News
Angry factory workers block National Road 6
- 7 August 2013
- The Phnom Penh Post
- Economy and commerce / Investment
- Garments and textiles / industry / Investment / Kompong Cham / Kompong Cham Province / labor / manufacturing / National Road 6 / shoes / trade and investment / Unions
About 4,000 angry workers crowded National Road 6 for about 10 minutes yesterday morning The striking employees of the Chinese-owned Juhui Footwear Co, Ltd, who walked out on Friday, took to the street and blocked traffic after officials from the Coalition of Cambodian Apparel Workers Democratic ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/angry-factory-workers-block-national-road-6
Cambodia's garment industry at crossroads
- 6 August 2013
- BBC News
- Economy and commerce / Exports / Gender / Trade / Women in development
- Clothes / Economic policy and administration / Exports / foreign direct investment (FDI) / Garments and textiles / industry / Investment / labor / Labor policy and administration / shoes / trade and investment
Nun Vanak is an excellent example of how Cambodia’s garment manufacturing industry has helped to change lives of hundreds of thousands of people in this country. The 23-year-old is part of Cambodia’s half-a-million-strong workforce – mostly young women – that keeps these garment factories running. Her income ...
Cambodia garment workers’ plight worsening: ILO
- 19 July 2013
- The Peninsula
- Economy and commerce
- ASICS / Better Factories Cambodia programme / ceiling collapse / child labour / Clothes / Factories / factory sanitary conditions / factory working conditions / fire safety / Garment Industry / Garments and textiles / health and safety / ILO / International Labour Organisation / Jill Tucker / labor costs / labor law / labor market / labor rights / low wages / shoes / wages / working conditions
Cambodia is backsliding in efforts to improve working conditions in its garment industry, the International Labour Organisation said yesterday, following a series of strikes at factories producing western-brand clothing. The kingdom is failing to make progress in key areas such as worker and fire safety and ...
http://thepeninsulaqatar.com/asia/245622-cambodia-garment-workers%E2%80%99-plight-worsening-ilo.html
Cambodia's trade with S. Korea up 12% in 5 months
- 17 July 2013
- Xinhuanet News
- Economy and commerce / Exports / Imports / Investment / Trade
- agricultural products / bilateral trade / Cambodia-Korea bilateral trade / cars / CDC / Chemical products / Chinese aid / Chinese investment / Council for the Development of Cambodia / Economics / Exports / Fabrics / garments / Imports / investments / Korea Trade Investment Promotion Agency / KOTRA / luxury cars / Phnom Penh / rubber / shoes / South Korean aid / Trade
Bilateral trade between Cambodia and South Korea has reached 329 million U.S. dollars in the first five months of this year, up 12 percent over the same period last year, showed the latest figures from the Korea Trade- Investment Promotion Agency to Phnom Penh on ...
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/business/2013-07/17/c_132549530.htm
Asian garment industry to undergo further segmentation
- 15 July 2013
- The China Daily
- Economy and commerce / Exports / Imports / Labor / Trade
- Apparel / Bangladesh / Burma / Chinese aid / Clothes / Cotton and silk / Exports / garment export / Garment Industry / Garment Manufacturers Association in Cambodia / garment manufacturing / garment production / Garments and textiles / GDP / GMAC secretary-general Lu Qijian / Gross Domestic Product / Imports / Indian aid / Investment / labor costs / Laos / low wages / Lu Qijian / Malaysian aid / minimum wage / Pakistan / raw materials / shoes / Sri Lanka / textile exports / textile industry / Thailand / Turkey / Vietnam Textile & Apparel Association / VITAS / wages
The Asian garment manufacturing industry will undergo further segmentation in the next three to four years as competition becomes more intense, experts said. China, Thailand and Vietnam will mainly produce high-end clothing, while Bangladesh, Laos, Burma and Cambodia will mainly produce low-end clothing. Lu Qijian, ...
