Industries
Manufacturing
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 launches Thilawa industrial zone
Dignitaries from Myanmar and Japan on 23 September launched the first phase of a huge industrial zone on the outskirts of Yangon, as the long-isolated nation pushes to rapidly accelerate its industrialisation. Housing everything from children’s toy manufacturing to a car assembly plant and a deep-sea port, ...
200 experts discuss sustainable manufacturing in southern Vietnam
More than 200 researchers and practitioners from around the world are attending a three-day conference on sustainable manufacturing in the southern province of Binh Duong. The 13th Global Conference on Sustainable Manufacturing, from 16-18 September, offered keynote speeches, panel discussions with parallel sessions on sustainable approaches ...
Lao garment factories still troubled by labour shortages
Lao ministries and various related sectors have been unable to resolve the chronic shortage of labour for garment factories amid growing concern within the local industry. An official from the Association of the Lao Garment Industry, who asked not to be named, told Vientiane Times on ...
Child workers in Thai seafood industry face hazards, injuries - report
Children employed in Thailand’s seafood processing industry are more exposed to workplace hazards such as fire or gas, and twice as likely to be injured than minors working in other industries, experts said on 14 September. Under Thai law, the minimum age of employment is 15 ...
Coca-Cola bottler ThaiNamthip opens first Coca-Cola plant in Laos with US$30 million investment
Lao Coca-Cola Bottling Co., Ltd., a joint venture between Coca-Cola bottler in ThailandThaiNamthip Limited and Lao firmPT Sole Co., Ltd., recently inaugurated the first Coca-Cola bottling plant in the Lao People’s Democratic Republic at a ceremony presided over by Mr. Muhtar Kent, Chairman and CEO ...
Southern farmers bring dead fish to province office to protest pollution
Fish farmers in the southern province of Ba Ria-Vung Tau on 7 August brought hundreds of kilograms of dead fish to the government office, accusing seafood processors of polluting a local river. The move came one day after they protested with dead fish in front of the ...
Policy, financial hurdles stymie Vietnam auto industry
Auto maker Vinaxuki recently announced plans to sell its plant in Hanoi’s Me Linh District to repay its debts amid prolonged losses. It has laid off most of its employees leaving mainly security guards in a factory that used to employ hundreds of workers and engineers. It ...
Thousands out of work as minimum wage kicks off
More than 1000 factory workers have lost their job in the wake of the new minimum wage, according to the Ministry of Labour. Just one factory has so far closed however. U Maung Maung Hlaing, head of the Labour Laws Inspection Department in Hlaing Tharyar township, said ...
Informal workers find jobs easy, conditions poor
Young workers employed in Phnom Penh’s expansive informal economy may find it easy to get a job, but they face a high likelihood of labor abuses and receive significantly less pay than their peers in the formal sector, according to a study released over the ...