News
March proceeds peacefully
Taking a markedly different approach from Monday’s violent breakup of a peaceful demonstration at Freedom Park, authorities yesterday stood back as about 100 activists marched around central Phnom Penh, delivering a petition to embassies and the United Nations. District security guards and riot police initially seemed ...
Sean Teehan and Mom Kunthear
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/march-proceeds-peacefully
Labor Leaders Say Negotiations Should Continue
International trade leaders say Cambodia’s workers and managers should continue to negotiate for an increase in wages, despite a deadly crackdown on worker protests earlier this month. Workers want a raise in the minimum wage to $160 per month to keep up with the rising cost ...
Sok Khemara, VOA Khmer
http://www.voacambodia.com/content/labor-leaders-say-negotiations-should-continue/1837064.html
Chea Vichea Remembered 10 Years After Slaying
Ten years ago Wednesday, union leader Chea Vichea walked to his favorite newsstand in front of Wat Lanka to read the day’s headlines: Prime Minister Hun Sen had ordered spending cuts, health officials were trying to handle the first outbreak of bird flu in Southeast ...
Khy Sovuthy and Denise Hruby
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/chea-vichea-remembered-10-years-after-slaying-50962/
Large protest planned for Sunday
Amid the continued arrest of activists who have defied a ban on public gatherings, a group of unions and associations yesterday revealed plans for a large demonstration in Phnom Penh’s Freedom Park on Sunday. About 10,000 people are expected to attend the rally, according to a ...
Mom Kunthear and Sean Teehan
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/large-protest-planned-sunday
The Assassination of Union Leader Chea Vichea—A Decade On
Ten years after his assassination, friends and associates remember Chea Vichea, the founding president of the Free Trade Union, as a quiet man but a charismatic leader, passionate about labor issues and the right for workers to collectively bargain for higher wages and better conditions. ...
Denise Hruby
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/the-assassination-of-union-leader-chea-vichea-a-decade-on-50951/
Court Hears Request to Reinvestigate Slaying of FTU Leader
Chan Sophon, who was found guilty in 2012 of the February 2007 murder of Hy Vuthy, a senior leader of the Free Trade Union (FTU), faced the Phnom Penh Municipal Court on Tuesday as part of his ongoing effort to have the court reinvestigate the ...
Eang Mengleng
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/court-hears-request-to-reinvestigate-slaying-of-ftu-leader-50953/
Union boss’s murder gets day in court
One of the men suspected in the seven-year-old murder of a Phnom Penh garment factory union representative was tried at Phnom Penh Municipal Court yesterday, nearly two years after his conviction in absentia. ...
Buth Reaksmey Kongkea
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/union-boss%E2%80%99s-murder-gets-day-court
Beyond Chea Vichea, Many Cases Lack Accountability, Justice
Ahead of the 10-year anniversary on Wednesday of the assassination of Free Trade Union (FTU) President Chea Vichea, police said Monday that despite their inability to bring anyone to justice for the high-profile slaying, the case remains open. However, Chea Mony, the brother of Chea Vichea, ...
Khy Sovuthy and Lauren Crothers
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/eu-ambassador-distances-local-delegation-from-resolution-50914/
Union to Defy Order, March to Commemorate Chea Vichea’s Slaying
About 150 garment worker union representatives will defy a ban on public assemblies and mark the 10th anniversary of the assassination of union leader Chea Vichea by marching from their office in Chamkar Mon district to the site of his murder at Wat Lanka on ...
Kuch Naren
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/union-to-defy-order-march-to-commemorate-chea-vicheas-slaying-50846/
Free Trade Union Reports Overall Jump in Labor Strikes in 2013
The Free Trade Union (FTU) on Monday reported an overall increase in industrial action by its local branches last year with 136 total strikes in the first 11 months of 2013, up 35 percent from all of 2012, when there were 101 strikes by its ...
Workers Vow To Continue Wage Strike
Union leaders say workers will continue to strike over low wages, despite a violent crackdown by authorities last week and threats this week from factories who say they will be forced to move to other countries if strikes continue. Five different union say their workers will ...
Khoun Theara
http://www.voacambodia.com/content/workers-vow-to-continue-wage-strike/1825142.html
Striking Workers Refuse Government Offer in Wage Dispute
Union leaders and striking workers on Wednesday said they would not agree to a minimum wage of $100 per month and would continue demonstrations until a higher wage is set. Government officials say they are willing to raise the minimum wage from $80 to $100 ...