http://usa.chinadaily.com.cn/business/2013-07/15/content_16778408.htm
Cambodia Falls Short as Garment-Industry Model
- 8 July 2013
- Wall Street Journal
- Economy and commerce / Exports / Imports / Labor / Labor policy and administration / Trade / Unions
- Asia Monitor Resource Center / Bangladesh / Better Factories Cambodia / BFC / Clean Clothes Campaign / Community Legal Education Centre / Employment / employment contracts / Exports / Factories / Factory collapse / factory working conditions / Footwear / Garment factories / garment imports / Garment Industry / Garment Manufacturers Association in Cambodia / garments / GMAC / GMAC Secretary General Ken Loo / H&M / ILO / Imports / Inflation / International Labour Organization / Investment / Ken Loo / labor / labor costs / labor issues / labor law / minimum wage / Ministry of Labor / Multi-Fibre Arrangement / Oum Mean / Phnom Penh / Shoe factory / shoes / short-term contracts / Stanford Law School / trade unions / transparency / United Nations / wages / Walmart / Worker Rights Consortium / workers rights
This small Southeast Asian country was supposed to become a model for the world apparel industry, with tough factory monitoring and strong worker protections. But a dozen years after the United Nations’ International Labour Organization launched a program to manage Cambodia’s booming garment trade—the first of ...
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324423904578521240151597504.html
Bank to join growing group from Taiwan
- 13 June 2013
- The Phnom Penh Post
- Banking and financial services / Economy and commerce / Investment / Securities exchange (stock market) / Stock market
- bank / Cambodian Economy / Cambodian Stock Exchange / E Sun Commercial Bank Ltd / garment / Garment factories / Garment Industry / garment sector / Grand Twins International (Cambodia) Plc / High Interest Rate / Hua Nan Commercial Bank / Investment / Labor Law Violation / Mega International Commercial Bank Ltd / National Bank of Cambodia / NBC / Nike / Nike sports brand / protests / Sabrina (Cambodia) Garment Manufacturing / Sabrina factory / Sabrina Garment Factory / Shanghai Commercial & Savings Bank Ltd / shoes / Taiwan / Taiwan Cooperative Bank / Taiwan’s E Sun Commercial Bank / Taiwan’s Mega International Commercial Bank / Taiwanese bank / Taiwanese company / Taiwanese invesment / Taiwanese investors / TY Fashion Co Ltd / TY Fashion Co Ltd / Union Commercial Bank PLC
Taiwan-based Shanghai Commercial & Savings Bank Ltd plans to open a representative office in Cambodia, joining an increasing number of Taiwanese banks and garment industry investors in the Kingdom. Shanghai Commercial & Savings would enter a crowded sector, behind other Taiwanese-based financial intuitions [sic]. Hua ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013061366235/Business/bank-to-join-growing-group-from-taiwan.html
Corruption worse than in Bangladesh: NGO
- 12 June 2013
- The Phnom Penh Post
- Economy and commerce / Exports / Safety and health at work / Trade
- ACILS / American Center for International Labor Solidarity / Bangladesh / Better Factories Cambodia / BFC / Bribery / collapse / construction / Corruption / Dave Welsh / Factories / factory ceiling collapse / Factory collapse / Footwear / Garment factories / garment sector / garment workers / garments / health and safety / illegal construction / International Labour Organization / International Labour Organization technical specialist / International NGOs / Jason Judd / labor / Leng Tong / Ministry of Labour / Ministry of Labour’s occupational health and safety department director / NGOs / nongovernmental organizations / Pakistan / payments / Rana Plaza / Rana Plaza factory / Shoe factory / shoes / TI / Transparency International / Wing Star factory / Wing Star Shoes Co Ltd / Wing Star Shoes factory / workers / working conditions
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
7 Cambodian Workers Arrested at Nike Contractor
- 3 June 2013
- ABC News
- Economy and commerce / Exports / Trade
- American companies / Better Factories Cambodia program / ceiling collapse / Economics / Europe / Exports / Factories / Factory collapse / Footwear / footwear factory / Free Trade Union of Workers Organizer / garment and shoe factories / Garment exports / Garment factories / garment factory strikes / Garment Industry / garment workers / garments / Healthcare / Heng Sophors / ILO / Interior Ministry / International Labor Organization / Kompong Speu / Kompong Speu Province / labor / labor conditions / LICADHO / Licadho Activist / manufacturers / minimum wage / Nike / Nike clothing / Phnom Penh / Police / poor working conditions / Prime Minister Hun Sen / Protest / riot / Royal Government / Sabrina (Cambodia) Garment Manufacturing / Shoe factories / shoes / Son Vanny / Southeast Asia / Sportswear / Sportswear Company / Strikes / stun batons / Taiwan / Taiwanese companies / Thorn Thon / Trade / trade unions / United States aid / violent strike / worker rights / workers
Cambodian police clashed Monday with workers at a factory that makes clothing for the U.S. sportswear company Nike, arresting seven, in the latest violence linked to a strike over salaries, union organizers and rights activists said. The protest at the Taiwanese-owned Sabrina (Cambodia) Garment Manufacturing plant ...
