News
Minimum wage law edges closer
A Labour Ministry official has said the law on the minimum wage will come into force in the first quarter of 2018, provided there are no more objections from stakeholders. ...
Mom Kunthear
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/5095662/minimum-wage-law-edges-closer/
Minister tackles factory faintings
The Minister of Labour yesterday warned factory owners around the country that they would face legal action if large groups of workers faint during working hours within their enterprises. ...
Mom Kunthear
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/5094787/minister-tackles-factory-faintings/
Unions seek paid leave for registration journey
The Labour Ministry, if ordered by the National Election Committee, will request employers to grant workers time off to enrol to vote in their native communes, according to an official. ...
Bun Sengkong
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/unions-seek-paid-leave-registration-journey
Unions suggest changes to law
Members of 30 independent and government-leaning labour unions and labour advocacy groups met yesterday to discuss aspects of a draft trade union law they want altered, and strategies for accomplishing the changes. ...
Pech Sotheary
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/unions-suggest-changes-law
Union proposal for minimum wage scrapped in Cambodia
Activists have decried a decision by the Ministry of Labour to disregard union pleas for a hike in the minimum wage for some of the country’s 500,000 garment workers, one warning that it could lead to civil unrest. The unions’ wage proposal received only seven ...
World Bulletin News Staff
http://www.worldbulletin.net/union-proposal-for-minimum-wage-scrapped-in-cambodia/147476/union-proposal-for-minimum-wage-scrapped-in-cambodia
Sorya bus hullabaloo at an end
A five-month protest aimed at a Phnom Penh bus company came to an end on Thursday when Sorya Transportation Company reinstated three of 17 drivers it fired in April. ...
Mom Kunthear
http://phnompenhpost.com/national/sorya-bus-hullabaloo-end
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
Arbitration’s cost and value
The Arbitration Council Foundation, credited with helping resolve about 1,700 industrial disputes, has reached verbal agreement with a Swedish aid agency to receive funding until the end of 2016, a spokesman said yesterday. But members of the labour-dispute resolution body desire a more permanent solution that ...
Sean Teehan
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/arbitration%E2%80%99s-cost-and-value
Trial for 23 to resume amid rally
The trial of 23 men arrested at violent demonstrations in early January continues at 8am today, and unionists are planning on rallying outside the court in a show of solidarity. About 100 union members will join staff from the Cambodian Labour Confederation and the Coalition of ...
Sean Teehan
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/trial-23-resume-amid-rally
Bail request for Pov as union seeks property
A union leader among 21 workers and activists arrested in January demonstrations will appear in the Court of Appeal to argue for bail next week, despite the same court denying his request last month. Vorn Pov, president of Independent Democracy of Informal Economy Association (IDEA), and ...
Chhay Channyda
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/bail-request-pov-union-seeks-property
Anniversary marked by inaction
Six months after two of her co-workers were crushed to death when a storage level collapsed at the Wing Star Shoes factory in Kampong Speu, employee Yu Manith is noticing the cracks in a factory wall beginning to expand. Shortly after police rummaged through the ...
Shane Worrell and Mom Kunthear
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/anniversary-marked-inaction
Strikers, police clash
A woman was killed and at least six others shot yesterday morning when police fired live ammunition into a crowd of hundreds of rioting garment workers in the capital’s Stung Meanchey district. UN reports said police also arrested 37 people, including seven monks, as a result ...
Sean Teehan, Mom Kunthear and Khouth Sophak Chakrya
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/strikers-police-clash
Factory production sluggish
In the wake of last month’s election, production levels at Cambodian garment factories are still below the norm as lingering fears of political unrest keep workers at home and away from the capital. Shrugged off at the outset as a natural byproduct of the election that ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/factory-production-sluggish
Collapses raise concerns over emergency training
When a bridge and kiosk collapsed into a pond at a Phnom Penh garment factory last month, injuring more than 20 workers, the Prime Minister’s Bodyguard Unit and police rushed to scour the murky water for survivors. Some hours later, those forces remained unsure whether any ...
Court takes another crack at Bandith case
Unions representing more than 15,000 members have called for justice for three women ahead of round two of legal action against their alleged shooter, deposed Bavet town governor Chhouk Bandith. Bandith, who is accused of shooting the three workers during a protest at a factory in ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013052065718/National/court-takes-another-crack-at-bandith-case.html
Mfone value is revised
Althought the initial book value – purchase cost minus depreciation – of the assets of bankrupt Cambodian telecommunications firm Mfone was estimated at $105 million, employee representatives claim the estimated market value is closer to $30 million to $40 million. Bou Kunthea, an Mfone employee representative, ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013040264827/Business/mfone-value-is-revised.html
Questions over bonuses
Unions and labour groups fear a solitary sick day could cost garment workers their entire month’s attendance bonuses – about 15 per cent of their base wage – under a new scheme meant to make life easier. The Kingdom’s 600,000 garment and footwear workers will receive ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012090558510/National-news/questions-over-bonuses.html
Union out of loop in MoU negotiations
The garment industry could be close to renewing an industrial relations memorandum of understanding, but an independent union believes it is being edged out of negotiations because it opposes the use of short-term and fixed-duration contracts. Ath Thorn, president of the Cambodian Labour Confederation, said yesterday ...
Banners versus batons
Police are accused of breaking a 21-year-old woman’s nose and injuring two other women as about 900 workers marched from the Win Shing-tex Cambodia garment factory in the capital’s Por Sen Chey district yesterday. San Sopha said, adding he would file a complaint against the ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012032855291/National-news/banners-versus-batons.html
Strikers fed up with delays
Striking workers planned to set tyres aflame today outside a garment factory that supplies JC Penney in the capital’s Por Sen Chey district, union officials said yesterday on the sixth day of the strike at Hong Kong-owned Win Shing-tex Cambodia Co Ltd. Ath Thorn, head of ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012032355209/National-news/strikers-fed-up-with-delays.html
NGO Forum Breaks Silence on 'Warning'
NGO Forum confirmed yesterday it had received a “warning letter” from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs over its advocacy on behalf of communities affected by a railway rehabilitation project funded by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and AusAID. The warning to the umbrella group of 88 ...
Beer girls brew Angkor strike
60 some Angkor beer promoters are going to hold a strike outside of the company’s Phnom Penh offices in order to draw attention to the labor violations and discrimination they’ve suffered. The strike is planned to be loud and colorful according to Cham Rong, the ...