News
Unions plan Workers’ Day march for May 1
Representatives from the Cambodian Confederation of Unions (CCU) and the Cambodian Alliance of Trade Unions (CATU) – along with trade unions and associations working in the labour sector – announced their intention to celebrate the 137th anniversary of International Workers’ Day on May 1, with ...
Chea Sokny
https://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/unions-plan-workers-day-march-may-1
Cambodia discusses garment issues with buyers from global brands
Cambodian Permanent Deputy Prime Minister Keat Chhon on Wednesday met with a delegation representing 30 global brands and global trade unions to discuss the current situation of garment sector. The delegation comprised 27 global brands including H&M Hennes & Mauritz AB, Gap Inc., Adidas, Puma, Levi ...
Xinhuanet News Staff
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/world/2014-02/19/c_133128000.htm
Cambodia Falls Short as Garment-Industry Model
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
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
Cambodia's garment exports up 22 pct in 5 months
Cambodia’s garment industry, the country’s biggest income earner, recorded 2.06 billion U.S. dollars in export value in the first five months of this year, up 22 percent on the same period last year, a Commerce Ministry’s report showed Tuesday. Garment export accounts for more than 80 ...
http://www.asean-china-center.org/english/2013-06/27/c_132492345.htm
Cambodia PM says garment firms may quit over wage rows
Cambodia’s strongman Prime Minister Hun Sen on Wednesday warned garment workers that protests demanding higher wages could push manufacturers to quit the country. His appeal came after unions last week said hundreds of workers had been fired from a factory making sportswear for US giant Nike ...
Eight More Charged Over Violent Factory Protest
A court official at the Kompong Speu Provincial Court said Monday that a total of 16 union representatives have been charged with damaging property and inciting violence during a protest outside a garment factory earlier this month, twice the number of arrests previously confirmed. Provincial Judge ...
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/eight-more-charged-over-violent-factory-protest-31214/
Hundreds are given sack for Sabrina clash
Hundreds of workers were sacked at the Sabrina Garment factory on Saturday following several violent protests at the Kampong Speu province premises and the arrest of unionists involved. The firings came after workers continued to protest outside the provincial court on Friday and Saturday demanding ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013061166188/National/hundreds-are-given-sack-for-sabrina-clash.html
Bail Requests Denied for All Eight Unionists
The Kampong Speu Provincial Court has denied bail for eight unionists accused of instigating violence at the Sabrina Garment factory last Monday. Kampong Speu Provincial Court judge, Cheum Rithy said yesterday that he had not approved the bail request because significant work remained in questioning ...
Unions Trade Barbs Over Violent Factory Strike
Two rival workers unions continued to trade barbs Thursday, each blaming the other for a violent clash between striking garment workers and police at a factory in Kompong Speu province on Monday that saw eight people arrested. The Free Trade Union (FTU) has led strikes for ...
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/business/unions-trade-barbs-over-violent-factory-strike-29833/
Factory Workers Demand Release of Eight After Protest
About 1,000 garment workers on Wednesday demonstrated outside Kompong Speu Provincial Court calling for the release of eight people arrested during a protest this week over wages at a factory supplying U.S. brand Nike, a union official said. Fighting between the workers on Monday displayed ...
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/factory-workers-demand-release-of-eight-held-after-protest-29318/
Cambodian Trade Union warns protest to demand release of arrested members
Cambodian Free Trade Union of Workers (FTU) warned Tuesday to stage a protest if the authority does not release its eight members who were arrested by police on Monday during a demonstration at a Taiwanese-owned garment factory, a union leader said. FTU’s president Chea Mony ...
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/world/2013-06/04/c_132430572.htm
7 Cambodian Workers Arrested at Nike Contractor
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 ...
Cambodian police clash with thousands of garment workers, 23 hurt
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
At 10th Anniversary, Arbitration Council Faces Funding Shortage
The Arbitration Council, an independent body that resolves labor disputes in Cambodia’s garment sector, celebrated its 10th anniversary yesterday, though officials expressed concern that funding for the body was due to run out in March next year. Oum Mean, secretary of state at the Ministry of ...
Cambodia's employers, trade unions fail to reach agreement on pay rise
The third round of negotiation between Cambodia’s garment and footwear manufacturers and representatives of trade unions on minimum wage increase ended without result on Monday. The talk between the employers represented by Nang Sothy, co- chair of the Government-Private Working Group on Industrial Relations, and Ken ...
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/business/2013-03/11/c_132225825.htm
Government Tells Unions to Agree on Minimum Wage Demands
The government on Monday requested that manufacturers look at raising the minimum wage for garment workers, but only after divided trade unions agree on what that wage should be. “After discussions, those present at the meeting agree in principle to discuss raising the minimum wage ...
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/business/government-tells-unions-to-agree-on-minimum-wage-demands-8193/
Labor Dispute Cases Rise in Garment, Footwear Industry
The Arbitration Council heard about 230 collective labor disputes in the garment and footwear industry involving approximately 98,000 workers in 2012, a 38 percent increase from 2011, which saw 161 cases handled, according to the council. Y Samphy, training and communications manager for the council’s Arbitration ...
Criticism Continues of Shortcomings in Asean Rights Declaration
Criticism continued yesterday of the Asean Human Rights Declaration, which was signed in Phnom Penh on Saturday after regional leaders decided to make last-minute revisions that were widely deemed as inadequate. U.N. experts ans civil society groups criticized the lack of consultation in drawing up the ...
Striking the right balance
The number of strikes in Cambodia’s garment industry could be set to dip and workers could be on their way to free lunches after both sides of the industry signed a two-year memorandum of understanding (MoU) yesterday. The MoU – inked by the Garment Manufacturers Association (GMAC) in ...
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
Letter holds key for Tai Yang
It’s been marked by violence, fervent protests and a stream of recriminations, but now bureaucracy is hampering efforts to resolve the seven-week-long strike at the Tai Yang and Camwell factories, which supply Levi’s and Gap, a trade-union advocate said yesterday. Dave Welsh, country director of the American ...
'Huge changes' made to new draft union law
A new draft of the trade-union law included “huge changes” that removed all major controversial aspects of the legislation, including criminal sanctions, a union advocate said yesterday. Dave Welsh, country director for the American Centre for International Labour Solidarity, said the Ministry of Labour was to ...
Trade unions demand change to draft law
A group of independent trade unions yesterday put forth a list of demands for changes to Cambodia’s first trade union law, which will be finalised by the government in the coming months. Unionists said the revisions were necessary, as the current draft law would undermine unions ...