Wing Star Widow in Limbo
- 3 June 2013
- The Phnom Penh Post
- Economy and commerce / Exports / Investment / Labor / Labor policy and administration / Social development / Trade
- ACILS / American Center for International Labor Solidarity / ASICS / Bangladesh / ceiling collapse / collapse / compensation / Dave Welsh / Factory collapse / ILO / ILO conventions / International Labor Organization / Kampong Speu / Kampong Speu Province / Kim Dany / labor / labor rights / labour / Labour unions / National Social Security Fund / NGOs / NSSF / NSSF Deputy Director / Royal Government / shoes / shoes factory / Sum Sophorn / Wing Star incident / Wing Star Shoe factory / Wing Star Shoes / Wing Star Shoes Co Ltd / worker rights
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
Workers not underage, factory says
- 30 May 2013
- The Phnom Penh Post
- Development policy and administration / Economy and commerce / Environment and natural resources
- ASICS / Asics supplier / ceiling collapse / Chan Kosal / child labor / factory / factory ceiling collapse / Factory collapse / factory ownership / factory representative Chan Kosal / Garment factories / Garment Industry / garments / illegal workers / Kampong Speu / Kampong Speu Province / labor / labor law / New Star factory / Phnom Penh / Preah Sihanouk / Preah Sihanouk Province / Shoe factories / shoes / Underage Workers / Wing Star Shoes / Wing Star Shoes factory / Ying Dong Shoes / Ying Dong Shoes Factory
A Ying Dong Shoes representative yesterday denied claims his factory employs workers as young as 13 and shares an owner with Wing Star Shoes, where two died in a ceiling collapse on May 16. Chan Kosal, a representative of Ying Dong, a supplier to Asics, said ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013053065943/National/workers-not-underage-factory-says.html
Underage, Overworked
- 29 May 2013
- The Phnom Penh Post
- Child labor / Economy and commerce / Education and training / Education policy and administration / Investment / Labor / Labor policy and administration / Law and judiciary / Social development
- American Center for International Solidarity Country Manager / ASICS / Child Exploitation / child labour / CLEC / collapse / Community Legal Education Center / Community Legal Education Center Consultant / Dave Welsh / exploitation / Factories / Factory Audit / Factory collapse / factory inspections / factory working conditions / Fasify Documents / Footwear / garment / Garment factories / Garment Manufacturers Association in Cambodia / Garment Manufacturers Association in Cambodia Secretary-general / health and safety / ILO Inspection / Inspections / Japanese aid / Japanese companies / Joel Preston / Kantouk Commune / Ken Loo / Kim Dany / Kompong Speu / Kompong Speu Province / labour / Labour laws / law violations / Lei Shi Ken / Ministry of Labour’s Child Labour Department Director / Mittapheap District / New Star Shoes / New Star Shoes Factory / Por Sen Chey district / Preah Sihanouk / Preah Sihanouk Province / shoes / shoes factory / Taiwan / Taiwanese companies / underage recruits / Underage Workers / Veng Heang / Wing Star incident / Wing Star Shoes / Wing Star Shoes Co Ltd / Wing Star Shoes factory / worker rights / workers / working conditions / Ying Dong Administration official / Ying Dong Shoes Factory
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
Factories Asked to Voluntarily Assess Safety
- 28 May 2013
- The Cambodia Daily
- Development policy and administration / Economy and commerce / Environment and natural resources / Labor
- Better Factories Cambodia / ceiling collapse / construction / construction firms / enginering firms / Factories / Factory collapse / factory construction / Footwear / Garment factories / Garment Manufactures Association of Cambodia / Garment Manufactures Association of Cambodia secretary general Ken Loo / garments / GMAC / GMAC Secretary General Ken Loo / health and safety / illegal construction / International Labor Organization / Ith Sam Heng / Ken Loo / Kompong Spue / Ministry of Labor / Ministry of Labour / Ministry of Labour secretary of state Oum Mean / Ministry of of Social Affairs / Oum Mean / shoes / Social Affairs Minister Ith Sam Heng / structural audits / Top World Garment (Cambodia) Ltd. / Top World garment factory / Wing Star Shoes Co Ltd / Wing Star Shoes factory
The Garment Manufactures Association of Cambodia (GMAC) and International Labor Organization’s (ILO) Better Factories Cambodia yesterday asked factory owners to voluntarily conduct structural audits on their buildings in light of building collapses at two garment factories that killed two people and injured 23. “In the ...
