News
Cambodia acquits ex-governor of shooting at protesting factory workers
A former Cambodian governor accused of shooting three garment workers during a labour protest was acquitted in a ruling that prompted outrage Wednesday from rights groups who say it highlights the impunity surrounding the country’s political elite. Former official Chhouk Bandith was governor of Bavet town, ...
Striking Casino Workers Court Ordered Back to Work
The Banteay Meanchey provincial court has ordered casino workers in a border town to resume work, following a five day strike over poor working conditions. The provincial court judge, Pich Vicheathor, told workers they must resume their work or be fired, workers said. The workers say ...
http://www.voacambodia.com/content/striking-casino-workers-court-ordered-back-to-work/1563653.html
Riot Police Stop March on Last Day of Summits
A group of roughly 100 anti-eviction protestors were blocked by riot police yesterday from marching to Prime Minister Hun Sen’s Peace Palace to appeal to U.S. President Barack Obama for help in reforming Cambodia’s land rights policy. The protest, which took place at the Boeng Kak ...
Swedish outcry has royal voice in midst
Growing calls in Sweden for multinational clothing giant H&M to increase wages for Cambodian garment workers have taken a royal twist. Cambodia’s Prince Charin Norodom, 38, who has lived in Sweden for more than 30 years, told the Post yesterday that he had been working behind ...
PM urges migrant protection
Some 285 million workers will migrate for employment when ASEAN countries open their borders to each other in 2015, Prime Minister Hun Sen predicted yesterday, as he urged speedier regional legislative action to ensure they could travel safely. At an ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community Council meeting, the premier warned ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012102659423/National-news/pm-urges-migrant-protection.html
Tae Young strikers claim police abuse
Garment factory workers who set tyres ablaze during a strike on Friday claimed yesterday they were burned when police pushed them into their own fire. Snguon Vannary was one of several workers who said his feet had been burned when police broke up the strike at ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012100859149/National-news/strikers-claim-police-abuse.html
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 ...
Garment industry stokes Cambodia’s political growth
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 ...
Poipet Casino Dragging Feet on Promise
A casino in Poipet that pays wages only in Thai baht is yet to fulfil its promise to improve conditions for its 500 workers, a union representative said yesterday. Workers are still working 12-hour days – often without a break – at the Tropicana Casino, one ...
Protesters Stage EU faint-ins
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 ...
Union boss adds another strike to plate
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 ...
Timber Firm's workers back
Employee at timber company Angkor Flywood in Kampong Cham province will return to work today after their bosses agreed yesterday to all but one of their demands: an increase in wages. Sok Kin, vice president of the Building and Word Workers Trade Union Federation of Cambodia ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012091758737/National-news/timber-firms-workers-back.html
20 More Garment Factory Workers Injured on Way to Work
More than 20 garment workers were injured yesterday in Svay Rieng province when a truck in which they were traveling overturned, a police official said. Fifty-seven workers were on board an open-backed truck in Chantrea district when the driver lost control on a road that had ...
More Than 30 Garment Workers Faint in Factory
More than 30 garment workers fainted at H&L Apparel in Pur Senchey district’s Kakab commune, management at the factory said. “There were 32 workers who fainted, one of the was male, and we too them to Preak Kossomak Hospital yesterday afternoon,” factory administrator Phen Bora said. Mr. Bora ...
Union President calls for inspectors
The president of the Free Trade Union yesterday sent a letter to the Ministry of Labour’s inspection department to monitor working conditions at M&V factories in Kampong Chhnang province, alleging excessive overtime is causing workers to faint. “They have to work both in day and night ...
Tide changes at Ocean as factory pays strikers
Ocean Garment, the Phnom Penh-based clothing manufacturer at the centre of sexual harassment claims and an illegal strike that lasted more than two weeks, has agreed to compensate more than 2,500 workers for wages lost during the protests, a move union advocates have highlighted as ...
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 ...
Garment Factory Monitoring Needs to Improve
The International Labor Organization’s (ILO) Better Factories Cambodia (BFC) program must overhaul its monitoring practices before it can meaningfully improve working conditions in the garment sector, accoring to the authors of a new report. the new report by Community Legal Education Center and the Netherlands-based ...
Report Urges Better Factories to do more
Better Factories Cambodia must name and shame garment factories that abuse the labour law if it is to transform Cambodia into an ethical sourcing option, a report on the International Labor Organization initiative says. Better Factories should make monitoring reports public, according to the 10 Years ...
One Garment Worker Killed, 24 Injured in Truck Accident
A female garment worker died and 24 other workers were injured when the truck in which they were traveling careened into a pond in Phnom Penh’s Sen Sok district Wednesday morning, police said. More than 30 garment workers were on board a small, open-backed truck in Prek ...
Malaysia called out on MoU
Malaysia needs to start “paying attention” to a worker protection agreement with Cambodia that has languished for almost two years, a Ministry of Interior official said at a meeting yesterday. The meeting, which included officials from the ministries of Interior, Women’s Affairs, Tourism, Foreign Affairs and ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012082958343/National-news/malaysia-called-out-on-mou.html
Carlsberg promises support
Danish brewer Carlsberg has vowed to improve the working conditions of Angkor and Carlsberg beer promoters in Cambodia as it tries to stamp out coerced workplace drinking. The company announced late last week it had joined forces with the Danish Confederation of Trade Unions (LO) to ...
Monks to School Migrant Workers on Malaria
More than 60 monks will march across Pailin province next week in an effort to educate migrant workers on ways to protect themselves from being infected by malaria, health workers and officials said yesterday. Migrant workers are particularly at risk for malaria because they often sleep ...
Multiple injuries as building collapses
Questions are being asked after an unfinished factory collapsed in Kandal province yesterday, injuring 16 construction workers, some seriously. Commune chief Nou Len told the Post shoddy workmanship was to blame for the collapse of the half-finished 120 by 70 metre factory on land owned ...