Formal labor

The decelerating world economy is having far-reaching effects on unemployment, with new research projecting that the number of people out of work will grow to nearly 200 million this year, with millions of additional workers left vulnerable in developing countries, including Cambodia. Global unemployment reached 197.1 ...

Some of the country’s top business leaders laid out their main concerns with a controversial draft union law during a meeting with CPP lawmakers on 18 January, including a stipulation that would let only 10 people form a union at a workplace. The bill, which would ...

The controversial draft union law clause requiring a 50 per cent plus one vote by members to authorise a strike will stand, lawmakers from both parties said on 14 January, though clarity is still required to define how that quorum should be shaped. The strike clause ...

Hundreds of workers from the Agile Sweater factory in Kampong Speu province gathered in front of the provincial court on 13 January, praying for authorities to release five unionists arrested at the factory on 12 January. The workers lit incense sticks as they massed in prayer, ...

A tenfold increase in visa fees has prompted employment agencies to consider boycotting Malaysia, long a favoured destination of Myanmar migrant workers. The threat, which could be backed up by demonstrations, followed an announcement by the Malaysian embassy to raise visa application costs from US$6 ...

A bilateral Thai-Myanmar meeting to resolve issues relating to migrant workers in Thailand has ended inconclusively, as the Thai negotiators have referred all matters under discussion to Bangkok for a decision. The 8 and 9 January meeting in Yangon discussed the status of the 3 million ...

Cambodian recruitment agencies are drawing up more extensive training programs for maids being sent to Malaysia following a lifting of a ban on the practice in December. However, it remains unclear by what standards the programs created by the agencies – many of which have been ...

Factory bosses are flying in the face of rulings by the arbitration council, ignoring orders to compensate or rehire axed staffers, according to worker representatives. Factory workers pin the root of the troubles, including abuse and mass firings, on the new minimum wage instituted in September. ...

The first meeting of a bipartisan committee to work out criticisms of the controversial draft trade union law resulted in what unions considered meagre concessions, although the opposition hailed the process’ cooperative spirit. According to Sok Eysan, spokesman for the ruling Cambodian People’s Party and chief ...

After facing abuse and battery at the hands of their employer, Myanmar domestic workers in Singapore are confronted with a difficult choice: stay and press charges, in often lengthy investigations that rehash their pain, or return home and relinquish any opportunity for recompense. Ma Ei Phyu ...