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/factories-asked-to-voluntarily-assess-safety-27319/
Cambodian police clash with thousands of garment workers, 23 hurt
- 27 May 2013
- Reuters
- Clothes / Economy and commerce / Exports / Garments and textiles / Industries / Manufacturing / Trade
- Bangladesh / clothing brands / Exports / Factories / Factory collapse / factory working conditions / Free Trade Union president Sun Vanny / freedom of association / FTU / Garment exports / Garment factories / garments / Healthcare / IMF / International Monetary Fund / Kampong Speu / Kampong Speu Province / labor / labor rights / labour / labour rights / manufacturers / minimum wage / Nike / Nike clothing / Phnom Penh / Police / protests / riots / Sabrina / Sabrina (Cambodia) Garment Manufacturing / Sabrina factory / shoes / Strikes / stun batons / Sun Vanny / trade unions / transport / United States aid / worker / worker rights / working conditions
At least 23 workers were hurt in Cambodia on Monday when police using stun batons moved in to end a protest over pay at a factory that makes clothing for U.S. sportswear company Nike , a worker and a trade union representative said. Police with riot ...
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/05/27/cambodia-garments-workers-idUSL3N0E829T20130527
Family Accepts $9000 over Collapse Death
- 24 May 2013
- The Cambodia Daily
- Development policy and administration / Economy and commerce / Environment and natural resources
- American Solidarity / American Solidarity Center director Dave Welsh / Bangladesh / compensation / construction / Dave Welsh / Factories / factory construction standards / Footwear / footwear factory / Garment Industry / garments / health and safety / health and safety regulations / illegal construction / Kompong Spue / Kompong Spue province / labor / labour / shoes / Solidarity Center / Wing Star Shoe factory / Wing Star Shoes Co Ltd / workers rights
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, ...
H&M Says Garments Made in Cambodian Factory Without Approval
- 22 May 2013
- Bloomberg
- Economy and commerce / Exports / Trade
- Anna Eriksson / apparel factories / Bangladesh / clothing retailer / construction / Europe / Factories / factory blaze / Factory collapse / factory construction / garment indusrty / garment sector / garments / H&M / H&M garments / H&M spokeswoman Anna Eriksson / health and safety / Hennes & Mauritz AB / HMB / Hong Kong / Sears Holdings Corp / Shoe factories / shoes / Stockholm / Subcontractors / Top World garment factory / unapproved factories / Wal-Mart Stores Inc / Walmart
Hennes & Mauritz AB, Europe’s second-biggest clothing retailer, said some H&M garments were produced without its knowledge or approval at a factory in Cambodia where workers were injured in a partial building collapse this week. A supplier of the Stockholm-based company placed two minor orders with ...
