Manufacturing
Garments and textiles
Lao garment exports decline by 5 percent
Laos’ garment exports reached US$165 million in 2016, a reduction of 5 percent compared to 2015, the Association of Lao Garment Industry has reported. The shortage of workers is still a chronic problem in the sector resulting in a reduction of garment exports, President of ...
Employers seek delay in garment pay reform
Plans to pay garment workers twice a month will be difficult for employers to implement, industry representatives have warned. The Labor Ministry is amending laws so companies will be required to pay staff twice a month, in a bid to protect workers from being abandoned by ...
Robust factory growth charted
Cambodia has seen a marked increase in industrialisation over the past five years, with the number of factories nearly doubling during that period and producing a broader range of goods for both export and domestic consumption, according to new unreleased government data. In the yet-unpublished ...
Factory workers protest over rates cut in Mandalay Region
Workers at the Kan Kaung Chin Yadanar wood products factory in Mandalay Region staged a sit-in yesterday over what they described as unfair labour practices by the management. About 60 piece job wage workers who took part in the protest are demanding piece job rates ...
Top brands boycott garment summit
Leading fashion brands including H&M and Zara will boycott a key industry conference in Bangladesh in support of garment workers who have been sacked, hunted or jailed for participating in wage strikes, the companies said on February 22. H&M, C&A, Tchibo and Inditex which owns ...
Ministry working on labor laws
The draft law on the minimum wage for garment and footwear industry workers will be completed and approved this year, according to Labor Minister Ith Samheng. The ministry is also working on another draft law concerning labor dispute resolution, he told the ministry’s annual congress on ...
Government floats new pay scheme
Minister of Labour Ith Sam Heng on February 15 fingered large end-of-contract severance payments as a prime reason owners flee when their factories go bankrupt, suggesting the introduction of a yearly bonus scheme and fortnightly salaries would “reduce the risk” of garment workers being left ...
Factory workers in limbo
More than 400 workers from the Chun Chao garment factory in Phnom Penh’s Por Senchey district protested in front of their factory on February 13 after discovering the owner had fled the country without paying workers their January wages. A garment worker who only identified herself ...
Myanmar garment workers’ rights abuse critical, says report
Myanmar garment workers’ rights have now reached critical levels under criteria set by international labour laws, a director of the Labour Rights Defenders and Promoters Daw Ei Shwe Zin Nyunt said on February 7. Her comments came as ‘The Myanmar Dilemma Report” on the condition ...
Garment firms focus on social responsibility
Unions are welcome, and could help garment factories improve their corporate social responsibility functions, a leading manufacturer has said. U Aung Myo Hein, central executive committee member of Myanmar Garment Manufacturers’ Association, told The Myanmar Times that many factories in Myanmar had missed out on ...