Kong Sothanarith
http://www.voacambodia.com/content/striking-workers-refuse-government-offer-in-wage-dispute/1821569.html
Workers quietly trickle back
As garment union groups resume their strike today, thousands of workers plan on returning to work, largely citing financial necessity rather than ideological disagreement with the unions. The Ministry of Labour on Monday ordered union leaders to cease a nationwide strike that began nine days ago, ...
Mom Kunthear
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/workers-quietly-trickle-back
Factories Closed Until Safety Guaranteed
The Garment Manufacturers Association of Cambodia (GMAC) on Sunday said all of the country’s 400-plus garment factories will remain closed until the government and striking trade unions can guarantee the safety of the factories and all employees who want to work. The decision, outlined in an ...
Aun Pheap
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/factories-closed-until-safety-guaranteed-49749/
Cambodians rally to demand PM's resignation
Tens of thousands of Cambodian opposition supporters, backed by striking garment-factory workers, rallied on Sunday to demand long-serving Prime Minister Hun Sen step down and call an election. The garment workers have in recent days joined the opposition protests to press their demand that the government ...
Prak Chan Thul
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/12/29/us-cambodia-protest-idUSBRE9BS03P20131229
Turmoil marks year in labour
When unions and the Garment Manufacturers Association in Cambodia (GMAC) signed a memorandum of understanding in October last year, both sides were confident strikes in the Kingdom’s biggest export sector could be kept to a minimum. Not counting December, GMAC has recorded 131 strikes this ...
Shane Worrell
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/turmoil-marks-year-labour
Unionist firings inspire walkout
About 1,000 workers at a Kandal province garment factory walked off the job on Saturday after management there fired eight employees who attempted to start a new union. ...
Mom Kunthear
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/unionist-firings-inspire-walkout
Convicted killer back on stand
More than six years after the slaying of Free Trade Union president Hy Vuthy, one of the men convicted of his murder, Chan Sophorn, 35, appeared in court yesterday for a retrial. Sous Sam Ath, the judge presiding over the case at the Phnom Penh Municipal ...
Buth Reaksmey Kongkea
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/convicted-killer-back-stand
Cambodian Unions Call for Doubling of Minimum Wage for Factory Workers
Four trade unions on Tuesday demanded that Cambodia’s garment and footwear manufacturers raise the minimum wage of their workers and provide them with additional benefits, threatening a nationwide strike and demonstrations if they do not comply. In a joint letter to the Van Sou Ieng, president ...
Radio free Asia
http://www.rfa.org/english/news/cambodia/wages-11262013151923.html
Factory ordered to clean act
The Ministry of Labour has ordered management at a Kandal province garment factory to clean their workroom and limit employees’ overtime hours, in response to over 100 workers fainting over two days. During a visit to King First Industrial Co, Ltd’s Kandal location yesterday, Seng Sakada, ...
Mom Kunthear
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/factory-ordered-clean-act
Mass fainting at Kandal factory
About 50 garment workers fainted yesterday at the King First Industrial factory in Kandal province’s Ang Snuol district, union representatives said. Khouth Touch, the Free Trade Union president at the factory, said a number of workers had experienced stomach aches and diarrhoea that morning. ...
Mom Kunthear
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/mass-fainting-kandal-factory
‘Ban’ for three more unionists
Three more unionists have been suspended as a result of the violent strikes at a Kampong Speu garment factory in May and June, a Free Trade Union official said yesterday. Sabrina (Cambodia) Garment Manufacturing factory’s FTU president Sun Vanny, vice-president Sem Sopheak and general secretary Chi ...
Mom Kunthear and Sean Teehan, P.6
http://www.phnompenhpost.com
SL strike ‘bad’ for industry’s rep, says union
A labour union representing a minority of workers who have been striking at SL Garment Processing (Cambodia) Ltd for nearly three months released a statement yesterday, calling the strike bad for the industry’s reputation. Without specifically mentioning the Coalition of Cambodian Apparel Workers’ Democratic Union (C.CAWDU) ...
Mom Kunthear and Sean Teehan
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/sl-strike-%E2%80%98bad%E2%80%99-industry%E2%80%99s-rep-says-union
USA garment factory workers block national road
Nearly 400 workers at the USA Fully Field (Cambodia) Garment factory blocked National Road 2 in Phnom Penh’s Meanchey district yesterday after fears spread that the factory was winding down operations and that management wouldn’t pay necessary wages once it closed. Soy Nakri, a worker representative ...
Mom Kunthear
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/usa-garment-factory-workers-block-national-road