Standards Building Up Safety Fears
- 22 May 2013
- The Phnom Penh Post
- Economy and commerce / Industries / Labor / Manufacturing / Real estate
- Alassane Sow / Building and Wood Workers Trade Union Federation of Cambodia / Building and Wood Workers Trade Union Federation of Cambodia (BWTUFC) / Building Safety Regulations / BWTUFC / Cambodia / construction / construction standards / Department of Land Management / Department of Land Management Deputy Director / Factories / Factory collapse / Garment factories / Garment Manufacturers Association in Cambodia / garment workers / GMAC / health and safety / health and safety regulations / illegal construction / Inspectors / Ken Loo / Ministry of Land Management / Ministry of Land Management Inspectors / Ministry of Social Affairs / Phnom Penh / Phnom Penh City Hall / Phnom Penh City Hall / Regulations / safety / safety measures / Sar Bamnong / Sen Sok district / Shoddy Construction / Shoe factories / shoes / Structural Failure / Subcontractors / Top World / Top World Garment (Cambodia) Ltd. / Van Thol / Wing Star Shoe factory / Wing Star Shoes / Wing Star Shoes Co Ltd / World Bank / World Bank Country Manager Alassane Sow
When a 100-metre-long section of a Phnom Penh garment factory crumpled in on itself like a cheap pup tent, Sen Sok district officials promised an investigation. The results of that investigation, which was to have taken place more than a year ago, in March 2012, ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013052265780/National/standards-building-up-safety-fears.html
Fear Remains as Factory Reopens
- 21 May 2013
- The Phnom Penh Post
- Development policy and administration / Economy and commerce / Environment and natural resources
- ASICS / Asics supplier / Building Safety Regulations / Chea Sotharyrith / compensation / Development Movement Union of Cambodia Labour / Electrical Safety Measures / electrical short circuit / Electrical System Safety Measures / Electricity / Factory collapse / factory working conditions / footwear factory / Garment factories / Garment Manufacturers Association in Cambodia / Garment Manufacturers Association in Cambodia Secretary General Ken Loo / Garment Manufacturers Association in Cambodia Secretary-general / garment sector / Garment Workers / GMAC / health and safety regulations / Hong Seng Lim / illegal construction / Ken Loo / Kim Dany / Kompong Speu / Kompong Speu Province / labor / labour / mass faintings / Rim Roeun / shoes / shoes factory / Wing Star Development Movement Union of Cambodia Labour President Hong Seng Lim / Wing Star factory / Wing Star Shoes / Wing Star Shoes factory / workers
More than 20 people fainted yesterday at the Wing Star Shoes factory in Kampong Speu province, where two workers were crushed to death in a ceiling collapse last Thursday. Workers and union officials said an electrical short-circuit scared workers returning for the first time since the ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013052165744/National/fear-remains-as-factory-reopens.html
Factory Dining Hall Collapses in Phnom Penh; 23 injured
- 21 May 2013
- The Cambodia Daily
- Clothes / Development policy and administration / Economy and commerce / Environment and natural resources / Garments and textiles / Industries / Labor / Manufacturing / Phnom Penh
- ASICS / ASICS spokesman Katsumi Funakoshi / CNRP / Coalition of Cambodian Apparel Workers Democratic Union / Coalition of Cambodian Apparel Workers Democratic Union representative Seang Yon / commune chief Mao Rith / compensation / construction / construction standards / Factories / Factory collapse / factory working conditions / Gap / Garment factories / garment production / garment production chain / garment workers / garments / health and saftey / illegal building construction / Japanese aid / Japanese sports brand / Kampong Cham Provincial Governor Kuoch Chamroeun / Katsumi Funakoshi / Kbal Koh commune / Khmer-Soviet Friendship Hospital / Kompong Speu / Kompong Speu Province / labor / labour / Mao Rith / Meanchey District / Ministry of Labor / Ministry of Labor secretary of state Oum Mean / Ministry of Labour / Ministry of Labour secretary of state Oum Mean / Mu Sochua / Oum Mean / Phnom Penh / Phnom Penh District Governor Kuoch Chamroeun / Production / production chain / safety building regulations / Seang Yon / Shoe factories / shoes / Top World Garment (Cambodia) Ltd. / U.S. / US / Wing Star Shoe factory / Wing Star Shoes Co Ltd / worker rights
The dining hall of a garment factory in Phnom Penh’s Meanchey district that supplies clothes to U.S. brand Gap collapsed into a pond Monday, injuring more than 20 workers who were eating lunch, workers and officials said. The hall, which is part of Top World Garment ...
‘Take it or leave it’
- 20 May 2013
- The Phnom Penh Post
- Economy and commerce
- American Center for International Labor Solidarity / ASICS / Asics supplier / But Rorn / Cambodia Defenders Project / Community Legal Education Center / compensation / Dave Welsh / Factory collapse / footwear factory / illegal construction / Kampong Speu Province / Kim Dany / Kong Pisei district / Manslaughter / Moeun Tola / neglect / negligence / Rim Roeun / shoes / shoes factory / Sim Srey Touch / Sok Sam Oeun / Sum Sophorn National Social Security Fund / Wing Star incident / Wing Star Shoes / Wing Star Shoes factory
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