News
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
Police in strike shootings to be investigated
Police officers who defied orders not to open fire on rioting garment workers on Tuesday – an act that resulted in the fatal shooting of 49-year-old rice vendor Eng Sokhom – could lose their jobs, a National Police spokesman said yesterday. Kirt Chantarith told the Post that a ...
Shane Worrell and Mom Kunthear
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/police-strike-shootings-be-investigated
Factory’s contracts seen as ‘test case’ for brands
A garment factory’s alleged efforts to wipe workers’ contract histories clean could be a “test case” for how much international buyers tolerate factories negotiating outside of legal requirements, a labour-rights advocate has said. After effectively being bought out of their contracts, about 300 employees of USA ...
Shane Worrell and Mom Kunthear
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/factory%E2%80%99s-contracts-seen-%E2%80%98test-case%E2%80%99-brands
Out with the old: factory
Amid concerns of legal violations on the part of their employer, about 400 workers at the USA Fully Field garment factory in the capital’s Meanchey district accepted payouts for their factory closing – even though it hasn’t. Workers protested last week in fear that the factory ...
Mom Kunthear
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/out-old-factory
Activists Blame Short Contracts for Strikes
Labor activists at the bi-annual Buyers Forum in Phnom Penh on Thursday said that short-term contracts in Cambodia’s garment industry were fueling the high number of strikes affecting the industry. “Most of [the disputes] are over dismissals or dismissals of union leaders and the reason why ...
Dene-Hern Chen
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/business/activists-blame-short-contracts-for-strikes-41832/
Unionists' jailing compared with Bandith
Since her husband was arrested in June and thrown in provincial prison to await trial, Soam Chantha, 32, has given birth to a baby boy. At the same time the men have been locked up, police have failed to arrest former Bavet governor Chhouk Bandith, ...
Shane Worrell and Mom Kunthear
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/unionists-jailing-compared-bandith
A lesson in caution
After nearly 50 garment workers were killed last year while travelling to or from their respective factories, the Ministry of Labour has urged truck drivers who cram dozens into the back of vehicles each day to take more care on the roads. In an information session ...
Sen David
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/lesson-caution
Another construction worker killed
An 18-year-old man became the third construction worker in three days to be killed on the job after part of a building collapsed on him and three co-workers – including two 15-year-olds – on Monday, police said. Yu Bunrong, from Kampong Cham province’s Koh Sotin district, ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/another-construction-worker-killed
Funeral payout just ‘sympathy’
The company that paid the funeral costs of two construction workers killed when a fence collapsed on them on Saturday distanced itself yesterday from the accident, saying it doesn’t own the building site. The claim came as Meanchey District Governor Kouch Chamroeun vowed to take action ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/funeral-payout-just-%E2%80%98sympathy%E2%80%99
Playing with a bad hand
It’s been more than a year since union leader Sat Sep was fired from the Tropicana Casino and Resort in Poipet town, a dismissal that sparked strikes and ended in senior members of the Cambodian Tourism and Service Workers Federation being driven from the casino’s ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013070166584/National/playing-with-a-bad-hand.html
Map connects factories and buyers
In light of ongoing disputes over working conditions in the garment sector, the Cambodian Centre for Human Rights (CCHR) released yesterday details on hundreds of factories it believes will offer greater transparency along the garment supply chain – from producers to buyers – and shine ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013070166578/Business/map-connects-factories-and-buyers.html
NagaWorld strikers fired en masse
Nagaworld casino has fired more than 400 workers who have spent about 10 days striking to demand a wage increase, union leaders, workers and a leaked internal memo have revealed. A list of names, obtained by the Post yesterday, was emailed to management and senior staff ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013062466447/National/nagaworld-strikers-fired-en-masse.html
Municipal officials given a larger hand in labour disputes
Continuing its efforts to quell an increasing number of strikes in the Kingdom’s lucrative garment sector, the government this week issued a directive aimed at giving provincial and municipal governors powers to resolve issues at factories without calling on ministries in Phnom Penh. “To ensure further ...
Work-related deaths, injuries rose in 2012
The number of officially recorded workplace deaths in Cambodia increased by more than 25 per cent from 2011 to 2012, while the vast majority of those injured at work were women, National Social Security Fund figures released yesterday reveal. A total of 59 people were reported ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013061466277/National/work-related-deaths-injuries-rose-in-2012.html
Corruption worse than in Bangladesh: NGO
In a country where corruption is as rife as it is in Cambodia, global brands must work with governments to ensure garment factories are safe and working conditions legal, international NGO Transparency International (TI) said yesterday. In Cambodia, where two workers were killed when a ceiling ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013061266221/National/corruption-worse-than-in-bangladesh-ngo.html
Wing Star Widow in Limbo
Government officials have suggested the widow of the man crushed to death last month at the Wing Star Shoes factory, a supplier to Asics, will still be denied compensation from the National Social Security Fund (NSSF), a labour rights worker said yesterday. American Center for International ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013060366021/National/wing-star-widow-in-limbo.html
Underage, Overworked
Child labour is being used at a footwear factory owned by the same Taiwan-based company as Wing Star Shoes – where two workers were killed in a ceiling collapse this month – numerous employees have told the Post. A former Ying Dong employee said the ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013052965915/National/underage-overworked.html
Family Accepts $9000 over Collapse Death
The family of a worker who was killed when a ceiling collapsed at Kompong Spue province footwear factory lasts week has accepted 9,000 in compensation, and in return has agreed not file a complaint against the company, the deceased’s wife said yesterday. Rim Sarouen, 22, ...
‘Take it or leave it’
The uncle of a man who died in Thursday’s ceiling collapse at the Wing Star Shoes factory in Kampong Speu province claimed yesterday that the company had threatened to give the family nothing if they did not agree to an on-the-spot payout. It came as a ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013052065719/National/take-it-or-leave-it.html
Cambodian factory deaths shine spotlight on conditions
The deaths of at least two Cambodian workers and injuries sustained by 10 colleagues at a shoe factory southwest of Phnom Penh once more shine a light on conditions in the global garment manufacturing industry. Thursday’s accident at the Wing Star Shoe factory in the Cambodian ...
http://www.dw.de/cambodian-factory-deaths-shine-spotlight-on-conditions/a-16819017
Workers Get Benefits, Not Jobs
India’s ambassador to Cambodia, Dinesh Patnaik, said yesterday that his government will pay outstanding benefits to about 30 restoration workers who lost their jobs at Siem Reap province’s Ta Prohm temple in February – but will not reinstate them. The entire restoration team – more than ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013050965505/National/workers-get-benefits-not-jobs.html
Holdings draw veil over Mfone
When the owner of Kingsland garment factory fled the Kingdom last year, enough pressure was applied to its sourcing companies H&M and Walmart to persuade them through their intermediaries to compensate workers left jobless. Distance could no longer absolve them of responsibility. Just like the Kingsland ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013041865106/Business/holdings-draw-veil-over-mfone.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
MFone workers told to wait
Former employees of the failed telecommunications company MFone have been told they can expect a decision next month on their claims for more than $4 million in compensation. Former Mfone section manager Bou Kunthea said after a meeting yesterday with offic-ials from the Ministry of Social ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013032062036/Business/mfone-workers-told-to-wait.html