom Penh yesterday for a roundtable discussion on the issue. The conference, which was organised by the Cambodian Center for Independent Media, identified issues such as workday lengths and ...
Mom Kunthear
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/%E2%80%98solvable-problems%E2%80%99-focus-fainting-review
Delay on maid deal: ministry
The Ministry of Labour plans to delay signing off on a controversial agreement to reopen a pipeline of Cambodian maids to Malaysia until a deal is reached on a second agreement regarding other migrant workers, a ministry official said yesterday. Labour Ministry spokesman Heng Sour told ...
Alice Cuddy
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/delay-maid-deal-ministry
New fines for faintings
The minister of labour has sent a stern warning to garment factories to take measures to end mass faintings or face the consequences. Speaking after a safety workshop yesterday, Ith Sam Heng said the government will get tougher on factories, fining those that didn’t provide safe ...
Mom Kunthear
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/new-fines-faintings
Ministries to tighten checks on foreign workers
The ministries of Labor and Interior met on Thursday to outline the government’s plan to more strictly enforce measures for employers of foreign nationals to ensure that their staff has proper documentation. Seng Sakada, director-general of the Labor Ministry’s labor department, said previous efforts have not ...
Mech Dara
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/ministries-to-tighten-checks-on-foreign-workers-67023/
Striking factory workers thwart police arrests
Police in Kompong Chhnang province on Thursday were prevented from arresting workers and union officials outside a Samakki Meanchey district garment factory by a mob of irate protesters who pulled two of their colleagues out of a police car to thwart their arrests. About 3,000 employees ...
Ben Sokhean
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/striking-factory-workers-thwart-police-arrests-66997/
In China, nowhere to run
In yet another case of Cambodian women facing abuse in China, a 19-year-old told the Post yesterday that she has taken to living on the streets after the consulate in Shanghai refused to pay for her repatriation. Kim Sophea*, who claims she has been forced into marriage in ...
Sen David and Laignee Barron
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/china-nowhere-run
More Than 1,000 Faintings Reported in Cambodian Factories This Year
The faintings between January and August were much higher than the 802 reported in the whole of last year, while only one factory worker died in the workplace in 2013, the Free Trade Union of Workers of the Kingdom of Cambodia (FTUWKC) said in a ...
Joshua Lipes
http://www.rfa.org/english/news/cambodia/faintings-08212014140815.html
Unions say gov’t blocking branch registrations
In March, the Ministry of Labor for the first time began requiring union leaders to submit proof they had no previous criminal convictions before they would be allowed to register a new union or local branch. Now, the country’s leading unions say worker representatives are struggling ...
Mech Dara
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/unions-say-govt-blocking-branch-registrations-66958/
ANZ says no to evicted Cambodian farmers
ANZ has ruled out helping hundreds of poor Cambodian families forcibly evicted from their land to make way for sugar-cane plantations that involved child labour and led to food shortages. Fairfax Media this year revealed confidential audits that disclosed that ANZ’s Cambodian subsidiary, ANZ Royal Bank, ...
Richard Baker and Nick McKenzie
http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/national/anz-says-no-to-evicted-cambodian-farmers-20140819-105sib.html
Garment workers at two factories go on strike for more pay
About 3,000 garment workers went on strike in Kompong Chhnang province for a second day Tuesday, accusing their factory of withholding some of their monthly bonuses. Employees from the Chinese-owned Jiun Ye Garment factory blocked National Road 5 for more than four hours Tuesday, claiming that ...
Ben Sokhean
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/garment-workers-at-two-factories-go-on-strike-for-more-pay-66897/
Gov’t says workplace injuries on the rise, reforms needed
In the face of an increase in work-related injuries, government officials gathered in Phnom Penh on Tuesday to start work on a new plan to reduce workplace accidents and to reflect on their achievements over the past five years. ...
Mech Dara and Holly Robertson
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/govt-says-workplace-injuries-on-the-rise-reforms-needed-66899/
Workers warn of bigger protest at Thai border
Hundreds of Cambodian workers warned on Monday to hold bigger and longer protest at Poipet-Kloeng Loek crossing border if Thai military doesn’t release 16 Cambodian cart workers today. According to the workers, Thai authority issued a new rule to restrict Cambodian cart workers not to allow ...
The Cambodia Herald News Staff
http://www.thecambodiaherald.com/cambodia/detail/1?page=13&token=OTVmZjI0NGI5MmU
Thailand and Cambodia step up to address migrant worker problem
Thailand’s Director-General of Department of Employment Sumet Mahosot and Cambodian Director-General of the Labor Department Seng Sakada today briefed the press about the controversial migrant worker issue. The discussion comprised 4 topics. First, there is the requirement of proof of nationality, so Cambodia will arrange for ...
Thailand National News Bureau News Staff
http://thainews.prd.go.th/centerweb/newsen/NewsDetail?NT01_NewsID=WNPOL5708180010011
Cambodia sends lawyer to seek bail for 16 detained workers
Cambodian Consulate in Thailand’s Sakaeo province is seeking a defense lawyer to seek bail for 16 Cambodian workers arrested by Thai military. ...
The Cambodia Herald News Staff
http://www.thecambodiaherald.com/cambodia/detail/1?page=13&token=NDBiOTIwY2IxMzk
Workers end Thai-Cambodia border protest
About 300 disgruntled Cambodian workers and used-garment merchants last night ended their blockade on the border with Thailand. The workers had earlier parked their two-wheel carts in front of the Aranyaprathet-Poi Pet border checkpoint on the Poi Pet side of the Thai-Cambodian friendship bridge. They demanded ...
Bangkok Post Staff
http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/local/427181/workers-end-thai-cambodia-border-protest
Compensation paid to families after tragedy
The families of three Cambodian workers killed after a six-storey condominium building collapsed at a construction site just north of Bangkok earlier this week have been paid compensation. ...
Cheang Sokha
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/post-weekend/compensation-paid-families-after-tragedy
Cambodia garment sector small fry for suppliers
In Cambodia, where the garment sector accounts for 80 percent of exports, hundreds of thousands of people depend on their slice of the $5 billion industry to survive. But for suppliers currently exhibiting their wares at a trade show this weekend on Phnom Penh’s Koh Pich ...
Holly Robertson and Kang Sothear
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/cambodia-garment-sector-small-fry-for-suppliers-66677/