Labor
Unions balk at floated figure
Garment worker unions on 30 September decried a preliminary, government-suggested increase to the minimum wage as being far too close to what they perceive as a lowball offer from employers. As tripartite wage talks continue, unions said officials from the government’s Labour Advisory Committee had on 29 ...
Cambodian migrant workers demand passports, money
About 50 migrant workers who were part of a group that was abandoned at the Thai border by a recruitment agency last week gathered outside the Phnom Penh Municipal Court on 29 September to ask for the return of their passports and the fees they paid ...
Situation ripe for strikes: study
Short-sightedness, weak adherence to the law and poor working conditions in Cambodia’s garment sector are creating a fertile field for strikes to prevail over negotiations, a recent study released by the Arbitration Council Foundation, an independent labour mediator, has found. According to the study, incidents of ...
Unions agree on minimum wage target
Following weeks of quarrelling, Cambodia’s garment unions on 29 September agreed to demand a monthly industry minimum wage of $168 – only to find themselves miles apart from employers who are refusing to consider an increase beyond the rate of inflation. Leading up to ongoing tripartite minimum-wage ...
Date set to announce new wage
The tripartite working group tasked with setting the minimum wage in Cambodia’s garment industry is slated to officially convene on 28 September, with the results of the negotiations to be announced on 5 October if all goes to plan. Keep reading ...
Myanmar factory workers weary of the Arbitration Council
Factory workers have had enough of the arbitration council, the nascent, quasi-judicial body established to resolve labour disputes through mediation. Nearly 200 garment workers fired in the wake of the new minimum wage have decided to by-pass the conciliation system altogether, alleging that the members are ...
No trafficking victims in Phuket, says report
After months of research, the Human Trafficking Crime Prevention and Suppression Centre delivered its report this week with the stunning revelation that the task force found not a single case of human trafficking on Phuket island. Keep reading ...
Cambodian unions divided
A secret ballot on 23 September failed to resolve Cambodian garment union splits over what to demand at upcoming minimum wage talks, with at least one independent union rejecting the majority vote of $158 and vowing to put forward $178. The division came a day after Labour ...
H&M workers ‘sold short’
The widespread use of short-term contracts in Cambodia’s garment industry has come under fire in a new report, which looks at ongoing issues with the practice at H&M supplier factories amid pledges of reform. A Short-Term Solution, which was released by Swedish NGO Fair Action, uses ...
Myanmar fishermen compensated for years of unpaid work on Thai vessels
After a long fight, a handful of Myanmar fishermen yesterday received compensation for their work on fishing trawlers plying remote Indonesian waters. Out of the 105 fishermen repatriated to Myanmar on 6 September, 65 were sent reimbursements on 22 September, according to the Myanmar embassy in Jakarta. “We are ...
