News

As night falls in Phonm Penh, thousands of weary workers stream from textile factories, reflecting the abundance of jobs created by the clothing industry’s desire for cheap labor. However, as the number of international clothes companies tapping into Cambodia’s workforce grows, so does anger at the ...

When tales emerge from the retail supply chain, they’re usually tragic, like the alleged sweatshop conditions at the Foxconn (HKG:2038) plants that churn out Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) products, or the 112 Bangladeshi workers who died when their factory, where clothes for Wal-Mart (NYSE:WMT), Sears Holdings (NASDAQ:SHLD), ...

Suppliers to Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT) and Hennes & Mauritz AB (HMB) agreed yesterday to pay about $145,000 in back wages and severance to about 160 workers at a Cambodian factory that closed in November, a labor activist involved in the deal said. The agreement, which ...

About 90 garment workers began a hunger strike yesterday in front of the shuttered Kingsland Garment Cambodia, Co. Ltd. factory in Phnom Penh’s Meanchey district, following weeks of protests demanding unpaid wages and severance pay. “We want the owners of Walmart and H&M to know ...

A higher minimum salary for Cambodia’s garment and footwear worker is still not within sight after talks broke down Tuesday between unions representing the workers and their employers, officials said. The garment and footwear workers unions proposed to nearly double the current minimum monthly wage of ...

More than 200 employees of Telecom Cambodia demonstrated yesterday morning, demanding the company’s general director step down and that the Anti-Corruption Unit investigate the company. The strikers claimed general director Lao Saroeun had been involved in large-scale embezzlement, other forms of corruption and disrespect ...

The Coalition of Cambodian Apparel Workers’ Democratic Union (C.CAWDU) filed legal complaints yesterday, following allegations on Wednesday that police had assaulted seven garment workers, including a pregnant woman. Sa’ang district police chief Chea Socheat yesterday again denied officers had been violent during a strike ...

The entire work force of the Ta Prohm temple restoration project in Siem Reap – more than 100 people – gathered at the temple yesterday to demand the reinstatement of 30 of their number [sic] who were dismissed at the start of the month. The 145 ...

Revoking its decision to sack the vast majority of its work force for a prolonged strike, the Winson International garment factory agreed to allow the 868 workers back to work following negotiations late last month, worker representatives said yesterday. After mediation by officials from the Ministry ...

Representatives of the Golden Gain Shoe factory yesterday demanded in court that six members of the Coalition of Cambodian Apparel Workers’ Democratic Union (CCAWDU) pay $200,000 in compensation for organizing a week of strikes at the factory. Factory management has accused the leader of the factory’s ...

The number of companies registering to become members of the Garment Manufacturing Association in Cambodia (GMAC) doubled last year, with more investment in value-added products. GMAC said the number of new members reached 120 last year, compared with 60 newcomers in 2011. “Labour-intensive industries in China ...

The Cambodian Confederation of Unions warned Thursday of a general strike if proposed increases in monthly salaries are too small. “Cambodia will have a big strike exploding across all clothing and footwear factories if minimum wages are raised by only 10 percent from the basic $61,” ...

Eight hundred and sixty-eight workers have been fired from the Winson International garment factory after they refused to obey a Kampong Speu Provincial Court injunction last week ordering them back to work within 48 hours. Free Trade Union official Ry Sithinet said yesterday that the workers, ...

Officials of the Garment Manufacturers Association in Cambodia (GMAC) are concerned that recent strikes could delay delivery to customers, and factories are looking for solutions to meet buyers’ demands. About 10,000 workers in seven or eight garment factories have gone on strike recently demanding higher wages ...

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 ...

Workers who were left stranded after protests at three Tai Yang Enterprises garment factories dragged on for months earlier this year were waiting for a long awaited resolution when they attended the arbitration yesterday. The 53 employees of the Kandal provincial factory, which supplies Levi’s and ...

Tae Young factory workers have ended their strike demanding the reinstatement of 16 fired workers after the factory last week agreed to drop its legal complaints against eight of the 16 in return for the entire group’s official resignations. About 600 protesters began the strike at ...

A Chinese garment factory manager was handed a three-month suspended sentence and released yesterday after she was found guilty of folding up a photograph of King Father Norodom Sihanouk in front of workers in Kandal province, officials said. Liv Kuy Chheang, 45, was charged with intentionally ...

A Chinese woman found guilty of intentionally causing damage after tearing up photos of the late King Father was deported yesterday morning – a mere two days after the crime occurred. Wang Zia Chao, 43, who on Tuesday was given a suspended one-year prison sentence, left ...

Under dazzling white strip-lights, a production line of young Cambodians stitch, iron and fold their way to the day’s target of 820 two-piece children’s pajamas. These garments are destined for the shelves of Los Angeles, shop price $9.97. The workers, mostly women, start at 7:30 ...

In a year in which more than a thousand Cambodian garment factory workers have fainted on the job, activists across Europe are demonstrating for higher wages and better working conditions in the Kingdom’s factories. Throughout the past week, demonstrators mimicked faintings by collapsing on the floors ...

With a court date hanging over his head for his involvement in the Tai Yang factories strike in Kandal province, Cambodian Confederation of Unions president Rong Chhun yesterday intervened in another garment dispute, this time in Kampong Speu province. About 1,000 workers entered day five of ...

About 300 workers entered their sixth day of strikes yesterday at a bra factory in the capital, which manufactures lingerie supplied to Victoria’s Secret and Valentino, but their hopes of a quick resolution were dashed when a Ministry of Social Affairs official admitted he was ...

Almost 500 Tropicana Casino staff from gambling hub Poipet have threatened to strike on Saturday if the casino’s Thai owner does not reinstate their union leader, Sath Ser, sacked by the company for supporting another terminated employee, workers said yesterday. A staff member who did not ...