Labor policy and administration

The Cambodian government set the new monthly minimum wage for the country’s billion-dollar garment sector at $140 on 8 October—up from $128—more than what factory owners wanted but far less than the raise demanded by some unions. Keep reading ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

Ministry of Labour spokesman Heng Sour on 22 September threatened legal action against those confusing the concepts of “minimum” and “living” wages, as he outlined the method and schedule for upcoming minimum wage talks for the garment sector. In an apparent swipe at recent research showing garment ...