Labor policy and administration
Worker rights
Factory bosses accused of firing labour leaders, ignoring arbitration rulings
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. ...
Garment workers protest unpaid wages
More than 200 workers at Htate Tan Myanmar garment factory in Hlaing Tharyar township’s industrial zone 4 have been protesting in support of a demand for unpaid wages since 14 December. Ma Moe Sandar, a clerk from the factory, told The Myanmar Times the factory had not ...
Many jobs ‘vulnerable’: UN human development report
The persistence of dangerous and demeaning forms of work remains a major challenge for the Cambodia’s development, according to the UN’s annual Human Development Report (HDR) launched on 14 December by the United Nations Development Programme. Dubbed “Work for Human Development”, the 2015 report finds the Asia-Pacific region home ...
Shrimp peeled by slaves in Thailand
Pervasive human trafficking has helped turn Thailand into one of the world’s biggest shrimp providers. Despite repeated promises by businesses and government to clean up the country’s US$7 billion seafood export industry, an Associated Press investigation has found shrimp peeled by modern-day slaves is reaching ...
Seafood giant TU steps up worker protection
Thai Union Group Plc, one of the world’s largest seafood producers, will stop using subcontractors for shrimp pre-processing and will bring all operations in-house in order to improve worker protection. “From 1 January 2016 onwards, all processing work will be directly controlled by Thai Union, ensuring ...
Lao garment sector educates on new labour law
Some 25 Lao labour inspectors were trained on new labour law tools in Vientiane to help them educate workers and managers about their workplace rights and obligations on 26 November in Vientiane. The tools and related training programme were developed by the government with support of ...
US to review Thai trade benefits after labour complaint
The United States will review Thailand’s eligibility for trade benefits after complaints that the country is not properly protecting workers’ rights, the US Trade Representative said. Keep reading ...
Migrants processing Thai chicken exports abused, exploited— Researchers
Migrants processing Thai chicken for its biggest export market, Europe, face widespread abuse by their employers, partly because foreign auditors have focused on food safety rather than workers’ conditions, researchers said on 25 November. Chicken is set to become the world’s most consumed meat, within the ...
Nestlé report details labor abuses on Thai 'slave ships'
Nestle, the world’s largest food company, has acknowledged that it is almost certain that seafood bought from Thailand by itself and other large Western firms is produced by what are effectively modern-day slaves, many of them Cambodian. In a report, released by Nestlé on 23 November, ...
Last body recovered from mine collapse in northern Vietnam
Rescuers early on 23 November recovered the body of Bui Van Quy, 23, the last of the three dead victims in a coal mine collapse in the northern province of Hoa Binh last week. His body was found behind a large rock at about 2:30 a.m., nearly 700 meters ...
