News
Faintings in Cambodian ‘model’ factories raise concern
A lobby group says three separate mass fainting incidents this week that took place at two Cambodian garment factories “speaks volumes” about the issue, because both workplaces have relatively good reputations for worker’s rights. More than 140 workers fainted on Wednesday and Thursday at Kandal’s QMI ...
Unionists cry foul over rejection
K-Cement workers who were told they could not form a company-wide union because their workplaces were “separate” entities have now had their application to register individual unions rejected by the Ministry of Labour, union leaders said yesterday. Sok Kin, vice president of the Building and Woodworkers ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013020161139/National/unionists-cry-foul-over-rejection.html
Factory clash has familiar feel
Two protesters and three factory officials were injured in a clash at a garment factory in Kampong Speu province yesterday as a report revealed that more than 60 unionists and workers were injured in such incidents in 2012. Vann Bun, a Free Trade Union activist, said ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013011860862/National/factory-clash-has-familiar-feel.html
Cambodia lacks skilled workforce
Against the backdrop of the slight recovery by world economies, especially the US and Europe, two traditional markets for Cambodia, Asian Development Bank (ADB) deputy country director Peter Brimble sat down with the Post’s group business editor, May Kunmakara, to talk about Cambodia’s economic performance, ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013011160733/CEO-Talk/cambodia-lacks-skilled-workforce.html
Lifting maid ban proving a challenge
A lack of legal protections, insufficient commitment from the Malaysian government and an overworked, understaffed embassy are among the major obstacles to lifting the maid ban, according to an internal government report obtained yesterday. Penned by the Ministry of Interior, the 12-page brief details a ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013010960701/National/lifting-maid-ban-proving-a-challenge.html
Garment factory worker strikes increased threefold in 2012
Strikes staged by garment and footwear factory workers more than tripled in 2012 compared to 2011, with more than 100,000 workers participating in at least one strike, an official of the Garment Manufacturers Association in Cambodia (GMAC) said yesterday. “Historically, prior to any elections, we will see a ...
Cambodia's unions cry foul on fainting figures
Union reps and government officials are offering significantly different – if both substantial – numbers in their year-end tallies of garment workers who fainted on the job in 2012. The Free Trade Union yesterday announced that the number of workers to faint in factories rose to ...
Job losses ‘discrimination’
More than 60 union leaders lost their jobs at garment factories in the past nine months for trying to unionise co-workers, their representatives claimed yesterday. Fourteen members of the Cambodian Alliance of Trade Unions endured threats, discrimination and ultimately a message they were no longer welcome ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2012121960367/National/job-losses-discrimination.html
Strikes could resume, says union official
A sacked union official at the Tropicana Casino and Resort in Beanteay Meanchey province’s Poipet town said yesterday hundreds of workers would strike again if he and a colleague were not reinstated after negotiations on Sunday. ...
PM urges factories to up wages
As the lure of Thailand grows increasingly attractive for cash-strapped and under-employed Cambodians, Prime Minister Hun Sen yesterday made a public appeal for workers to stay in the country, simultaneously urging the Cambodian market to up its competitive edge. In a speech at the inauguration of ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/National/pm-urges-factories-to-up-wages.html
Pension scheme ramps up
More than 700,000 workers at private companies and factories across 19 provinces have registered to join a nationwide pension scheme that goes into effect in 2015, Labour Ministry officials told the Post yesterday. A branch of the National Social Security Fund (NSFF), the pension scheme was ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012121160211/National-news/pension-scheme-ramps-up.html
Movement on migrant Memorandum of Understanding
A migrant worker Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) is back in the spotlight after Malaysia yesterday agreed to send a delegation of senior government officials to meet with their Cambodian counterparts tomorrow and Thursday. MoU talks are of mounting importance in the face of escalating evidence of ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012112059823/National-news/movement-on-migrant-mou.html
Maids find local Champion
The abuse of Cambodian maids overseas has become one of the most documented human rights violation here. But as the Government, media, NGOs and aid agencies focus their energies on domestic laborer living abroad, advocates have begun to urge that closer attention be paid to ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012111359705/National-news/maids-find-local-champion.html
A factory’s fainting crisis
In a single factory that supplies some of the biggest international brands, faintings occurred every day for five years, a new investigation by the Cambodian Legal Education Centre has found. Until just weeks ago, when the management installed new fans, three to four garments workers were ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012110759624/National-news/a-factorys-fainting-crisis.html
Maid Talk Premature: Ministry
The Ministry of Labour has played down reports it is close to sending domestic workers to Singapore, a country that has only recently granted foreign maids a weekly day off. The two countries’ governments had been in talks with Singapore’s Association of Employment Agencies about placing ...
Kingdom and Qatar to form labour watchdog
Cambodia’s next step in allowing workers such as maids and builders to travel to Qatar will be to create a committee with the Arab state to ensure their safety is protected, a senior labour official said yesterday. The Senate on Wednesday supported an agreement between the ...
Maid ban to remain until safety improves
The ban on sending Cambodian women for employment as maids in Malaysia will be lifted once certain safety and training precautions for workers are established, a senior government official said yesterday. Seng Sakada, the director general of the Ministry of Labour, said that his office is ...
ASEAN forum to tackle migrant worker safety
One of the biggest challenges to protecting Cambodian migrant workers is the sheer distance between their homeland and the countries they are working in, Ministry of Labour officials said yesterday. A pattern has emerged in which brokers lure more and more Cambodians away from traditional border-country ...
Hello staff contracts 'breached'
Almost 100 members of the sales and service staff of mobile phone provider Hellopoint are awaiting a meeting with the Ministry of Labour after submitting a complaint last month claiming that a policy introduced in July amounted to a breach of their employment contracts. According to ...
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
Still no motion on union law
As the latest draft of Cambodia’s long-awaited trade-union law sits idly at the Council of Ministers, Ministry of Labour officials have turned to outsiders to help hasten its enactment, a union advocate said yesterday. Dave Welsh, country director of the American Center for International Labor Solidarity, said ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012090458479/National-news/still-no-motion-on-union-law.html
Cambodia approves law on sending workers to Qatar
Cambodian workers are expected to arrive in Qatar soon as the southeast Asian country’s national assembly has approved a draft law to send workers to the Gulf state. According to The Phnom Penh Post, the house approved the draft law recently after the two ...
Workplace injury rate rises
A spike in factory faintings contributed to a 65 per cent increase in the number of workplace injuries reported in 2011, a Ministry of Labour official said yesterday. Leng Tong, director of the occupational health and safety department, said the ministry plans to introduce specialist safety ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012072457581/National-news/workplace-injury-rate-rises.html
Cambodia's Garment Workers Earn Additional Wage
Cambodia’s garment workers will earn 10 US dollar additional wage from September 1, the statement from the advisory committee of labor said this week. The announcement was made after the meeting between union leaders, employers and minister of labor Vong Suth on July 11. “450,000 of 600,000 workers from 700 garment and shoe factories will get this ...